So you have built the warehouse and integrated it with your line of business applications. Now what? Well, now you have to go on with your business, which means you are creating and receiving documents on a regular basis. Those documents need to get into FileStar.
FileStar is configured with several easy to use methods of adding documents. Documents can be imported directly to the site, documents can be emailed to our process server one at a time or you can batch scan documents to our secure ftp server. I will quickly explain all methods below.
Importing a document is simple, just scan a document to your local drive or a shared drive, select the Import task, browse to the scanned file, add the meta data and press Go. It is that simple. The key here is to add the meta data and this is where FileStar really helps your business. Adding the meta data is simply the process of selecting the key attributes for the document. We make that easy by having your attributes available in drop down lists if possible or custom configured text, date, amount or type boxes. As we have indicated before, the image files should be tied to and associated with the key business data that it relates too. For instance, if you are scanning a lease document, the image file should be associated with that tenant and tenant ID from your lease administration software. Or if you are scanning an employee file, the image should be associated with the employee number from your employee management system.
For the email option and the batch processing option, there is a common task at the beginning of the process and then the process differs to give flexibility to your workflow. In both cases the first step is to create a bar coded "Control Sheet" that is placed as the first page of the document. This Control Sheet is created using the same basic process as adding the meta data for a document that is to be imported, you essentially select and add all of the relevant information about the document such as document name, document date, account number, etc. However, instead of then importing the document, you print the Control Sheet.
Once the Control sheet is printed and placed as the first page of the document, the document scan be scanned and emailed to the FileStar server address. Once received, FileStar reads the barcode, converts the document to text searchable PDF, removes the Control Sheet and routes the document to the correct location in the system. This is a simple, effective process when you have low volume and multiple users that want to directly add documents to FileStar, but the in-house imaging tools don't have PDF with Searchable Text capabilities.
If you have higher volumes and maybe a centralized scanner, but multiple users, you can have the knowledge workers put the Control Sheets on, but then have centralized scanning by a lower cost employee. All of the documents can be scanned as a single file or several large files so that the scanner does not stop. As long as the Control Sheets are in place and every new file starts with a Control sheet, the process is flawless. Millennia can even provide image QC and additional indexing on the files in this batch processing option. This process can also include an option where you send the documents to us for scanning instead of your group doing the scanning.
Just to reiterate the key advantage of FileStar, there are several ways to add documents to the FileStar Image Warehouse. This flexibility is an advantage to your business because it meets your workflow needs without over burdening your employees. A key component of this process is associating the new documents with the critical business information that will make it possible to find and share these documents.
Please visit us at www.mgdocs.com
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Who Manages the Warehouse
We have described an Image Warehouse as well as who builds it. Now let's discuss who manages it. Just like a physical warehouse, an Image Warehouse needs a manager to ensure efficient flow both in (scanning) and out (retrieval by users).
The answer depends a little on how your warehouse is set up. If it is an internally hosted Image Warehouse than you will likely use some internal resources to provide some if not all of the data, image and user management issues. If it is externally hosted, then you will likely rely more on the hosting provider. Remember that the key to the Image Warehouse is the connection between the image files and other key corporate data. These data connections must be maintained and of course there are always changes that need to be monitored.
So lets look at an example of a management issue. Suppose you have set up your warehouse and it consists of franchise agreements that have all been scanned and tagged with data from your franchise management database. You have included in the database and as a searchable field in the Image Warehouse, Region. If there is a re-alignment of regions that takes place in the franchise management database, there is nothing to do in the Image Warehouse because the Region data can be changed without changing the image reference which is based on the FranchiseID.
However, lets say that you acquire another company and now have to add 500 new Franchise agreements and all of those franchise agreements have already been scanned. Maybe those franchase agreements were tied to the franchise data, maybe not. There will likely be a large effort to make sure the image files and data get incorporated into the Image Warehouse and the franchise management database. The manager will need to be able to efficiently sanitize, normalize and import all the data. In addition, there should be some auditing done on the image files to make sure that you are not loading garbage into the system. Make sure the image files are correctly tied to the franchise data and that the image files are good quality before importing any data. You need a good ETL - Evaluate, Translate and Load layer.
If you have a large quantity of documentation that needs to be input into the Image Warehouse on a daily basis, you may consider outsourcing that function or having a consultant review your internal imaging process to make sure the input is cost effective. Remember that input is not always paper as mentioned above, frequently it can be a DVD full of image files in who knows what format (tif, pdf, pdf + text, individual page tiff, etc).
The output side of the management can also have some challenges. No matter how diligent you are during the planning stages there always seems to be some output request that was not planned for. You may have set up export options that include data by Franchisee, by City or State or even Region. You may not have thought about exporting all Franchise Agreements that have an Insurance Requirement for less than $500,000 in bodily injury. These requests happen.
So who manages the Image Warehouse? An external manager can add some know-how from managing other customer accounts. In addition, the external manager can be a remote central clearing house for input via scanning and electronic receipt, even via PO Box. An internal manager will obviously have deep knowledge of the internal data sources and will in all cases be integral to any solution.
The bottom line is that like any other application, the Image Warehouse needs a responsible party, a Manager. If you are going to make the investment to set up the warehouse, don't waste that investment by letting the data become corrupt or garbage.
Please visit us at www.mgdocs.com
The answer depends a little on how your warehouse is set up. If it is an internally hosted Image Warehouse than you will likely use some internal resources to provide some if not all of the data, image and user management issues. If it is externally hosted, then you will likely rely more on the hosting provider. Remember that the key to the Image Warehouse is the connection between the image files and other key corporate data. These data connections must be maintained and of course there are always changes that need to be monitored.
So lets look at an example of a management issue. Suppose you have set up your warehouse and it consists of franchise agreements that have all been scanned and tagged with data from your franchise management database. You have included in the database and as a searchable field in the Image Warehouse, Region. If there is a re-alignment of regions that takes place in the franchise management database, there is nothing to do in the Image Warehouse because the Region data can be changed without changing the image reference which is based on the FranchiseID.
However, lets say that you acquire another company and now have to add 500 new Franchise agreements and all of those franchise agreements have already been scanned. Maybe those franchase agreements were tied to the franchise data, maybe not. There will likely be a large effort to make sure the image files and data get incorporated into the Image Warehouse and the franchise management database. The manager will need to be able to efficiently sanitize, normalize and import all the data. In addition, there should be some auditing done on the image files to make sure that you are not loading garbage into the system. Make sure the image files are correctly tied to the franchise data and that the image files are good quality before importing any data. You need a good ETL - Evaluate, Translate and Load layer.
If you have a large quantity of documentation that needs to be input into the Image Warehouse on a daily basis, you may consider outsourcing that function or having a consultant review your internal imaging process to make sure the input is cost effective. Remember that input is not always paper as mentioned above, frequently it can be a DVD full of image files in who knows what format (tif, pdf, pdf + text, individual page tiff, etc).
The output side of the management can also have some challenges. No matter how diligent you are during the planning stages there always seems to be some output request that was not planned for. You may have set up export options that include data by Franchisee, by City or State or even Region. You may not have thought about exporting all Franchise Agreements that have an Insurance Requirement for less than $500,000 in bodily injury. These requests happen.
So who manages the Image Warehouse? An external manager can add some know-how from managing other customer accounts. In addition, the external manager can be a remote central clearing house for input via scanning and electronic receipt, even via PO Box. An internal manager will obviously have deep knowledge of the internal data sources and will in all cases be integral to any solution.
The bottom line is that like any other application, the Image Warehouse needs a responsible party, a Manager. If you are going to make the investment to set up the warehouse, don't waste that investment by letting the data become corrupt or garbage.
Please visit us at www.mgdocs.com
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Who Builds the Image Warehouse
In my last post, I explained in detail what an Image Warehouse is. I have repeated my definition here as a starting point.
"An Image Warehouse is a central repository of scanned image files that are support for transactional data, process data and organizational data. The warehouse supports the collection of files, storage of files and retrieval of files in an organized and structured way - much like a physical warehouse. It is all about tying data to image files."
Who builds this warehouse? Of course, at Millennia Group we think we are very good at it since we have been doing it for 13+ years. The key is getting someone to understand your data sources and data needs. Then that knowledge and information can be used to build or integrate the document repository with the underlying and supporting data or integrating the images with other applications - ETL layer (Exchange, Translate and Load).
When determining if you are going to do this in-house or use a third party, make sure everyone has a chance to get sample data exports from all applications that will be involved. One of the most complicated parts of the process is normalizing the data that is coming from different sources that maybe is not consistent. For instance, in the accounting application your job code starts with two zero's ("00") followed by 5 digit numeric code. Unfortunately, your reporting or job tracking database drops the zeros or uses the Job name instead of the code. A process must be devised to ensure that the warehouse always communicates with the other applications in a perfectly matched environment, ensuring data integrity.
If you are going to use an existing document management application to act as the storage and retrieval portion of your warehouse, you have to consider whether you have the in-house programming skills to make the necessary changes in that application or if you need to use a consultant. In addition, make sure the application has the flexibility to support the various different input requirements and data delivery requirements. For instance, not all document management applications come with barcode reading capability or PDF + Text conversion out of the box. Or maybe the application doesn't have web capabilities and you need the information to be easily accesible to users outside your firewall. If you have an existing document management system that is working for the most part but does not provide some of these features, Millennia Group can create a web based warehouse that will pull the image files from the EDM and the data from other sources and create a single unified input, viewing and distribution application.
Regardless of who builds your Image Warehouse, there will be a requirement for internal resources. Internal resources like the database manager, EDM manager and others will need to provide support in this process in order to pull all the pieces together.
So to summarize, to build your warehouse you will need internal resources, possibly outside application specific consulants and also possibly a data and process consultant like Millennia Group. Once you have the Image Warehouse built and users can search and find information that they struggled to pull together in the past, then everyone will forget who built it, they will just be glad it Was built.
Please visit us at www.mgdocs.com
"An Image Warehouse is a central repository of scanned image files that are support for transactional data, process data and organizational data. The warehouse supports the collection of files, storage of files and retrieval of files in an organized and structured way - much like a physical warehouse. It is all about tying data to image files."
Who builds this warehouse? Of course, at Millennia Group we think we are very good at it since we have been doing it for 13+ years. The key is getting someone to understand your data sources and data needs. Then that knowledge and information can be used to build or integrate the document repository with the underlying and supporting data or integrating the images with other applications - ETL layer (Exchange, Translate and Load).
When determining if you are going to do this in-house or use a third party, make sure everyone has a chance to get sample data exports from all applications that will be involved. One of the most complicated parts of the process is normalizing the data that is coming from different sources that maybe is not consistent. For instance, in the accounting application your job code starts with two zero's ("00") followed by 5 digit numeric code. Unfortunately, your reporting or job tracking database drops the zeros or uses the Job name instead of the code. A process must be devised to ensure that the warehouse always communicates with the other applications in a perfectly matched environment, ensuring data integrity.
If you are going to use an existing document management application to act as the storage and retrieval portion of your warehouse, you have to consider whether you have the in-house programming skills to make the necessary changes in that application or if you need to use a consultant. In addition, make sure the application has the flexibility to support the various different input requirements and data delivery requirements. For instance, not all document management applications come with barcode reading capability or PDF + Text conversion out of the box. Or maybe the application doesn't have web capabilities and you need the information to be easily accesible to users outside your firewall. If you have an existing document management system that is working for the most part but does not provide some of these features, Millennia Group can create a web based warehouse that will pull the image files from the EDM and the data from other sources and create a single unified input, viewing and distribution application.
Regardless of who builds your Image Warehouse, there will be a requirement for internal resources. Internal resources like the database manager, EDM manager and others will need to provide support in this process in order to pull all the pieces together.
So to summarize, to build your warehouse you will need internal resources, possibly outside application specific consulants and also possibly a data and process consultant like Millennia Group. Once you have the Image Warehouse built and users can search and find information that they struggled to pull together in the past, then everyone will forget who built it, they will just be glad it Was built.
Please visit us at www.mgdocs.com
Thursday, April 2, 2009
What is an Image Warehouse
The best way to start our conversation about Image Warehouses is to provide a definition and description.
An Image Warehouse is a central repository of scanned image files that are support for transactional data, process data and organizational data. The warehouse supports the collection of files, storage of files and retrieval of files in an organized and structured way - much like a physical warehouse. It is all about tying data to image files.
The deeper description of an Image Warehouse will help you to get a better understanding. Since we started providing imaging services in 1996 we focused heavily on contracts and one thing that we always instinctively tried to do was to tie those digital contracts to the original accounting or key data. Now, 13 years later our clients could not be happier for that decision.
When the image files are tied to the transactional or process data you can slice, dice and manage that data far easier. This idea facilitates single point of data entry, for instance, you don't have to re-key the name of the parties to the contract if that information already exists in the accounting software or contract management application. You can also assemble your information with far greater ease and certainty with an Image Warehouse. Take for example the challenge of finding all documents on your shared network drive that you have scanned that relate to all customers in St. Louis. With an Image Warehouse, you just have to query the data (which exists in your systems) to assemble the files and export them in a structured format.
Millennia Group has an Image Warehouse platform built on Microsoft SQL and .Net that we have integrated with many different applications. However, you can also use existing EDM or electronic document management applications to be your warehouse. This is where the description gets a little more interesting. Just like a physical warehouse, the actual storage facility is only part of the solution. You still need people to drive the fork lifts and record the ins and outs. This is also true of an Image Warehouse in many ways. You need to have processes to control the input of image files and you need to make the data connect to the images in the first place. Typically there is a start up phase that will involve understanding and possibly normalizing the data with existing images or it might involve planning for new images and new data. This of course is the integration of data and applications. Then you need to create the tools that let users access and distribute that information as needed (and as security permits) - a good user interface.
So in the next post I will talk more about Who builds this warehouse. Please visit us at www.mgdocs.com
An Image Warehouse is a central repository of scanned image files that are support for transactional data, process data and organizational data. The warehouse supports the collection of files, storage of files and retrieval of files in an organized and structured way - much like a physical warehouse. It is all about tying data to image files.
The deeper description of an Image Warehouse will help you to get a better understanding. Since we started providing imaging services in 1996 we focused heavily on contracts and one thing that we always instinctively tried to do was to tie those digital contracts to the original accounting or key data. Now, 13 years later our clients could not be happier for that decision.
When the image files are tied to the transactional or process data you can slice, dice and manage that data far easier. This idea facilitates single point of data entry, for instance, you don't have to re-key the name of the parties to the contract if that information already exists in the accounting software or contract management application. You can also assemble your information with far greater ease and certainty with an Image Warehouse. Take for example the challenge of finding all documents on your shared network drive that you have scanned that relate to all customers in St. Louis. With an Image Warehouse, you just have to query the data (which exists in your systems) to assemble the files and export them in a structured format.
Millennia Group has an Image Warehouse platform built on Microsoft SQL and .Net that we have integrated with many different applications. However, you can also use existing EDM or electronic document management applications to be your warehouse. This is where the description gets a little more interesting. Just like a physical warehouse, the actual storage facility is only part of the solution. You still need people to drive the fork lifts and record the ins and outs. This is also true of an Image Warehouse in many ways. You need to have processes to control the input of image files and you need to make the data connect to the images in the first place. Typically there is a start up phase that will involve understanding and possibly normalizing the data with existing images or it might involve planning for new images and new data. This of course is the integration of data and applications. Then you need to create the tools that let users access and distribute that information as needed (and as security permits) - a good user interface.
So in the next post I will talk more about Who builds this warehouse. Please visit us at www.mgdocs.com
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Image Warehousing
Over the next few weeks I will be describing our Image Warehousing strategy. The outline for the next few blogs is this:
1. What is an Image Warehouse?
2. Who builds this warehouse?
3. Who manages this warehouse?
4. How do I get documents in the warehouse?
5. What will it do for me?
We hope to start this blog with this timely topic and then use the blog to expand on the challenging concepts that face all companies when it comes to the proliferation of digital files.
We invite comments from users in all industries, vendors of relavant hardware and software products, IT professionals and Academicians to join us. We have been doing this for 13 years and we have plenty of success stories, plenty of knowledge but soooo much more to do and learn.
Thank you and please visit us at www.mgdocs.com
1. What is an Image Warehouse?
2. Who builds this warehouse?
3. Who manages this warehouse?
4. How do I get documents in the warehouse?
5. What will it do for me?
We hope to start this blog with this timely topic and then use the blog to expand on the challenging concepts that face all companies when it comes to the proliferation of digital files.
We invite comments from users in all industries, vendors of relavant hardware and software products, IT professionals and Academicians to join us. We have been doing this for 13 years and we have plenty of success stories, plenty of knowledge but soooo much more to do and learn.
Thank you and please visit us at www.mgdocs.com
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