Easy Isn't Always Nirvana

I am going to go out on a limb and say that most companies, outside of highly regulated industries, use a combination of shared network folders and individual user folders on the network to store and manage files like spreadsheets, Word files, scanned documents, reports and presentations.  The companies that have moved away from that approach may have adopted SharePoint, Google Documents or Box.  The beauty of all of these approaches to file management is that it is easy to create a filing structure and it is easy to add new files.  Users can copy, paste, add and cut their way to nirvana.  For a while, it is nirvana.  But at some point, it turns into a confusing mess.

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If your company has a shared drive that is only sharing headaches, give us a call.  We have helped many companies get to a better place.

www.mgdocs.com, info@mgdocs.com, (630) 279-0577 x122

To Destroy or Not to Destroy, that is the Real Question.

The destruction that I am referring to is not sinister or borne out of a desire to blow things up.  I am simply referring to the difficult decision that many companies agonize over when considering destroying their documents after those documents have been scanned.  

Fear not, there are answers available to help make the best decision, one way or another.  Read More

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Training, Overlooked and Underappreciated

I am a firm believer in the benefits of training.  A few of my reasons are as follows:

- Training leads to more consistent results
- Training leads to a shorter learning curve
- Training reduces the incidence of bad hires

These are all positives for any company and for all employees.  So why is training neglected or avoided?  I can think of a few negatives to training also, such as:

- Training takes time and time is money
- Training is boring and nobody pays attention
- Training is difficult in a fast changing business world

These may have some merit but they do not outweigh the benefits noted above.  So what does this have to do with document workflow or imaging?

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Digital Document Organization - Got Folders?

Does your company store all of its digital documents in folders on a shared network drive or in static SharePoint folders?  If the filing method is by folder, how was that folder structure designed?  What are the rules for creating new folders or changing the names of existing folders?  Are there any requirements before a file can be saved to a particular folder?  How is security managed across the folders?  Why all the questions?

These are important questions when your company is trying to figure out how to be profitable and grow based on a critical business asset - Information.  After all, if your employees cannot find the information that they are looking for, the business is likely in serious trouble.  Read More

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A little Out There

Here are a few thoughts that might be a little out there but they do have some merit.

A national digital document Recorders Office.

Many, many years ago a great idea came about to have local governments keep “recorded” copies of real estate documents.  The purpose was generally to ensure that ownership could be proven and the legal relationship was recorded and recognized.  Each local government runs its own recording office for properties in its jurisdiction, but there isn’t a statewide or national “Recorder”.  This is also primarily a paper based process with actual document stamps.

With digital signature technology, endless online storage and internet access, it is easy to see how one entity could be the "Recorder" of all real estate transaction documents.  That would save governments countless billions of dollars on labor, storage and systems maintenance as well as user’s time and money for submitting and finding documents.

Location Services to connect you with your files and data.

Read more - Millennia Blog

www.mgdocs.com, info@mgdocs.com, 630-279-0577 x122

Taking Inventory of Your Digital Folders

There used to be a frequent occurrence at retail stores called "taking inventory", an all-night process with an army of workers.  It was a process of manually counting each unit of every product on the shelves to confirm the actual inventory with the inventory on the books.  Together with other data like deliveries this helped confirm sales numbers, but that was about all the data was good for.

This process has come a long way with the use of purchasing systems, UPC codes and registers with barcode reading, all feeding the same database.  Inventory is now up to the minute and able to generate automated workflows that send out restocking orders to the vendors.

So where is this going relative to document imaging and digital document management?  The analogy is the same when comparing the use of a static file folder method of document storage with the use of a database driven document management application.  A well designed file folder system on a network drive or in the cloud should allow you to find a document quickly if you know where to look.  If you need more that, you should use a database driven system.

Read More here - Millennia Blog

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Ready, Set, Start that BPA Project (but only after reading this first)

The effort to improve a business process seems easy enough.  Map out the required information flow. Create a list of the parties involved.  Understand the security and legal requirements.  Crank up the visual workflow tool and get started.

Sometimes it does work that way, but sometimes each of these steps reveals deeper issues, missing data, incorrect data or inaccessible data.  Don't be discouraged, these issues can be solved and you can achieve the ROI that you desire.  Read on for a few ideas on how to succeed.

Millennia Blog

www.mgdocs.com, info@mgdocs.com, (630) 279-0577

Millennia Group provides Document Imaging, Workflow and Archival Applications along with Document Conversion Services.