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IT4
SOLUTIONS >>
Document Management |
Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS)
provide an organization with the tools to create,
manage, control, and distribute electronic documents.
Before going further, this would be a good place
to define what we mean by "document."
In the context of EDMS (or "the EDMS space"
to use the latest buzz terminology), a document
is essentially a file. A file, in this usage,
is an electronic, digital container for information.
A document may be a word processing file, or it
may be a graphic image, email, or any other discrete,
identifiable information unit that can exist within
a computer system.
Understandably, the tools used to create and distribute
files—word processors, spreadsheets, graphics
programs, and the like—have concentrated
on their core functionality, leaving document
management to the operating system. Which meant,
essentially, leaving it out in the cold. Consider
that most employees have a much better idea of
the contents of their supply cabinets than they
do of the electronic documents generated by their
business. We're talking about the critical intellectual
assets upon which their business relies. Clearly,
there is a problem here.
Do You
Need Document Management?
Before answering this question, try a quick round
of 21 Questions....
- Can
each member of your group quickly find
any relevant document created by any
other group member?
-
If not, how long does a typical "document
quest" take?
-
How often is your staff obliged to embark
upon document quests?
-
Can you call up a list of documents
and, simply by looking at the list,
know the nature of each?
-
Is it clear which client any given document
is associated with from the file name?
- Can
you quickly define the content?
-
Are documents consistently labeled and
stored?
- Can
you easily gather together desired documents
that happen to be physically dispersed
throughout your network?
- Do
you have a single point of access to
your document repository, such that
a single query will turn up all relevant
documents regardless of physical location,
format, and source application?
- Can
you count on key staff members having
the capability to view any document,
regardless of source application (e.g.
spreadsheets, graphic files, word processing
documents, database tables, etc.)?
- Or
must you take the time to convert a
Microsoft Project Gantt chart to a bitmap
so that coworkers can see it?
- Can
you control who can see each document?
Who can edit documents?
- Do
you have a detailed record delineating
every action taken by every user on
your system with respect to every document
in your repository?
- Do
obsolete files linger on, consuming
space, requiring nightly backup?
- Are
key historical documents missing in
action?
- Have
three people taken the same document
home over the weekend, only to cancel
out each others' changes on Monday mornings?
- Can
you quickly call up a list of documents
related to a particular Matter? Or by
a specific Author?
- Can
you continue to work while your network
is down, without missing a beat?
- Can
you quickly locate any document in your
firm associated in any way with say,
ice cream trucks?
- Is
there ever any doubt as to which copy
of a document is the authoritative version?
- And
whose document is that anyway!
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If you
are not fully satisfied with your answers to these
questions, then it's time for document management.
Contact
us today to see how IT4 can help you
manage the vast array of information on your network.
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