What’s your most painful document process?
“The pain started years ago, but I’d lived with it for so long at that point that I’d accepted it as an inevitable part of me.”— Diwakar Sharma
The pain could be in the slow approval process.
The pain could be a lost or misplaced document.
The pain could be in the time taken to search for a document when required.
The pain could be in the time taken to receive a mailed or couriered document.
The pain could be in having to go to your physical work space to be able to access a document.
Where is the pain?
In Human Resource?
Is it in managing the performance of the human resource?
Is it in managing leave days and off days?
Is it in managing employee contracts?
Is it in managing onboarding?
In Accounts?
Is it in creation and use of invoices?
Is it in accounts receivable?
Is it in accounts payables?
Is it in audit?
In Marketing?
Is it in managing customer data?
Is it in customer communication?
or is it in Sales
Is it in minimizing legal procedures due to non compliance?
What are the three major (Core) areas of your document management process?
- How do you receive (capture )your information? Email, physical,fax
- How do you share (route) your documents- this is internally for approval or review
- How do you access/retrieve information? How is the information stored? In local drives, in filing cabinets?
When digitizing, start with the most painful document process.
(Digitization is the process of converting information into digital format in a systematic and organized manner for ease of searchability and consistency.)
How seamless are these processes in terms of time, cost etc?
- When capturing information.
- When sharing (routing) information.
- When accessing/retrieving information.
When capturing information
Are you capturing all the information received in physical form as paper documents through mailbox and courier service?
Are you capturing all the documents received through email or fax?
Are all the digital documents created and revised captured?
(Document capture is the uploading of information from documents or digitally created documents into a central digital storage space or repository.)
When sharing information
Are the documents directed to the right people?
Are the documents shared easily and efficiently?
Are documents shared on time.
When accessing/retrieving information
Are you able to retrieve your documents in the shortest time possible?
Can you access the documents even when you are not in the office?
Who is able to access the documents?
How have you stored your documents?
How can you relieve your document's pain?
By capturing your data from paper documents through scanning and storing in a central secure repository (e filing cabinet)
By capturing digital data received through digital devices and storing in a central secure repository (e filing cabinet)
How will capturing your data help?
Minimal time spent on searching for paper documents.
Minimal time spent on document reviewing and approvals.
Minimal time spent keying in data from paper into a system.
Minimal time spent in your business document process lifecycle.
“Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it”- J.K Rowling
Do you want to relieve your pain?
Electronic Document Management systems (EDMS) could be the solution.