Document management policy

Document imaging and scanning is the process of storing a company’s information for easy retrieval and to save space. It is also advisable to set up the following:

• A Document Information Policy that establishes documents as important organisational assets with procedures for their classification, structure, security, management and monitoring

• A Retention Policy that determines the type of information being held, the retention period which should be irrespective of whether the original is paper, microform or electronic and the criteria for review and ultimate destruction.

If you go to the UK Public Record Office site there is useful advice and information on what should be held and for how long.

• An Information Security Policy is essential to ensure confidentiality including Data Protection.

• A Business Continuity Policy, ensures that vital records are protected in the event of major equipment, environmental or personnel failure.

It’s important to implement electronic document management roles, responsibilities and procedures for the following: 1. Document preparation and batching 2. Photocopying 3. Scanning 4. Indexing 5. Quality control of captured images and data 6. All rescanning 7. Document workflows 8. File transmission and migration 9. Backup and recovery 10. System maintenance and administration 11. Retention and disposition

Detailed information should be maintained for all hardware and software components. It is also important to see advice on the maintenance of comprehensive Audit Trails.

Document management

Maximising the value of information locked in an organisation’s documents requires placing information at the fingertips of decision-makers working in remote offices. Good document management gives your people instant access to information at all times of the day and night, allowing your staff to work at peak levels of productivity.

Good document management will:

• Reduce costs associated with paper storage and photocopying • Make sharing information between people, offices and continents easy • Prevent the disruption of day-to-day business caused by natural disasters such as fire and flood and human misfiling.

Good document management offers:

• Intelligent search for instant document retrieval • Automated OCR and indexing to reduce labour and clerical mistakes • Comprehensive security to protect digital archives from unauthorised access • Electronic and image-only documents with user-defined indexes and digital archiving to provide long-term document preservation.

Document scanning

Document scanning companies will collect your documents direct from your office and once scanned securely shred the documents if required and supply a security certificate as proof. If you do not wish the documents to leave your office, some document scanning companies will provide scanning on site.

Government departments use specific document scanning companies where the security arrangements are audited on a regular basis. Once scanned, documents on CD ROM can be easily viewed or transferred to a web-server for secure password protected online document management anywhere in the world.

Secure, space-saving, time-saving, high speed, high quality document scanning is a simple cost effective document management tool. Sophisticated scanners have the capacity to scan over 500,000 pages per day into almost any format including JPG, TIF, PDF, HTML and OCR. There is special software that can recognise hand-written and computer printed characters, ticks, crosses, bar codes etc, and integrates with other computer applications and databases.

On a single CD ROM you can store up to 3 filing cabinets of paper including invoices, correspondence, documents, books and magazines for easy storage, access and duplication saving the many hours that are lost each week by office workers searching for files and information.

Most companies backup their electronic data but use old-fashioned filing to store vital bits of paper. A devastating fire can cause enormous practical problems for businesses driving some to the wall. CD ROM disks can be duplicated and stored in a number of secure places.

Alternatively, it is feasible to undertake the scanning yourself. Leading manufacturers of scanning equipment for business documents include Agfa, Banctec, Bell + Howell, Canon, Contex (large format), Epson, Fujitsu, Imaging Business Machines, Kodak, Microtek, Océ, Panasonic, Ricoh, UMAX, Xerox and VisionShape with Zeutschel suitable for book scanning.

When considering which scanner to buy, you should work out what your average daily volume is likely to be, the type of documents to be scanned i.e. whether double-sided scanning is required, the size and texture of the original paper and whether you require colour scanning. Damaged and delicate documents may also require a flatbed scanner.

Efficient document management can be a simple, cost-effective time-saving way of sharing information within your organisation while also securing it from fire and flood and even theft. We have listed on the right of your screen links to a number of companies that provide a document scanning and management service.