All about integrated document management

Perhaps the best way to explain Integrated Document Management or IDM is to review the various features of today’s document management practices. A total picture of a technology empowered modern document management system should then emerge.

Modern Data Capture Methods

When computers came into offices, documents were created through data entry from transaction documents such as paper invoices, through the use of application programs such as word processors for correspondence and reports, spreadsheet programs for computational statements and such. These procedures created digital documents that could be managed more efficiently using the computers.

Scanning and Optical Character Recognition software made it possible to transfer paper documents to the electronic document data base. This meant that users could now access even paper documents (or rather their copies) quickly instead of sending a request to the filing section and waiting for the document to arrive.

Several other options are available to capture data in today’s scenario. These include:

• Programming computer controlled machines to generate data online and transfer it to the DMS
• Entering data from the field using handheld devices or POS terminals and transmitting them to the central system
• Reading barcodes on paper documents, packages and even products to generate different kinds of information and transfer it to the system
• Scanning paper forms and transferring form data direct to concerned database fields

Modern Data Storage Methods

Originally, computer documents were stored on tapes or disks, including floppy disks. Then came disk systems with ever increasing storage capacities, and networks where data were stored in a central server, to be accessed by the workstations attached to the network.

Nowadays, data can be stored on the Web, and accessed from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. Documents generated anywhere can also be transferred quickly to this Web database (or content management system). The result was that global corporations with offices all over the world could now function almost like a local office.

Accommodating Documents of Different Kinds and in Different Formats

In addition to text documents, modern businesses work with documents that contain image, audio and video information. All these kinds of information has become an essential part of business content. It follows that an Integrated Document Management system must be able to work with all these kinds of documents in a seamless manner.

Each kind of document can also come in different formats, open standards or proprietary. IDM systems will have to cope with all the formats and generated an integrated flow of information.

What Do Integrated Document Management Systems Achieve?

Integrated document management systems seek to achieve two major objectives:

• Enhance the speed and quality of business processes through efficient workflows. All kinds of data are captured quickly into the system, and processed to generate meaningful information. Databases might be optimized for speedy transaction processing, or for querying and analysis as in the case of data warehouses
• Make knowledge management a reality. In addition to specific querying of all the data in the data warehouse, and reports generated by transaction processing systems, new techniques like data mining seeks to identify patterns that users might be quite unaware of (and might not be able to formulate relevant queries)

As related to documents, workflow means moving documents through a sequence of actions that help complete business processes. This typically involves moving the document from person to person, with each person being responsible for completing certain actions, such as:

• Reviewing a received document for making any suggestions
• Approving a document for authorizing the relevant action, such as submitting a proposal to a client
• Getting signatures of persons who must sign a document before it becomes an authorized document
• Tracking progress of projects or problem solutions
• Doing any other action with a particular document, as when it needs to be translated into local language
• Approving final disposal of a document after its expiry date

Workflows in the Paper Documents Era

Paper documents are moved physically from person to person, with a person typically designated to attend to this task where the volume is large enough. Such physical movement poses several risks such as:

• Misplacing the documents resulting in the documents becoming untraceable
• Losing a document during transmission in the absence of foolproof transmittal processes
• Documents reaching unauthorized persons as when it is stolen by an interested person
• Delays in completing business processes as when a document has to be retrieved from storage

These problems made managers welcome digital workflows when technology made it a possible alternative.

Digital Workflows

Digital workflows involve creating documents in a digital format and converting paper documents into that format. Digital documents become part of an electronic workflow that has several advantages such as:

• Physical movements are eliminated as the documents typically reside in a central server of a network that can be accessed by all workstations connected to the network. This can minimize the possibility of loss and damage
• The progress of a document can be tracked from one’s own workstation as when a sender checks whether the recipient has taken needed action on the document. This can often be done simply by retrieving the document and checking it
• Recipients of documents can be alerted about pending documents by the computer program itself, through emails when the documents arrive and through system generated alerts when a document has been pending beyond a certain period
• In a busy work environment, a person might not be aware of whom to send the document or what to do next. Electronic workflows can attach rules to document categories that enables the person look up what to do next
• Routing documents becomes a flexible and convenient task. You can select a recipient and then send the document to that recipient along with any necessary instructions. This can prove a significant benefit where a document needs to be routed in a different way than usual.
• Simultaneous access to the same document is also possible as the documents in the central server can be retrieved by more than one person at the same time (though modifications might be restricted to only one of these concurrent users).

The above is only some of the major advantages. In practice, electronic workflows can improve business processes dramatically. Many of the tasks can even be automated, for example.