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Application
Electronic document management simplified
Kumar Dawada answers six questions about Electronic
Document Management Systems, and looks at current and upcoming trends
I keep six honest serving-men
They taught me all I knew
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who
— Rudyard Kipling
Computers are good at handling organised data such as databases. They contain
facts. However, the essence of an organisation—its concepts, ideas and
insights—are found in documents and not databases. A document contains
real information. The style of presenting the information gives value, meaning
and insight into the information contained. Unfortunately, a document is unstructured
information. This is because it can be in any format—a letter, e-mail,
form, spreadsheet, memo, photo, report, sound, animation or video. It may be
in the form of paper or microfilm, an e-mail or a scanned image stored on a
hard disk.
Electronic Document Management (EDM) is a computer-based technology used to
manage electronic- and paper-based documents. It is a step forward in the quest
to create a paperless office, and is part of document management tech-nologies
that ensure a document’s availability any-where, anytime in the desired
format.
Document management encompasses several technologies.
- Electronic Document Capture (EDC): This includes
scanning, optical character recognition (OCR) and image or document conversion
technologies.
- Electronic Document Management System (EDMS):
This locates, manages, displays, distributes, indexes and provides version
control for a large collection of electronic documents in an organisation.
- Web Content Management (WCM):
It focusses on data collected on Web forms and through e-mail to ensure accurate
handling of information.
- Work Flow Management (WFM): It supports an
orderly flow of documents. In the case of many documents, especially legal
ones, policy decisions are created only after they are approved by a higher
hierarchy. Such documents must reach the right person at the right time in
the right order.
- Knowledge Management (KM): Relevant information
is required so that managers can take proper business deci-sions and gain
a business advantage for their company.
| When to use EDMS? |
| An EDMS has many features to ensure
security compliance. |
| Document security |
It includes providing secure access at the point of entry
as well as permission to access the document repository. It assigns special
rights and permissions to individual users and groups of users according
to the role they play in the organisation. |
| Document viewer |
It allows a user to view about 150 different file formats.
These include word processing documents, spreadsheets, data tables, image
files, project files, e-mail, and HTML and Web formats. It also has options
to compare two or more documents. |
| Version control |
A document version is an instance of a document which has
some changes or revisions vis-à-vis the previous version. Version control
allows a user to retrace the evolution of the document. It shows what changes
were made, when and by whom. |
| Document history |
It describes each action in the life of a document including
who performed what action, and the date, time and nature of the action.
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| Digital thread technology |
A digital thread (information tag) is attached to document
metadata every time it changes hands. |
| Centralised repository of documents |
It includes both structured and unstructured documents. All
publicly disclosed documents can be locked in final form as images so they
cannot be tampered with later on. They can then be stored or deleted as
per schedules specified in the compliance acts. |
Why EDMS ?
IDC estimates that offices worldwide produce 7.5 billion documents a year. Executives
spend 45 percent of their time working with documents, while 90 percent of the
companies do not know how much money they spend on producing and maintaining
documents every year. Document management is critical because it generates and
enhances business value. For some industry verticals, the documents themselves
are the final product e.g. for the print media, their books, magazines and/or
newspapers are a direct source of revenue. For many busin-esses, documents provide
support for their core product or service e.g. documents of lawyers, insurance
companies, consultants, government agencies, etc. Document management enhances
organisational communication because they contain important concepts, ideas,
info about business deals, and terms and conditions of settlement or agreement.
It enhances business processes and is a major component of organisational memory.
Document management is not done for the sake of the documents but for the benefit
of the users to help them achieve their business objectives. It puts the user
in control of knowledge which exists in the organisation. It merely structures
and organises the documents so that they are available when they’re needed
in the proper format.
Benefits of document management
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In future, smart
peripherals and EDMS will work seamlessly with wireless peripherals which
will provide the desired documents wherever you are
Som Gangopadhyay
Marketing
Office Systems & Solutions
Canon
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You know the status of the work. This improves work-load management.
The status of all work already done or currently being done can be known at
any point of time.
There is less duplication and accumulation. A docu-ment can
be quickly distributed or retrieved from across the network and routed to the
proper individual depending on the priority, content or workload.
You can do a content search. An EDMS lets you locate the
proper document every time by providing full text search. A user can specify
words, phrases, expressions, criteria, etc. which are then searched against
the index.
There is information sharing. Any document, be it text, graphics
or multimedia based, can be shared across the Internet or the company intranet
if required.
There’s better communication. Notes can be annotated to record ideas, suggestions
or changes.
Long-term storage and digital archiving is possible. There is no question of
a document getting lost or misplaced. Documents are protected by online security.
Disaster recovery can be done quickly. Archiving means moving outdated, old
and inactive files from primary to secondary storage. The EDMS searches for
them in archives and restores them as and when required.
There are no filing problems. Also, there is less requirement of office space,
people to maintain files, investments in file cabinets, folders and paper.
The business value of EDMS includes reduced storage investments,
centralisation of documents, faster and quality decisions due to organised and
quicker docu-ment availability, knowledge sharing and business continuity. The
system can be effectively applied to various industry verticals such as BPO,
IT, BFSI, legal, education, government and manufacturing.
| SOX and EDMS |
| The act that has had the deepest repercussions on document
management is the Sarbanes Oxley Act 2002 (SOX).
Section 302 of SOX mandates that
the CEO and CFO of a company have to certify that the company’s reports
show the actual financial condition and results of the company. They must
also certify that they have put in place and evaluated internal controls
to ensure that there is accurate recording and reporting of a company’s
performance. They must immediately report any deficiency in the controls
and any fraud on the part of the management.
Section 404 says that the
CEO and CFO must provide reports about internal controls to ensure accurate
financial reporting and assess their effectiveness. They must certify
that they are working properly and that proper actions are taken to remove
their weaknesses.
Section 103 requires that
documents must be stored for a period of seven years for auditing purposes.
Section 409 requires that
near real-time reporting of all important events must be made available
to investors and regulatory bodies.
All of the above can be
accomplished by using an EDMS with proper alerts so all relevant information
reaches the CEO and CFO who pass them on to the investors and regulatory
bodies on time.
Section 802 provides criminal
penalties for knowingly altering, destroying and concealing documents,
and introducing false records. For this it is necessary to hold all documents
in a secure system where no one in the company can alter them once they
are finalised.
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Time for EDMS
Due to the scandals engulfing Enron and Worldcom, strict
compliance legislation has been enacted in the US and elsewhere. The new laws
make business managers accountable for the information and documents held by
an enterprise. All documents have to be fully retrievable, accessible and auditable
throughout their lifecycle. Non-compliance leads to serious consequences. Companies
have to pay heavy fines, and CEOs and CFOs are personally liable if documents
are not in order.
| Anatomy of an EDMS |
| How EDMS works
The first step is to convert
the mass of paper into searchable electronic formats. Large volumes of
paper documents like marketing brochures, policies, and technical and
procedure manuals are scanned. Using OCR software they are converted into
searchable PDF or HTML files that are stored on file servers or archived
in a document repository.
Documents originally created
and updated electronically like Web pages or desktop applications can
be forwarded to higher authorities for approval. They can then be posted
on a company’s intranet or Web site.
Valuable documents can be
connected to database and file systems. By using Web browsers, employees
and business partners can collaborate on the documents, do version tracking,
e-mail alerts, instant messaging and have threaded discussions.
Implementing an EDMS
First understand the flow
of content in your organisation. How are the documents created, who approves
them, how are they published, how are they stored, who can access them,
how are they distributed, what is the lifecycle of the document?
The next step is to survey
the existing document management process in the enterprise. What are the
changes involved, and how are they to be introduced painlessly to create
a proper document management system? This is impact analysis. Find out
if vendor software works as it is; if not, how much customisation is required
in the software and how soon will the benefits be felt in the organisation?
Then focus on creating a central repository of documents, and provide
proper security, access control and workflow to allow documents to reach
the right person at the right time.
The technical requirements
include calculating the volume of documents generated daily, identifying
the types and formats of documents, estimating storage requirements, categorising
documents for faster retrieval, and facilitating remote access to a document.
Provide a public information
distribution system to distribute the information to investors and other
stakeholders or relevant authorities if the CEO and CFO feel it is important.
And remember that most businesses are not interested in adding new IT
infrastructure to existing technology—they just want software that
works the minute it is deployed.
Where should it be implemented?
Should you implement an
EDMS throughout the organisation or take just one department at a time?
A start-small, think-big and execute-fast strategy has its advantages
because a CIO can focus on a specific set of requirements, get his budgets
approved easily, and secure a quick return on investment.
Who benefits?
It is the business which
emerges the winner. The staff benefits by getting access to the latest
approved documents. Stakeholders, regulatory authorities, business partners,
customers and suppliers get relevant information without any delay. The
CFO rests easy due to compliance with industry regulations. The CIO reduces
overall IT cost and gains control of unstructured data. The CEO is able
to make quality decisions based on the timely knowledge provided to him.
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EDMS in India
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We plan to target the SMB market by addressing the basic
need to convert and make e-documents available for quick search and retrieval
for SMB users
L V Sastry
Associate Director
Xerox Global Services
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According to L V Sastry, Associate Director, Xerox Global
Services, the Indian EDMS market is worth approximately $40 million and is growing
at 20 percent year on year. “We plan to target the SMB market by addressing
the basic need to convert and make e-docu-ments available for quick search and
retrieval for SMB users. We are also focussing on building vertical re-usable
solutions,” says Sastry.
Xerox Docushare 4.0 is an EDMS solution that features document management, colla-boration
tools and electronic distribution. It targets document-intensive SMBs and enterprises,
and runs on the Windows, Solaris and Linux platform. The collaboration tools
help update and track documents. Recipients are notified when their content
is ready, and they can download it from a secure location. It has a portal view
to give a unified picture of documents and action items.
Som Gangopadhyay, Marketing, Office Systems and Solutions,
Canon, talks about their MEAP—multifunction embedding application platform—technology:
“MEAP allows Canon devices to function as part of the integrated enterprise
solu-tion, and turn multifunction devices into information hubs by integrating
hard copy operations into work-flow enterprise applications like DMS.”
| e-Document Forum |
| e-Document Forum 2005 will be held in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia, on November 20 & 21, at the King Abdul Aziz City for Science
and Technology. The main topics include document imaging, workflow systems,
record management, electronic portals, content management, electronic archiving,
knowledge management, storage management and information lifecycle management.
Presentations on EDMS will be made by industry specialists, government experts,
global market research firm IDC, the El-Ajou group, etc. |
| Some EDMS players |
- OpenPages: It is a major provider
of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance document management software solutions.
- Adobe Intelligent Document Platform:
It creates intelligent documents and integrates them into business processes.
It also automates and streamlines the processes to include customers,
partners and employees.
- Hummingbird Enterprise:
It provides an integrated platform for managing enterprise content through
its entire lifecycle, and provides a portal framework. It manages both
structured and unstructured content, business processes and business
solutions. It includes features like content and document management,
e-mail management, records management, knowledge management, enterprise
workflow, collaboration, instant messaging, query and reporting, and
data integration.
- FileNet ECM (Enterprise Content Management):
Its features include compliance, content management and collaboration.
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Future of EDM
Sastry feels that in the near future, EDMS will take over
many routine tasks and free users to focus on actual knowledge-intensive tasks
that only humans can accomplish. “EDMS will become more feature-rich, and
will have many paradigm shifts, especially in intelligent and innovative ways
of handling documents. Classification, taxonomy generation and auto data capture
are other areas where value can be added,” states Sastry.
Gangopadhyay feels that in future smart peripherals and EDMS
will work seamlessly with wireless peripherals which will provide the desired
docu-ments wherever you are and whenever you need them.
Only if a company knows what is contained in its documents can it become more
productive. EDMS helps the company to capture information and use its knowledge
to take the best possible business decisions and give it a competitive edge.
kumard@networkmagazineindia.com
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