Virtual File Cabinet

Myth 1: A good Document Management solution requires expensive on-staff full-time administrator(s).

Myth 2: A good Document Management solution must be complicated and EXPENSIVE. 

Knowledge is defined as a company’s archive of employee experience, expertise in its field, patents, knowledge gathered and knowledge produced internally. Knowledge management is EAI (enterprise application integration) and is critical to a company’s success and service ability. Knowledge is also ensuring that each employee knows how their position fits into the company’s overall operational strategy, as to it's relation to other positions and the overall success of the company. How do we share this knowledge internally? Implement EAI and maintain a high degree of efficiency and productivity, yet with security.

Office workers are responsible for writing more than 80% of all original paper documents. It is time consuming and exhausting to retrieve documents stored in filing cabinets. Statistics show that the average working person in a traditional paper-based office spends an average of 15% of his/her time retrieving documents**. With an average of 7.5% of all paper documents lost completely, most companies require an effective disaster recovery strategy***. Furthermore, paper documents tend to deteriorate with time. The significant risks associated with ineffective record keeping in today's competitive and litigious business environment demand companies to adopt effective data and file storage system. Electronic knowledge management reduces the inconvenience and time often associated with knowledge and document retrieval. 

• You create filing cabinets and name them whatever is appropriate for the data to be stored in them.

• You set up indexes (up to 10) on the folders that reside in each cabinet. The indexes are used to sort the folders by those indexes, or, to search for a folder quickly by any of those indexes.

• You determine the types of documents to be stored in the folders of that cabinet, such as invoice, purchase order, utility bill, check, etc. Set up some of the documents to be paper clipped or stapled to each other, such as paperclip an Invoice, PO and Check together as they relate to one transaction. As you define the document type (Invoice) determine how you want to file it, ie; (Invoice # / Date) or key subject words which become the documents name.

• Once the cabinet, folders and document types have been defined, open the cabinet and create a folder. Open the folder, and from the document screen you can go to any drive to which you have access and import any documents pertaining to that folder and file them appropriately, regardless of what created them. You can scan in new documents, or, create new ones in your favorite word processing, spreadsheet, electronic forms or other program and they are filed automatically because you are already in the correct folder.

• Have your programmer, or us, create API’s to your ODBC compliant programs like SAP, PeopleSoft, Baan, SBT, HBOC Medical Software, SQL, etc, or automate your workflow to be event driven and employee specific.

EAI (Enterprise Application Integration) accomplished! Electronic Office Automation, Office Management, Records Management, Document Management, accomplished!

Many of you have already invested in some very good management programs, ie.; Finatra Payroll,  Ceresoft, PSIGEN, SAP, PeopleSoft, Oracle, SBT, Baan, HBOC's POM Medical Software, Pervasive SQL, MS Access, etc. All of these programs produce data and information that you need. The question is, to what do you interface them in order to combine the data and information that each produces with all other related documentation, and disseminate that information to decision makers? This would allow the paperless office, with workflow management, to become a reality for most of your companies, whether large or small.