Consider document management for paper control

You may have heard the term “paperless” and wondered how wonderful it would be to get rid of all of the paper stashed in various places around your office.

For the small business, hidden caches of paper seem to be abundant. And if you are like most “pack rats”, you find it hard to throw away any of those old reports.

So, why not implement a new DMS (document management system) and get rid of it all?

Good idea, but start slow. Many organizations try to bite off more than they can chew with a new DMS and end up scrapping the project before a real benefit can be seen.

What’s DMS? A document management system (or software) is designed to capture and track electronic versions of your documents. For example, some systems allow you to scan an image of an original piece of paper where the image (typically a PDF, portable document format by Adobe) is then stored in a repository for easy retrieval.

In some systems, this scanned document can be edited to produce another version of the document. This is normally helpful when an electronic original can not be produced.

Useful tools such as web-based search and integration with popular word processing programs are available with most systems. This integration is typically referred to as IDS (integrated document management).

IDS helps you leverage existing technology by giving you the ability to use office productivity software, such as Microsoft Word, to edit and track version changes to files.

DMS and IDS are part of a larger methodology called ECM, or enterprise content management. This is the phrase that you may have seen time and time again in your inbox.

In summary, ECM is the technologies used to store and retrieve digital content. You can think of a good ECM system as on that allows you to capture important information and easily retrieve it to your computer screen (without having to make a copy and create more paper).

There are many systems out there for managing documents and/or giving you techniques to store information in electronic format. Just remember, have an idea of what you want to store and how it is going to get there (created on the computer or scanned into the system).

If you keep your document scanning initiative simple, you will have a higher success rate at implementing the project. And you may find some extra space in your office that was once occupied by a box of paper.