Part 5 – A Viable Solution
Realizing the benefits of effectively organizing and indexing documents is only the tip of the iceberg when you consider the possibilities provided by a fully-featured document management system. I have witnessed how companies have successfully refocused their employees from performing unproductive roles like constantly searching lost documents into roles that directly derive revenue for the organization.
Here are a few ways that document management helps your organization:
• Workflow – Eliminates manually routing documents for approval and physical signature. Through automated workflow solutions documents are automatically routed to individuals for approval and digital signatures. This includes an electronic audit trail and provides remote users easy access to approve documents.
• eDiscovery – The threat of litigation against companies and the associated subpoena of documents is a nightmare scenario for many companies. If your company employs document management policies and tools for document indexing, records retention management, and document distribution, inquires for information can be handled quickly and efficiently.
• Document Scanning – By digitally scanning and archiving paper documents in your organization you gain great efficiencies searching on documents while providing a simple means of business continuity through disaster recovery.
• Version Control – When creating documents using a version control system, the author can record snapshots of their document at any point in the document lifecycle. This permits the author to lock in a version of the document for historical purposes that can be referenced later in the development cycle.
• Subscriptions – Receive automatic email messages notifying you when documents are modified or added into the system.
ColumbiaSoft Document Locator is one such system with a proven track record of helping companies organize their documents. ColumbiaSoft Document Locator provides a document management system that is integrated directly into Microsoft Windows 7 and Microsoft Office. The ingenious design creates a user interface that appears in Windows like a shared map drive and appears in Microsoft Office applications as its own ribbon in the toolbar. By embedding document management functionality directly into the applications that are used everyday, employees can seamlessly transition to using powerful document management functionality without significant investment in training and changing their regular work routines.