Document imaging or scanning allows you to deal with paper without letting it accumulate. To maximize the accessibility benefit of your electronic document management solution, establish processes to get your documents into an electronic format as soon as possible. Eliminate the physical copy of the document as soon as feasible to prevent clutter and confusion. To preserve privacy, the best practice is to destroy the documents with a quality document shredder. (Caution, please make sure your documents are properly imaged and backed up before you take that final step.)

Archiving

So you want to go paperless? Not sure where to start? The answer is literally right under your nose. If you have plans to eliminate or reduce your business’s paper consumption and records storage, the best place to start looking is on your desk. The typical desk is loaded with paper - mail, file folders, notebooks – you name it. Chances are the paper that is filling your file cabinet, the file room or the third floor – whatever the case may be – passed over your desk or the desks of your colleagues.

Start with the “live” paper in your office. Try not to think about how you are filing your records now. Traditional, paper-bound records management options are very limited by nature. Therefore, modeling after the “old way” is only going to prevent you from realizing all the benefits of a paperless office. Instead, start fresh - take a look at how some documents are generated by your business and how others are delivered. Then, consider how the documents could be generated or delivered.

Look at the Process, not the Result

You might find that many documents generated by your business never need to be produced in ink. For example, most businesses require hourly employees to submit a timesheet on a regular basis. The timesheet form is often printed, filled in by hand, submitted to a supervisor that endorses it, and eventually it makes its way into a manila folder. Most paper-based documents follow a similar path.

In a paperless office, the same documents could be exchanged and approved via email and then stored in an electronic archiving system. Most of the time and cost savings would be lost if the document followed the traditional path and was then digitized.

Saving space in the file room is nice, but set your expectations higher in planning for a paperless office. There are many solutions available, and some offer a lot of value beyond a file cabinet replacement.

Seek Cooperation

Seek the cooperation of your customers and vendors in going paperless too. Many companies can invoice you electronically, either by web, email or fax. You will find that many of your customers will appreciate it if you can provide them with the same types of options, eliminating physical documents from your invoicing process altogether.

Dealing with Paper in Your “Paperless Office”

Although seeking to become a paperless office is very fiscally worthwhile, for most businesses, becoming truly paperless is not possible. Some documents get delivered by letter carrier, and while some third parties will support your pursuit for a paperless office, others won’t or can’t. Even though your business still needs to deal with these paper documents, you don’t need to let them pile up.

Document imaging or scanning allows you to deal with paper without letting it accumulate. To maximize the accessibility benefit of your electronic document management solution, establish processes to get your documents into an electronic format as soon as possible. Eliminate the physical copy of the document as soon as feasible to prevent clutter and confusion. To preserve privacy, the best practice is to destroy the documents with a quality document shredder. (Caution, please make sure your documents are properly imaged and backed up before you take that final step.)

Archiving

Look at the Process, not the Result

You might find that many documents generated by your business never need to be produced in ink. For example, most businesses require hourly employees to submit a timesheet on a regular basis. The timesheet form is often printed, filled in by hand, submitted to a supervisor that endorses it, and eventually it makes its way into a manila folder. Most paper-based documents follow a similar path.

In a paperless office, the same documents could be exchanged and approved via email and then stored in an electronic archiving system. Most of the time and cost savings would be lost if the document followed the traditional path and was then digitized.

Saving space in the file room is nice, but set your expectations higher in planning for a paperless office. There are many solutions available, and some offer a lot of value beyond a file cabinet replacement.

Seek Cooperation

Seek the cooperation of your customers and vendors in going paperless too. Many companies can invoice you electronically, either by web, email or fax. You will find that many of your customers will appreciate it if you can provide them with the same types of options, eliminating physical documents from your invoicing process altogether.

Dealing with Paper in Your “Paperless Office”

Although seeking to become a paperless office is very fiscally worthwhile, for most businesses, becoming truly paperless is not possible. Some documents get delivered by letter carrier, and while some third parties will support your pursuit for a paperless office, others won’t or can’t. Even though your business still needs to deal with these paper documents, you don’t need to let them pile up.

Document imaging or scanning allows you to deal with paper without letting it accumulate. To maximize the accessibility benefit of your electronic document management solution, establish processes to get your documents into an electronic format as soon as possible. Eliminate the physical copy of the document as soon as feasible to prevent clutter and confusion. To preserve privacy, the best practice is to destroy the documents with a quality document shredder. (Caution, please make sure your documents are properly imaged and backed up before you take that final step.)

Archiving

In a paperless office, the same documents could be exchanged and approved via email and then stored in an electronic archiving system. Most of the time and cost savings would be lost if the document followed the traditional path and was then digitized.

Saving space in the file room is nice, but set your expectations higher in planning for a paperless office. There are many solutions available, and some offer a lot of value beyond a file cabinet replacement.

Seek Cooperation

Seek the cooperation of your customers and vendors in going paperless too. Many companies can invoice you electronically, either by web, email or fax. You will find that many of your customers will appreciate it if you can provide them with the same types of options, eliminating physical documents from your invoicing process altogether.

Dealing with Paper in Your “Paperless Office”

Although seeking to become a paperless office is very fiscally worthwhile, for most businesses, becoming truly paperless is not possible. Some documents get delivered by letter carrier, and while some third parties will support your pursuit for a paperless office, others won’t or can’t. Even though your business still needs to deal with these paper documents, you don’t need to let them pile up.

Document imaging or scanning allows you to deal with paper without letting it accumulate. To maximize the accessibility benefit of your electronic document management solution, establish processes to get your documents into an electronic format as soon as possible. Eliminate the physical copy of the document as soon as feasible to prevent clutter and confusion. To preserve privacy, the best practice is to destroy the documents with a quality document shredder. (Caution, please make sure your documents are properly imaged and backed up before you take that final step.)

Archiving

Dealing with Paper in Your “Paperless Office”

Although seeking to become a paperless office is very fiscally worthwhile, for most businesses, becoming truly paperless is not possible. Some documents get delivered by letter carrier, and while some third parties will support your pursuit for a paperless office, others won’t or can’t. Even though your business still needs to deal with these paper documents, you don’t need to let them pile up.

Document imaging or scanning allows you to deal with paper without letting it accumulate. To maximize the accessibility benefit of your electronic document management solution, establish processes to get your documents into an electronic format as soon as possible. Eliminate the physical copy of the document as soon as feasible to prevent clutter and confusion. To preserve privacy, the best practice is to destroy the documents with a quality document shredder. (Caution, please make sure your documents are properly imaged and backed up before you take that final step.)

Archiving

Document imaging or scanning allows you to deal with paper without letting it accumulate. To maximize the accessibility benefit of your electronic document management solution, establish processes to get your documents into an electronic format as soon as possible. Eliminate the physical copy of the document as soon as feasible to prevent clutter and confusion. To preserve privacy, the best practice is to destroy the documents with a quality document shredder. (Caution, please make sure your documents are properly imaged and backed up before you take that final step.)

Archiving

After giving the above some thought, you should be able to figure out how to keep most of your documents from making it to print. In doing so, you may have considered the following questions relating to the different types of documents you encountered;

• Where does the document come from?
• What format is it in?
• How does it relate to other documents?
• How is it used?
• Who needs to see it?

The answers to these questions should give you an idea about how your documents need to be archived, or filed away, and the basic capabilities of the archiving solution you will require.

Where does the document come from? What format is it in? – At some level, the archiving solution you select must be compatible with the systems that source your documents. If the documents are in an unusual or proprietary format, your archiving solution must be able to convert them into a format it can later display to you.

How does it relate to other documents? – Like documents in a folder, drawer or cabinet relate to one another in some way, so will their electronic counterparts. Much more sophisticated relationships can be established in an electronic system when compared to a physical file cabinet. These relationships are important, because they make it possible to easily locate the documents.

How is it used? Who needs to see it? – Why a document is retrieved from an archive or who will be looking for the document influence how the document will be searched for. For example, an accountant might look for a document relating to a particular invoice number, while a customer service person might look for that same document based on a customer’s account number. The archiving system you choose should provide a means of finding documents that is natural for all of your users.

There are many other considerations that are beyond the scope of this article; capacity, security and portability to name a few. Contact an information system consultant to ensure you get a system that is right for your business.

Document Imaging

As mentioned above, it is very difficult to keep all of the paper out of your office, but you don’t have to let it pile up either. Document imagining, or scanning, lets you convert any physical documents into a digital format. If you want to convert any existing files over to an electronic format, a document imaging solution is probably requisite.

Document imaging solutions consist of a hardware and software set, a scanner and supporting software. These two components may be sold together or individually, depending on the solution provider. As a rule of thumb, look for major brand names on the hardware