The Cloud: 5 Things to Do Before Adopting Cloud ECM

Don't Let the Cloud Kill Your Network

Companies have been slow to adopt cloud-based ECM for a variety of reasons: security, perceived lack of control and lack of integration.  Scanning high image volumes to the cloud can kill your network, and cause major issues.  Take these 5 steps to make sure a smooth roll out:

1. Assessment is key.  Doing a file assessment and analysis should be done immediately.   Take a deep dive into each of your departments, and figure out their scanning and capture needs.  Does your legal department want to scan 500 page documents?  Is back-scanning of file cabinets going to be a major portion of the project?  Does marketing want to scan full-page color?  Key areas to be identified are: large document scanning, color requirements, and high volume areas.  For more information on planning and assessment see here:   Scanning Planning
2.  Check your internet bandwidth, and monitor.  IT involvement from a monitoring perspective will be key to ensure you proper bandwidth to support your scanning efforts.  Batch uploads from large file scanning can kill bandwidth quickly, and create a user revolt.  Proof of concept and single department implementations can give great insight into network impact, and provide some great stats for follow on phase roll outs.
3.  Check your device settings, and control them.  Most scanners and copiers today will scan in full color if you let them.  File sizes vary to the extreme between black and white, grayscale and color.  Along with color settings, DPI should be controlled, and in most cases 200 DPI black and white is sufficient for most organizations needs.  Nothing kills a party like a 500MB color scan!!  Tips for Scanning Copier settings:  Copier Settings that Kill
4. Check your server side settings.   Does your ECM System  set file upload limitations.  Make sure from your file assessment that you will be able to handle all file sizes required.  If you cannot control these settings, or your provider will not change them, make sure you use a capture technology that can perform file splitting for you .
5. Timing can be key.  Depending on your requirements, it may be necessary to control large uploads.  For example, some customers have chosen to do their back scanning and large uploads during off hours / weekends so as to not impact daily operations.  Others will coordinate with a 3rd party scanning service to perform all their high volume scanning off site, with a planned, controlled upload during off hours.

Anything I missed?  Comments from the trenches?  Please post your comments.

SharePoint Scanning Case Studies

Ran into a great site with some really cool Scan to SharePoint Case Studies.  This company is out of the UK, Datafinity, and has several deployments where customers are scanning and capturing documents into SharePoint libraries.  Here are some summaries:

Kepak Group is a young, professional and dynamic business that has grown into one of Europe's leading food processing companies employing over 2000 people in nine manufacturing facilities across Ireland and the UK. Kepak installed PSI:Capture to manage the scanning and indexing of a growing volume of personnel files that needed to be stored and managed. PSI:Capture links to payroll and HR systems to retrieve index data, converts the HR files into text-searchable PDFs and transfers the files to SharePoint 2010.  “PSI:Capture has enabled us to scan large volumes of documents into pre-defined structures in SharePoint with the use of very simple drop-down menu options and links to our HR system” said Aine Black, HR Manager, Kepak Group. Read full case study

Haulfryn Group Ltd, an operator of holiday and residential mobile home parks across England and Wales, decided to deploy PSI:Capture Enterprise as their SharePoint 2010 Document Capture solution.  Using PSI:Capture in conjunction with Kodak document scanners, they now have an end to end capture solution that provides unmatched speed and automation, along with a simple, yet powerful user interface.  “PSI:Capture has made our whole scanning process robust,” said Stephen Lattimore, Business Process Manager for Haulfryn.  “We can now quickly reference our documents in SharePoint 2010 for audit and service.”  Along with the current scanning process, Haulfryn plans to add the processing of survey forms and other documents in the near future. Read full case study

The Fire Brigades Union, headquartered in Kingston-upon-Thames, needed a way to store large volumes of paper documents in their newly deployed Microsoft SharePoint 2010 document management system. They evaluated several scanning and OCR products available on the market before choosing PSI:Capture, because of its ease of use, quick implementation and unparalleled interface to SharePoint. The Union now scans many thousands of documents a day which are converted into text-searchable PDFs and stored in SharePoint providing instant access to all paper information for the Union staff located throughout the UK. Read full case study

Isos Housing, a housing association headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, is responsible for the day-to-day management of almost 12,000 homes across the North East, from Berwick in the north down to Stockton in the south, and across to Cumbria in the west. The company adopted PSI:Capture to enable them to automate the scanning and storage of invoices and other accounting documents in their Microsoft SharePoint system. PSI:Capturereads unique barcode references created from their accounting system, Open Accounts, to index and organise documents in SharePoint for quick and easy access by staff in their four offices across Northumberland.

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How do you want to find your documents?

Document Capture Drives Search

One of the first stages in planning for any scanned image repository is to ask the question: How do you want to find your documents?  Theories vary on best practices, but here are a few tips when designing a document capture implementation for any ECM system:

1. Limit your number of fields to 5 or less. So many times i see document scanning customers use way to many fields during capture.  The more fields you have, the more time for end users to index their documents, and the more chances fields will get skipped.  Take the time to interview the end users and truly find how they need to search for their documents.
2. Always use a date.  Dates are the ultimate filter that can be a life saver when searching for that needle in a haystack in a scanned document repository.  Invoice date, purchase order date, contract date, etc. give you the power to narrow down your search results to a specified period and can be a huge help in audit based searches or searches for legal support.
3. Use automation to reduce indexing time.  Document capture applications provide automation and efficiency, and can reduce end user keying requirements on documents.  Strong, accurate OCR technology, and Advanced Data Extraction (ADE) are absolutely required.
4. Ensure your technology has a QA step.  If you are going to go to all the trouble of scanning, capturing and migrating documents to a repository, make sure you can check your work.  Misfiling a document can a painful experience.
5. Full text search is the insurance policy.  Always, I repeat always, convert your scanned documents to a searchable format, PDF Image with Hidden text.  This will allow for granular searches beyond your index fields/columns, and can help you in the "find a needle in the haystack" tasks.  But do not, I say, do NOT rely on full text search as your primary search method.  Full text does not let you sort by specific document focused dates, cannot let you do range based searches on specific criteria, and restricts sorting and viewing in most repositories.

Just a few tips when designing your document scanning index fields.

Document Scanning and Capture Planning - Part 1 - Sizing and Storage

Been wanting to do this for quite some time, and finally had some time to sit down and put thoughts together.  I find that many of the scanning and capture implementations lack overall direction, structure and standardization.  I wanted to put together a manual from my experiences, and ask the community to add so we can build a reference for everyone to use.  This will be composed of many parts, including all different topics like storage, hardware, designing your index fields, etc.

Sizing and Storage Planning for Document Management and Scanning

One of the key areas of planning for any scanning/capture implementation is sizing and storage.   Many of the customers we work with have no real grasp on the volume of paper they deal with on a day to day basis, and when they make the migration to digitizing their paper, they are often quite surprised at the amount of paper they push through the system.  Obviously, this can cause some serious issues on many different fronts.   So how do you estimate the amount of paper?  There are several key conversion factors used by the document management industry, as outlined below:

Description	Number of Pages	Storage
1 Scanned Page – 8.5 x 11	1	50KB
1 Scanned Page – 11x17	1	100KB
1 File Cabinet – 4 drawers	10,0000	500MB
1 Box	2500	125MB
1 Linear Inch	100	5MB
1 E Size Engineering Drawing (48x36)	16 – 8.5x11	800KB

This table is a basic planning tool, and can be used as a starting point.  One thing to remember is that these are all standard pages.  Not full image magazine pages, but full text pages.  The other thing to keep in mind is that we have listed for boxes and file cabinets, the average number of pages contained within.  In the imaging world, we deal with images, not pages.  What is the difference?  A page may have 2 sides, which are converted digitally into 2 images.  So effectively, if you have a box with double sided pages you are scanning, you will have to double the storage required.

Some other key factors that can contribute to storage and sizing:

DPI Setting – one of the key questions we always receive is What DPI should I set on my scanner?  For most basic scanning and archive applications, you can set your scanner to 200 DPI.  If you are doing OCR or any type of advanced data extraction, you always want a 300 DPI image for maximum accuracy.  Anything beyond that is just a space killer, will slow down your process and really bloat your files.

Black and White, Greyscale and Color – always use black and white scanning to keep file sizes at an absolute minimum.  Greyscale and color scanning should only be used when absolutely necessary, as file sizes are just crazy.  Below is a table of file sizes for the same letter.  The letter was about 50% page coverage.

Scanning Mode/DPI	File Size
Black and White – 200 DPI	26K
Black and White - 300 DPI	38K
Black and White - 400 DPI	51K
Black and White - 600 DPI	80K
Greyscale – 300 DPI	301K
Color- 300 DPI	577K

Image Processing – image cleanup can significantly reduce file sizes, and it is very important to use this feature whenever you can.  Despeckle, deshade, border removal, etc. will eliminate unnecessary noise in scanned images, and reduce your storage requirement by 10-30% depending on the quality of your documents.

Image Format – There is a lot of misinformation on the market about TIFF versus PDF.  I always hear “We want to store as TIFF because PDFs are just too big.”  Just not the case.  An image scanned to as400 PDF is just a TIFF in PDF clothing (Or a PDF wrapper to be more exact).  The PDF overhead is almost negligible.  The de facto standard in imaging today is rapidly becoming the PDF image with hidden text.  This gives you a nice little file with the pristine image, and converted OCR text in the background.  The text layer adds negligible size to the file.

So now, with all this info, you can estimate volume in images, and then come up with required storage on a monthly, yearly or project basis.

The Power of Advanced Capture

In any Document Management or Enterprise Content Management System, there are four basic components: Hardware, Capture, Archive and Search and Retrieve. So what is the most important piece? Everyone nowadays seems to have the hardware. All of the copiers today have scanning capability, with the newer ones scanning at 70 pages per minute. The simplest archive is a series of folders on your server or workstation. And with files on the network, Windows Search, or the search capabilities within Abode allow you to find what you are looking for quickly (sometimes).

For the more advanced organization, they may have a Document Management System, or utilize Microsoft SharePoint for their archive and search and retrieve functions. But what seems to be lacking in most organizations, is a structured, automated way of capturing files. The argument of this BLOG entry is that Capture is the most important piece to any ECM or DM System.

As mentioned before, when we look at just about any office or organization today, they are scanning with a copier or desktop scanner. But inevitably, they take their paper mess and recreate it digitally. Why? No standardization in the process. Joe scans his files to his email and stores them in Outlook folders, Betty scans to her My Documents on her laptop, and uses a convoluted naming scheme that only she can decipher. They take their paper problem, and create a huge problem for IT. Disparate archives now pose a disaster recovery problem, along with the issues of accessibility.

So what is the answer? Advanced Capture. Advanced Capture applications provide the ability to set structure, and harness the capabilities of all the scanning hardware within the organization. They can provide standardization and structure, along with fantastic efficiency improvements. Take for example, PSIGEN's PSI:Capture. With its Microsoft SharePoint Migration feature, and auto-import capability, you can set all your scanning copiers to scan to a processing folder. Utilizing the barcode routing capability, you can create cover sheets for each library within your SharePoint site. When you scan, the software will pick up, process, rename and folder files automatically. The end result is a standardized folder structure, standardized naming scheme, and a searchable PDF all within your SharePoint site.

The other major contributor to efficiency within Capture applications is the ability to use separation technology. I see it all the time...the office that has 20 documents to scan. They walk up to the copier, and scan them one by one; a very time consuming process. With document separators, you can scan the entire stack and let the software split the documents, rename and folder them. Let the technology do all the hard work!

How do I scan documents into Microsoft SharePoint?

SharePoint was designed for collaboration with Microsoft Office, and it does a fantastic job, especially with MOSS 2007. But what happens when there are paper documents that need to be added to a site through a digital imaging or scanning process? What options exist?

Below are some key areas to evaluate before deciding on the type of scanning application you require:

Scanning Volume
What type of page and/or document count will your users be scanning each day? Scanning and Capture applications are divided into two separate segments: basic and advanced capture. For users that are scanning just a handful of documents, say below 20 per day, basic capture applications will suffice. What constitutes a basic capture app? All of the scanner manufacturers provide basic capture applications with their hardware. These applications allow you to scan to file (Usually PDF or TIFF), and then you can just use the SharePoint interface to add the file. There are some applications out there that actually interface with the SharePoint server to provide upload capability either directly through a SharePoint menu, or through a “middleware” application that interfaces with SharePoint.  You might also need to examine SharePoint OCR.  The links below provide information on several applications:

Scanning Applications for Microsoft Sharepoint

What if you have high-volume scanning needs where you are scanning boxes of paperwork into the SharePoint Server? This type of requirement will usually require an advanced capture application, like Psigen or Kofax, that will interface with a high speed scanner, allow you to utilize document separator sheets, and provide the ability to batch upload documents and metadata. Links below:

Distributed versus Centralized Capture
How do you envision your users scanning documents? Will you place the power of scanning in the end user’s hands, or will you have a centralized scanning process where documents are sent to a centralized facility for scanning? This decision is usually tied to the volume of scanning required, and most organizations will choose a hybrid method where both options are available. Placing desktop scanners in the hands of key users, or enabling a copier with an application like eCopy can provide a simple conduit into SharePoint for the masses. The centralized capture route is great for higher volume, or when you want to insure standardization and compliance.

Savvy or Technophobic Users?
Capture applications can be painfully complicated, or extremely simplistic. You need to gauge the learning curve for each type of technology, and insure acceptance. Simple is better for organizations that are new to scanning and capture technology. Making the process as simple as possible will encourage users to scan and add files to the repository. eCopy is an outstanding, yet simple application to get your feet wet in capture, below are some links to read up on eCopy:

What is eCopy?
If you have tech savvy users, and require a high horsepower application, checkout PsiCapture from Psigen or any of the other advanced capture apps:

Document Capture Links

SharePoint is a powerful tool for collaboration and sharing, and any of these applications can help image paper documents into the repository.

TIFF or PDF for my document imaging project?

Ah, the age-old argument…what file format do I use for scanning and archiving? TIFF, PDF, JPG, MDI, BMP? I will focus on the two most prevalent options, TIFF and PDF.

TIFF – TIFF stands for Tagged Image File Format and has become the industry standard for Document Imaging. All of the scanner vendors, Document Management Software and Enterprise Content Management vendors support this format. TIFF was originally developed by the company Aldus as a standard for imaging. Adobe has since acquired Aldus. The TIFF format provides compression to produce manageable image sizes.

PDF – PDF stands for Portable Document Format, and was created by Adobe for simple document exchange. It has quickly been adopted by the document imaging industry because of the proliferation of the Adobe Reader. There are 3 types of PDFs: Image, Text and Image+Hidden Text. The Image + Hidden Text gives you an all in one package if you want a searchable file. The newest PDF standard is the PDF / A, or PDF Archive standard. This PDF type will insure long term archival compatibility. It also sets a standard for an all-in-one package that includes metadata, OCR text and the image itself.

So which do you choose?? I cannot tell you how often I get this question from customers. My answer is usually in the form of a question: What are you going to do with the documents once they are archived? If you distribute them outside the organization, then PDF is usually the best choice, as Adobe Reader is on over 90% of the PCs nowadays, and you will not have to deal with someone trying to open a TIFF. If your documents are going to be used for internal reference, and will be viewed through a document management system, then TIFF is perfectly fine. Another consideration will be OCR text. Does your document management system work with TIFF and PDF??

Most software today will accommodate either image format; just make sure it will meet all your needs. You can find a wide variety of software solutions at Scanning and Imaging Solutions.

Scanning and Document Management with Microsoft Sharepoint

SharePoint is being touted as the "swiss army knife" of Enterprise Content Management. I have to admit, we use this tool for just about everything under the sun: sales pipeline management, deal tracking, project management, help desk , sales material library, etc, etc. It is a very solid application for a variety of functions, and it is so easy to create a site. You can easily download an application template, and within minutes have a site up and running. The customization is even easier, and adding columns and metadata fields is a breeze. The other day I was playing around in our demo room, and decided to try out the eCopy SharePoint connector to test scanning into my library. It was a breeze, and eCopy is fantastic, with seemless integration into the product.

I will write some follow on articles on the subject, as I am finding more and more prospects asking about SharePoint inegration and scanning into the application. I have done some basic research on scanning utilities for tha app, links at:

Microsoft SharePoint Scanning Links

And for some great reading on SharePoint and Planning:

Microsoft SharePoint Information Links

More to follow.

Document Management and Image Processing

Image processing is an area that is often overlooked when implementing a Document Management, Document Imaging or ECM project. In some cases, it can even be the key to success or failure, depending on how you are using the images. So, what exactly is image processing? It is the use of software to enhance or improve scanned images and the underlying content. An example would be that nasty copy, of a copy, of a copy of a fax. This page would be seriously speckled, very faint and could have a black border on the edges. Image Processing software can remove the speckles, enhance the text, and remove the border, resulting in a legible, clean, small image.

Many scanners on the market include image processing functions within the scanner driver. My Canon 9080 has border removal, deskewing and color drop out included within the driver. For basic, image only applications, this may be enough (Note: Setting these options may reduce the throughput of your scanner significantly). If you are relying on clean images to provide searchability, then you usually have to go with more powerful image processing software, such as Kofax Virtual Rescan (VRS). VRS provides a broad array of image processing features, and comes in two flavors: Basic and Professional. For an overview and comparison of VRS features click on the following link VRS Basic versus Professional Features.

For additional information on image processing and all the benefits, there is additional info at the following link ScanGuru Document Management and Image Processing Article.

Document Management and Data Backup

It is amazing how often data backup is left off the planning list when it comes to Document Management, Enterprise Content Management and Digital Imaging. For larger scanning projects, creating 600MB per 4-drawer file cabinet can wreak havoc on even a robust backup system.

When planning for backup, there are several areas on which to focus:

Size of Data Repository - You need to take into account the size of your repository today, and perform some projections to estimate the size as years go by. This will help decide which backup technology you will need to choose to support your backup and restore operations.

Speed of the Backup Technology - This is so important, and yet often overlooked. You can have massive backup storage capabilities, but if you only transfer 1 MB to tape every hour, your backups will never finish. When examining backup options, do some quick pencil math, and figure out how much data transfer you will require to complete the backups.

Recovery - How will you recover your data in the case of a disaster? Remember, if your server room burns down, and you were using a $5,000 tape drive to backup, you will need to have another $5,000 tape drive to recover data once you rebuild your server room. Other technologies can offer recovery capabilities without requiring a specific piece of hardware to recover your data.

Testing - Always test both backup and recovery to make sure your data store is complete. Also, perform some testing before you go live to uncover any issues you might have in other areas, sucsh as network bottlenecks, etc.

There are many areas that are vital in planning for a Document Management System, and backup and recovery are essential.

For more specific information on backup options, I have another article on specific backup technologies Document Management Data Backup Options

Document Management and Accounting Departments

It is an interesting landscape out there in the accounting world today. More and more organizations are trying to become as "paperless" as possible, but the inflow just keeps increasing. There are so many options out there, and with every major accounting software vendor now touting their "Document Management"module or add-on, what are managers in this department supposed to do?

Although I am a proponent of the pilot program philosophy, especially with ECM and Document Management, there needs to be an organizational plan and strategic vision. If every department put their software vendor solution into play, IT would have a major nightmare handling multiple disparate systems to manage company documents. Along with that, the majority of specialized departmental software falls way short in the capture and scanning portion of their functionality.

So what is the answer? Find a solid enterprise solution that can be customized for each department's specific needs. Easier said than done, but in focusing on Accounting and Invoice Solutions, here are some key points:

• Focus on document capture - a quick, easy and reliable method for converting paper into digital format is essential. Utilizing a capture front-end such as iCapture can speed up the scanning process, and make the documents available to end users quickly.
• Look at integration - Most accounting software will tout this as a major advantage to their Document Management modules...one place for all your info. In reality, no one piece of software can be a "jack of all trades"; let the Accounting Software do what it does best, and find a Document Management vendor to handle your documents. All of the major vendors have Software Development Kits (SDKs) and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that allow you to integrate these systems with just about any application on your network.
• Look at possible future initiatives - That system may have a rock solid Accounts Payable piece, but what about all the other document types? Contracts, POs, invoices, vendor information, tax info, etc. Ensure that the system you are evaluating can handle all document types, and not just specific functional areas.
• Get end users involved - There are so many key factors to success on these types of projects, but success will always lie in the end users ability to quickly adapt and utilize the system. Get their feedback and acceptance before moving forward.

Accounting Management realizes their need for Document Management, but the task is daunting, and in most cases totally overwhelming. Get your IT involved, and a reputable vendor with implementations in like organizations.

Scanning with your Copier or Multi-function Device (MFD)

How do you get the most out of your scanning copier?

The copier manufacturers (Konica, Sharp, Canon, Kyocera) have really stepped up to the plate in recent years, and focused on the scanning capability of their hardware. Connecting to the network with your copier used to be a costly option, but would enable the unit to print and scan. Almost all the copiers today are sold with built-in network capability, and you instantly have network scanning capability.

So why would you use a copier rather than a dedicated desktop scanner? There is an article posted at www.scanguru.com that has a list of pros and cons to both device types - Copiers versus Dedicatd Scanners for Document Imaging , but the focus of this article will be on how to best utilize your copier for scanning.

Most of the MFD/MFPs allow scanning to email, scanning to SMB or network folders and scanning to FTP sites. It is interesting, and I find that most organizations will only setup scan to email. Users email themselves documents, open the attachment, rename it, create a folder and then save. As you can imagine, this is a time consuming, very manual process. The scan to folder function on most models is also a very manual process, as with most models you have to "hard code" the folder destination, and you cannot navigate folders on your network.

So how do we improve the scanning process, and make our document imaging simpler and more efficient? Through the use of software.

In utilizing software in the scanning process, there are two schools of thought:

• Scan to the network, and then go back to your desk and desktop software to process the document
• Process the document at the Copier/MFD at the time of scan

Let's look at these in more detail.

Desktop Processing

Let's look at the flow of this solution: Walk up to the copier, press a one touch button, walk back to your desk and open the software to process. The majority of the Document Management and ECM Software vendors have realized the enormous potential in enabling the use of copiers as a "front-end" for capturing documents, and have "copier-enabled" their applications. Once you scan from the copier, the document is placed in a queue for indexing/processing at your desktop. You can view the document, enter index or keyword values, and then submit the document to your Document Management System to be shared. Document Management Software vendors such as Captaris and Docuware have built simple, easy to use Copier capture modules. If you have some heavy duty processing needs, you can use Psigen or Kofax products and their document import function to process copier scanned documents.

If you have more basic needs, all of the Desktop scanning manufacturers have great feature sets for processing and working with scanned documents (eCopy Desktop and Nuance PaperPort to name a few). The links below have a listing of the majority of the software manufacturers:

Document Management Software Capture Software Desktop Scanning Software

Processing at the Copier

The flow for this solution involves a touch screen and keyboard at the copier: Scan your documents at the copier, touch a button on the screen for the document destination, enter your information and click done.

These solutions are very convenient and allow you to finish the scanning process at the time of scan. You can scan to email, scan to network folders and browse the network, scan to fax, scan to your desktop, and even scan into a variety of Document Management and Imaging Systems through the use of pre-built connectors. The two market leaders in this category are eCopy ShareScan and EFI SendMe. They both have similar feature sets, but eCopy definitely wins the race with the partnerships it has established with Document Management Vendors. Go to the link below for additional info:

Copier Capture Solutions

In summary, scanning with your copier is a great way to leverage your existing investment in office equipment. The process can be streamlined, and efficiency can be gained through the use of software.

For more info on Document Management and Document Imaging, go to www.scanguru.com

Sarbanes Oxley (SOX), Document Management and Compliance

So what is Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), and how does it apply to Electronic Document Management Systems?

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, aka the Public Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002, was signed into law after a myriad of high visibility corporate accounting scandals, such as: WorldCom and Enron. The act affects all public companies, and places high requirements on accounting standards, improved corporate reporting controls and visibility into the financial inter workings of an organization. The act imposes personal and criminal penalties for financial mismanagement, and enforces strict accountability.

The main crux of the Act requires executives to personally affirm the validity of financial statements, and also requires auditor attestation and complete documentation for backup on the statements.

So where do Document Management Systems come into play with respect to Sarbanes-Oxley?

When an organization is looking to comply with SOX requirements, there are many roadblocks:

• Large volumes of documentation are required for verification and audit purposes.
• Many of the accounting practices and procedures are very manual in nature, and the processes for monitoring, tracking and auditing is prone to human error.
• Total visibility to the entire financial picture is almost impossible with paper-based systems.
• De-centralized document storage can make a full and complete audit impractical.

An Electronic Document Management System or Electronic Content Management System can provide simplified means to comply with SOX:

• Having a centralized electronic repository for search and verification can minimize effort, and maximize an organization's ability to find key documentation.
• The ability to automate the scanning, indexing and archiving of documentation allows for centralized monitoring, reporting, tracking and auditing of all compliance activities.
• Centralizing all documentation allows for a key strategic view to all compliance critical information.

In a nutshell, technology allows the organization to simplify and centralize all the efforts surrounding compliance. For more information from http://www.scanguru.com/ , click on the link below:

Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) Document Management Compliance Links

Document Management, HIPAA and Compliance

So what is this HIPAA thing, and how does it apply to the management of Documents? Here is my understanding, and an overview of the basic details.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was put in place to protect personal health information and to improve the process of information transfer through standardization. The Act was put in place in 1996 as a "kick in the pants" to the Health Care industry, designed to place requirements on how patient information is handled, transfered and maintained. From a technical perspective there are several areas of focus:

• Standards on electronic transactions
• Standards on code sets for information
• Provision for unique identifiers for employers and providers
• Privacy of individual health information
• Security and Digital Signatures

The first two areas of focus were created to standardize the transmission of administrative and financial healthcare transactions. This definied, standardized format is to be used for any number of transmissions, including claim status, payment and remittance as well as referrals and authorizations (and many others).
From a Document Management perspective, the real impact is on the privacy and security portion. This section is the most controversial, and holds the healthcare entity liable for any breach of patient confidentiality or disclosure of private information. Organizations are required to create privacy policies and procedures and manage the patient records. Below is a summary of the privacy requirements:

• The right for patients to copy and inspect their health information
• Required training for employees on privacy regulations and procedures
• Policies and procedures are required for the disclosure of information and access
• Patient authorization for the disclosure and/or use of private information
• Documentation of access, use and disclosure

These are just a few of the requirements.
An Electronic Document Management System, or Electronic Medical Record System provides the best path to HIPAA compiance. The correct system will maintain proper security, audit all access, and allow policies and procedures to be enforced.
Some additional compliance links at:
Further information on HIPAA and Document Management

Network Scanners for the Paperless Office

There is a new weapon in the quest for the paperless office: the network scanner. It the old days (a year ago) the only way to get network scanning was to buy a scanning multi-function device (fax, copier, etc). The major scanner manufacturers were behind the power curve with the exception of Canon. Now Kodak, Fujitsu and Canon have all released network scanners. Below are some descriptions and key features:

Fujitsu fi-6000NS

This product retails for $2,995 and is built on the popular fi-5120C platform. It scans at 25 pages per minute, and allows scanning to network folders, email and even network fax systems. All of this is accomplished through an 8 inch programmable touch panel, and integrates with Windows Active Directory. The only drawback here is the basic warranty is only 90 days onsite (you have to buy service contracts for anything beyond). Review of the Fujitsu fi-6000NS

Kodak ScanStation 100

The ScanStaion 100 also retails for $2,995, and scans at 25 pages per minute. The system allows you to scan to network share, email, printer or USB drive. The system also has a touch panel and integrates with Windows Active Directory. The USB feature on this model is really cool and lets you "scan and carry" documents. The unit comes with a 1 year warranty.
Review of the Kodak ScanStation 100

Canon ScanFront 220

The Canon ScanFront is the cheapest of the models at $1,995 and offers many of the same features, but at 26 pages per minute (note: if you do scan 2 sides it slows to 35 ipm). The Canon scans to email, Network folder and FTP. It also has a fingerprint reader option. It inlcudes a 1 year warranty. Review of the Canon ScanFront 220

These scanners are a great compliment to any office, and allow shared usage. More info at ScanGuru Document Management

Key Features- Scanning/Capture Applications for Law Firms

What should a Law Firm look for in a scanning application? Here are some suggestions:

Barcode Separator Functionality - Separator pages allow the user to insert a specially coded page between documents in a stack. Once scanned, the software uses these pages to determine when a document begins and ends. This allows the scanning of many documents at once, rather than scanning one at a time. There is also the notion of "intelligent separators" which allow you to encode data on the separator page, such as case, matter, attorney, etc.

Image Enhancement - These tools, such as Kofax's Virtual Rescan, will automatically adjust contrast and brightness, remove problematic colors, remove speckles, and thicken fonts. If you want the highest quality image, with the least amount of scanning operator intervention, this is a key component to any scanning system.

Indexing - The application should allow for the entry of case and matter information, and this should allow you to automatically rename the files based on these values, and create folders. Rapid indexing features should allow quick entry of these fields for multiple documents.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) - OCR takes the scanned image, and converts it to a text-based format. When looking at this feature, it should allow conversion to the following 3 formats: Adobe Image + Hidden Text, Word/WordPerfect and plain text. If you can test the software, see what type of results it provides with several sample firm documents.

Export - Depending on how you are managing your cases, the application should offer maximum flexibility on where you can direct the end product. I have several firms that use multiple case/document management systems, depending on the case type and size. Folder Export, Summation, Alchemy, SharePoint, etc should all be supported.

Bates Numbering - Get rid of that old stamp!! Most Advanced Capture Applications provide the ability to digitally Bates Stamp your documents. Huge time saver.

Obviously this is just a starting point, but these are some necessary features that will make processing documents easier, and much more efficient.

For more info, go to www.scanguru.com

Why buy a Document Management or ECM System?

The Business World is a rapidly changing entity, and technology helps adapt to these changes quickly and will help a company keep its competitive advantage. Paper has always been an inefficient medium for conducting business processes, and recently has become a key focus for Business Process Improvement (BPI) initiatives. So what are the main reasons for a company or organization to move towards the paperless environment?
Below are the two main categories:

Operation Efficiency and Business Process Improvement

-Through the use of a DM/ECM system, operational costs can be reduced. A primary example of this is floor space. A 4 drawer file cabinet takes up about 8 square feet of floor space. Multiply this by the number of cabinets and what you pay per square foot on a lease, and this can be a significant waste of dollars. Along this same vein we can examine the costs of handling and process paper documents. It is estimated that a single file folder can cost $25-50 to create, and that a lost file has a cost of $125 – 300 (depending on the cost of the employee time and recreation costs). This is a small sampling of how Operational costs can be reduced.

-Using a digital repository can improve productivity. This is an obvious benefit. Any time you can reduce the time required to perform a required task, that time can be applied elsewhere. A basic online search for a customer file requires about 5 seconds. To accomplish the same information lookup with a physical file cabinet can take 10 – 25 minutes, or perhaps even days if the file is held in offsite storage. This is just for basic lookups, and not complex searches, which could take weeks if performed through the physical file system.

-A DM/ECM system can provide improved customer service. Take for example a large HMO Claims Department. Members call with questions about claims, and with the old paper system, they were put on hold until the physical claim could be retrieved. Now, it is viewed instantly, and information passed within minutes.

-Managing customer documents efficiently can lead to improved customer retention and acquisition. The ability to manage contracts, expiration dates, equipment lists, etc. quickly and easily, along with improved customer service, will ultimately result in enhanced retention and acquisition if managed correctly.

All of the above will result in improved operating margins, and ultimately, increased profits.

Risk Reduction

-DM/ECM systems are imperative to those organizations subject that are subject to compliance laws and regulations. The ability to produce records, provide documentation during audits, track access to documents, and track transactions is now required in certain business verticals. Financial Firms, Non-profits, Healthcare, Government and others are now required by law to fully manage and track many operations within their business. ECM/DM system vendors have focused on these requirements and the law to ensure compliance when it comes to retaining and tracking documentation and access to records.

-A document repository can reduce litigation exposure for an organization. The ability to retain and recall documentation and records at a moments notice can be imperative in any legal situation.

-Document Security is often an overlooked area within an organization’s security plan. An online system gives the ability to track access, changes, additions, deletions, etc. For more info on ECM/DM security go to the following articles: http://www.scanguru.com/page.php?9 and http://www.scanguru.com/page.php?10 .

-An ECM/DM system allows for the backup of critical files. What would happen to an organization if their file room was destroyed by a fire or flood? Business Continuity Planning is a critical theme today, allowing an organization to insure that a disaster of any kind will not bring business to a halt. Scanning paper files provides the ability to backup and restore key business documentation.


For more information on the above topics, visit http://www.scanguru.com/ .

Key Factors for ECM Project Success

Many of the Document Management and ECM System Implementations fail right out of the gate due to several factors. Most of them revolve around planning, and project definition and focus. Below are some key areas that are imperative to a project’s success:

Infrastructure
A huge part of the planning for a DMS/ECM System is examining your organization’s network infrastructure and ensuring it is ready. Implementing a system with inadequate resources can provide wrong end user perceptions. Focus should be placed on the below items:

-PC Clients – the client PC’s should have appropriate horsepower to handle their specific tasks. Obviously, basic search clients will not require extensive resources such as memory or hard drive space, but a scanning or OCR station may.
-Network – It is time to get rid of those hubs your brother in-law gave you, and upgrade to 100MB, or in some cases (at the server), Gigabit technology.
-Server – adequate memory, processor and storage is a necessity.
-Backup- often an overlooked area, planning for system backup, now and in the years beyond is very important.


Simplicity
There are so many technologies out there that are incredible, powerful, and just way too complex for any normal human. If it is too difficult to use, end users will not accept the technology, and inefficiency will result. The goal is to make the user interface as simple as possible, but have the necessary complexity behind the scenes to achieve your goals. eCopy is a great example of this principal. On the surface, it is a simple touch screen panel, but behind the scenes, many complex operations can occur without end user intervention.

Acceptance
So many times I hear prospects say, “My people will never use this”. The move to ECM is not only a move in technology, but a change in process and attitude. The benefits and power of the system need to be explained and accepted by management and the end users. There needs to be a commitment to the technology and the change, as well as a setting of expectations. I see so many projects fail because they are not given the chance to succeed, and are doomed right out of the gate due to a lack of support from management. Never accept “We will try it and see how it goes”.



Pilot Program
Always, always start small and grow. Phased implementations work the best, by starting with a certain department or document, and then expanding. This gives the end users the ability to move slowly in the right direction, and it gives IT the ability to identify any problems or areas that were missed in planning. It also allows slow cultural change, which is so important to overall success of the projects. Users can take their time, and slowly adapt to the technology in a certain facet of their daily duties, rather than being “thrown into the fire” with a full move into a paperless environment.


The keys to success for an ECM or DMS are numerous, but the items listed above are key focus areas for the success of any system.

Levels of Document Management and Scanning

The Levels of Document Management and Scanning

The landscape of Document Management applications and hardware grows larger every day, and the options can be daunting for decision makers.

What do we need?
How do we best optimize our process?
Do different departments require different pieces of the puzzle?

To simplify the explanation of Document Management “Solutions”, below is a Level System that can help to breakdown the different offerings in the Document Management space.


Level I – Basic Scanning

A Level I solution consists of a scanning device, either a dedicated scanner or a scanning multi-functional device (MFD) such as a scanning copier or fax machine. These devices can usually scan to PDF or TIFF image formats. A Level 1 Solution can also include basic scanning software to help in acquiring the image, and this is more prevalent in the dedicated scanner market.


Level II – Basic Capture

Capture Software integrates with scanning hardware to allow the user to work with scanned images within their Windows desktop environment. Some common features in this software include:
· Image processing (Deskew, despeckle, black border removal, etc.)
· File manipulation – combining scanned files, splitting them, page rearranging, inserting and deleting pages
· Optical Character Recognition (OCR) – conversion of images to text
· Ability to email, print or fax image files
· Annotation of image files
· Sharing of scanned files between PCs
· Keyword entry and search capability

Some examples: Nuance PaperPort, eCopy Desktop

Level III – Advanced Capture

Advanced Capture software provides for automation when scanning documents. The goal of this solution is to speed up the capture process, providing the ability to scan, index, separate and verify documents. Common features are:
Distribution Capabilities
The ability to use document separator sheets while scanning.
The ability to read barcodes and assign the information to document properties/index fields.
Enhanced image enhancement settings
The ability to index multiple documents
Quality Assurance and Verification
Automatic import into an existing Document Management System.
Basic document workflow creation.
Forms processing and data extraction

Note: Most Document Management systems have built in capture modules with some of these capabilities.

Examples: Psigen ScanHQ, Kofax Ascent, eCopy

Level IV – Document Management System

This level includes software with a variety of components or modules, all with the goal of capturing, managing, searching and distributing all types of documents. Most DMS vendors have a wide variety of modules, features and functions, including the following:
Scanning
Email capture
Drag and Drop addition of files
OCR
Advanced Search and Archive
Records Management
Fax capture
Workflow
Integration with other applications

Examples: Captaris Alchemy, FileNet, Laserfiche, Hyland Onbase

Level V – Custom Solution

A level V solution is composed of one or several of the elements above. These elements are packaged together to for a custom solution, and integrated with existing applications to provide enhanced efficiency, centralized metadata storage/access, and minimal effort by personnel in the task of archiving and moving documents throughout the Enterprise.


Each of these levels can build on one another, so an organization can enter the world of Document Management without taking on a Level V solution right out of the gate.


Stephen Boals
sboals@scanguru.com
http://www.scanguru.com