What does paperless mean?

As I see more and more offices move towards the paperless office, i have realized it definitely pays to take the slow road. The major issue in almost any Document Management project is the human factor, and their ability to accept and use the new technology. Overload the employees with difficult and complex technology, and you may as well have thrown your investment in a bonfire. Organizations will always have different technology adoption rates, even when they are in like verticals. The best course of action for any organization is to choose a vendor you can trust, and that has a strong track record within your industry. A Document Imaging Solutions professional can assess your current situation, your ultimate destination, and then map a technology path to the promised land. Any vendor that is recommending full-blown, enterprise wide systems from the get go is just trying to pad their pockets, and will ultimately leave you a mess you will not be able to clean up. Figure out your pain points, come up with a reasonable budget/technology that will solve the problem, and then go for it.

There are some great planning resources here:


Document Management Planning

Document Management and Security

Justifying your Document Management, Scanning or ECM Project

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

How do I scan my file cabinets?

How do I go paperless?
What type of scanner should I buy?

These questions are becoming common in today's business world as the inefficiencies of paper can be eliminated through the use of the proper hardware and software.
The back-scanning of large file rooms can be a huge task, requiring the purchase of equipment, software and usually, some extra employees. Below is an outline of steps to take before moving out on this "paperless" adventure:

Evaluate your current paper files.

How much paper do you have? A good benchmark is that each four drawer file cabinet has bout 10,000 to 12,000 pages depending on how tightly the doors are packed (if you cannot fit any more files in, lean towards the upper number). Now, each page consumes approximately 50K of server space, so an eintire cabinet is about a CD of data, or 500-600 MB. Also take a look at the prep work that will be involved. It amazes me the number of staples folks use when archiving paper files. One simple staple in the left corner never seems to be enough, and I have even seen 5 per packet or document. This will all add to the prep time as you remove staples, post-its, etc. How long will it take to scan the files? Do a benchmark test on a sinlge files and then multiply it out.

Should I outsource the scanning of my file cabinets?

Once you have evaluated your file room, and seen how many files you have, you can get a feel for how long the task will take. With a 90 page per minute scanner, a file drawer will take about a 1/2 hour to scan (that includes a few jams). Then there are the index fields, which depending how many you have per document, can add some additional time. After looking at all these factors, and what it would cost in time, some folks just decide to outsource. Document Scanning Bureaus usually charge a per page fee, plus some additional labor charges. Depending on your market, the cost per page will range from 5-12 cents per page, plus an hourly labor fee. So that 4 drawer cabinet will run you anywhere from $500-1200 plus some labor fees.

How do I figure out what scanner and software to buy?

THere are a ton of options out there, and several websites that can help. http://www.scanguru.com/ is a good place to start. There are some additional articles, and links to many of the vendor sites.
I will go deeper into each of the questions above in separate entries in the future.

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