Document Management and Integration with Business Applications

In the beginning, most of the Document Management and ECM solutions I sold were stand alone applications. Users would scan documents (say invoices) into the repository, and would use the search client to bring up documents by index field, or perhaps do a full-text search of the OCR'ed contents.

What I am finding today, as more and more IT folks get involved in the decision making process, is that integration is King. Applications must play well, and play easy with all other business applications within the organization. What does that mean? What does integration truly mean?

I have found that it means many things, to many different people. Below is a summary:

Basic Metadata Population
Wow, that is a mouthful. Basic Metadata Population, or BMP, involves the pulling of index field information from an existing source, and allowing the user to manually pick the information from a vendor field. The most common used case here is to present a popup list of information for the user to choose. Take for example, one of my customers that has PeopleSoft Financials. One of my engineers created a view within the PeopleSoft DB of all the vendors. When Purchasing is indexing their Purchase Orders, they see a listing of vendors directly from the financial system. This prevents rekeying of data that has already been keyed, prevents duplicate names or mispellings, and insures standardization.

Advanced Metadata Population
Another mouthful, but AMP takes population of index fields a step further, and provides autopopulation of fields based on a database lookup. For example, you might have a Vendor Number field that is entered, and the capture application will go and lookup all the information on that vendor and assign it to the document.

Screen Scraping
This technology is usually used to "scrape" information off the screen from an application, and use it to populate index fields, or to perform a search. Different functions can be tied to hotkeys, or some advanced applications can have a quicklaunch bar that will perform certain operations. For example, if you are in your financial software looking at a particular vendor, you can hit a hotkey and have all the documents for that particular vendor resented.

True Integration
True Integration requires application programming interfaces that will allow two applications to talk directly to each other. For instance, you can create a button in the tool bar of your financial application that will link to a function within your document management system, or ECM system. So with one quick click, you can find all the associated documents, or scan a document to a particular vendor file with all the fields populated.

Integrations always present some challenge, and it is important to make sure you are on the same page when talking to a customer or vendor to insure everyone is satisfied in the end.

For more info on Document Management and ECM, go to the following link:

ScanGuru Document Management/ECM Portal

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 Disaster Recovery

Disaster Recovery is always on the forefront of any solid IT strategy. Companies are becoming so dependent on technology that even the simplest power outage can wreak havoc on business operations. I am always surprised at the lack of attention paper files receive when it comes to the Strategic Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plan. Companies will spend ten of thousands of dollars on the latest backup and recovery software, offsite data storage and redundant secondary sites, but when asked "What will happen when a fire hits the corporate office and all the paper is gone?", I usually get a blank stare. This is mostly due to the separation of duties within any organization. IT Managers see the data as their responsibility, and go to any length to protect this vital resource. Paper files are almost always managed at the departmental level, by managers who are usually not aware, or educated on disaster recovery and Business Continuity planning.

When examining the overall process, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning are usually split into separate, but co-dependent processes. Below is a listing of each process and what they include:

Business Continuity Planning (BCP)

• Plan and Scope organization
• Business Impact Planning and Analysis
• Plan Development and Implementation

Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP)

• Planning process
• Testing of the plan
• Recovery procedures

So where does Document Imaging and Document Management play into this process? Paper needs to be a primary focus during the Business Impact Analysis and overall planning exercise. How important are the file cabinets? Can business carry on if all is lost? Is the paper just a redundant copy of existing data? How easily can paper records be recreated?

The whole disaster planning process is a long and arduous task, but organizations need to take into account all their assets to insure business continuity and full operational functionality. Implementing a Document Management and Scanning solution will backup necessary paper files, making sure all required information is available after a disaster.

See the ScanGuru planning section for additional articles and information on planning:

Document Management Planning

Document Management and Data Backup

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.

How to get started in Document Management

I often get asked the question "What is the best way to get started on my Document Imaging project?" And of course, the answer is always: "It depends"

The easiest way to begin down the Document Management path is by using an all too familiar device within every office: the scanning Multi-Function Device. Just about every office out there today has a scanning copier or fax machine that will allow you to scan to PDF or TIFF. I recommend you come up with a document/folder naming scheme within your department or company to make sure there is some standardization to the whole scanning process. This is an extremely critical step for several reasons:

• It prevents the paper mess that already exists from becoming a digital mess
• Standardization in the scanning provides continuity throughout the organization, insuring that you can locate the documents later
• Standardized folder structures and file naming schemes allow easy import down the line if you choose to migrate your documents to a true ECM or DM System.

The most important piece of advice is to have a plan, and make sure everyone sticks to it.

For some organizations, enforcing standards through the honesty rule just won't cut it. Wily end-users just won't comply, and ignore naming standards. In this case, the next logical progression would be to add some sort of capture software to enforce naming standards. If you are utilizing your copier, you can use an MFD Capture package such as eCopy or EFI's SendMe to require proper naming and folder locations. Information on these products can be found on the links page here Capture Software Links .

So, aside from the basic scan-to-file scheme above, what other options exist for getting started? Most of the software vendors in the Document Management/Enterprise Content Management space have basic entry level packages that can get your project off the ground at a relatively inexpensive price. One that comes to mind is the Captaris Alchemy Gold package (If you want really good pricing on this entry package, send me a note). Others include LaserFiche and Documentum's AX. All are fairly powerful systems that allow you to grow into their full-blown product line through upgrades or the addition of modules. Click here to see links to manufacturer pages Document Management Software.

Any way you choose, less paper is better!!

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