By Denny Hammack
Most people don’t buy enterprise grade document management software more than once or twice over the course of an entire career, so when the task arises, it can be daunting. In reality, it’s fairly simple. Use these five tips to narrow your choices:
1. Efficient Business Processes Are Top Priority
The best document management systems offer multiple methods for capturing and storing documents. Look for systems that make it simple for users, such as a “Windows-like” file repository and easy drag-and-drop capabilities. Some document management systems allow document capture using cameras on cell phones and mobile devices as well as from traditional scanners or email attachments.
With the right capabilities, document management can greatly increase the efficiency of your business processes. Accounts payable, for example, becomes much simpler when users scan invoices, packing lists, and inspection reports and link to payment vouchers, replacing the tedious process of matching, stapling, and filing hundreds or thousands of paper documents each day. The resulting increase in productivity enables staff to work on more productive activities, and increases accuracy as well as employee satisfaction.
Many other business processes benefit from the use of document management. Processing engineering change orders, purchase requisitions, student or employee applications, and proposals of all types are just a few of the “paper-intensive” processes that electronic document management can improve.
Identify the business processes in your organization that generate the most paper and ask the document management suppliers you are considering to walk you through how they can improve your processes.
2. Look for Tight but Flexible Security
Security is one of the most important aspects of document management, especially if you are in a regulated industry such as education, health care, or finance. The solution security should enable you to specify read, write, edit, and delete access separately for each user or group of users. You also may want to extend access to certain documents or folders to people outside your organization if you are working on joint projects with suppliers and partners, so make sure this is easily possible.
Look for archiving capabilities that help to ensure you are always working with the latest version of a document, and if you are planning to use the document management system for applications such as engineering drawings, make sure it includes check-in and checkout capabilities to keep revisions in sync.
3. Understand Your Needs Vs. Wants
Software suppliers are in the business of selling software, so they will demonstrate all their latest and greatest features. It’s easy to get caught up in their enthusiasm, and let emotions sway the ultimate choice. To avoid getting caught up in this cycle, do your homework before you start talking to suppliers.
Talk to potential users to find out which processes take the most time or cause the most problems, and brainstorm potential solutions. Use the Internet to find out what systems can do, and read case studies to find out what organizations similar to yours have accomplished.
Once you have a clear idea of the range of possibilities, sit down with the team to decide which capabilities are “must haves” and which are “nice to haves.” It’s unlikely that you will find a document management system that includes everything on your list, so it’s important to focus on the needs before the wants when you begin interacting with potential suppliers.
That doesn’t mean you can’t allow the vendor to show you the latest and greatest features. You may discover new and better ways to accomplish your required tasks.
4. Integration
One of the best ways that document management systems improve business processes is through integration with your existing business systems. Adding electronic proposals to opportunities in CRM, inspection reports to receivers in your quality management system, or customer specs to shop orders in ERP can all boost productivity, efficiency and accuracy—but not if you can’t integrate easily.
Don’t focus as much on whether the vendor has an existing integration to your current business system as much as on the vendor’s overall integration strategy and technology. Your business system landscape may change over time, and you want to guarantee that the integration technology of your document management solution can adapt with you as you evolve and grow.
5. Regulatory Compliance
One of the most valuable ways that document management solutions can help you is by ensuring compliance with government and industry regulations. Automatic workflows and e-signatures can confirm that all approvals and exception justifications are in place.
If there are regulations for how long certain types of documents must be maintained, your document management system can prevent deletions before the required hold time has elapsed. If you are governed by privacy regulations such as HIPAA, your document management system can help prevent unauthorized access as well as record each time a document is accessed so you can monitor usage.
Ask your potential suppliers to show you how they can help with the compliance requirements of your industry, and try to talk to references with similar needs.
By focusing on these five tips, you will be well on your way to selecting a state-of-the-art document management system that will improve operational efficiency, increase accuracy, and save you money.
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