Document Management Systems (DMSs) are the most relevant kinds of office administrative systems that work like invisible assistants. Indeed, every business has a different set of regulations pivoting around the paperwork and information on it. The customers always welcome any strategy that enhances organizational efficiency.
While strategy around effective document management is one thing, implementing the right methods and using perfectly matched tools goes a long way in driving productivity. Here are the top 5 ways to achieve the same.
1. Implementing an Electronic Workflow
A workflow management system that thrives on electronic records is bound to make tasks easier for the staff.
Many tasks may require an employee to leave their desk or leave the department but integrating electronic workflow processes can now facilitate the same by sitting at the desk.
When exiting the work computer, it is still possible to use inter-office email using smart devices to get the work done. Ensuring effective documentation allows all users in the work ecosystem to make comments on files directly on the files themselves by annotations and stamps rather than sending out emails about file status.
2. Multi-System Integration for Efficiency
There cannot be any impacting documentation ways to have a Record Management Systems integrated with other systems.
Documentation has become popular due to a team effort of DMSs and print management systems. Above-the-counter systems like uniFLOW have robust printer management and scan software.
For mobility-driven documentation, users can opt for a lighter and secure app like Lugelo. It allows capturing and logging files in JPEG. These files are stored over a secured cloud infrastructure and shared amongst the people within the same group.
At a more sophisticated level, businesses can also blend in the OCR and IDR to an existing RMS, which can transform documents into a required file type such as HTML or Word.
This automated method eliminates manual data entry, which saves employee time and thereby ensures improved productivity.
3. Leveraging Multimedia Document Management
Finding a file using conventional storage methods is difficult due to the absence of full-text scanning. This is why adopting a hybrid documentation method that includes images and videos with text is highly beneficial.
Finding a file in a paper-based documentation storage system is time-consuming for identifying the right set of documents. Multimedia document management systems are useful in eliminating storage space, coupled with providing ease of searchability.
Also, these are highly shareable with others having the same requirement without affecting the original ones.
4. Documents Organization
Using one or more ways of organizing key documents helps by enabling ease of accessibility. Users can eliminate misfiling, retyping, retrieval of paper and electronic documents, physical records, digital files, and e-mail. It helps you to oversee all your organizational knowledge on one platform, regardless of the document type.
Leveraging the true potential of documentation requires creating an enterprise-wide policy. It should focus on a record management solution giving key staff immediate access to data that helps them make informed decisions about problems that affect your company’s bottom line.
Smartly stacking the physical document is one thing but processing the papers would require a more automated solution. This should enable business executives to help their work processes with an effective document management solution providing more efficiency and communicating more effectively, which ultimately leads to better, informed decisions that accelerate business growth.
5. Prioritizing Access Management
There is also another aspect to effective documentat management beyond the scope of traditional file systems, and it is about security. Many businesses would still prefer to go conventional with documentation, but there is a need for digital protection of documents.
It must not be restricted to only password and other authentication methods but must apply for the data encryption, which is more powerful than any lock and key.
Furthermore, system administrators must be assigned digital documentation over mobile apps and computer systems to distribute access, read, and write rights for the documents.
Access management is a key aspect of documentat management where the owner may select which individuals and departments have access to which documents and how much access is granted.
Taking the documentation processes over the cloud would mean ensuring sufficient backups for the information. Also, unlike paper, flood and fire cannot kill your records, nor do your servers experience harm resulting from the loss of information if you can store them on the cloud.
It is crucial to audit documents (of any medium: photograph, video, etc.) that allow the document owner to monitor the author of any documents that have accessed and edited the same. Moreover, on the compliance and legislation front, such precautions are best as they are routinely reviewed without allocating several most productive hours of the day.
How to Implement Effective Document Management?
One of the easiest ways to improve an office’s productivity is effective document management. Any documentation system’s goal should be to have employees spend less time searching and handling documents and more time on high-value tasks driving long-term business. This is only possible when the document lifecycle is simplified and efficient.
The article is contributed to the actiTIME blog by Musa Mawanda, Ph. D – the Founder and CEO of Lugelo, a mobile and web app for private journals, scrapbooks, biographies and storybooks.
