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I thought it could work something like this: I buy a good document scanner. When a document comes in it is scanned and stored as PDF and then the orginal is either discarded (e.g. sales letters) or put in a folder (e.g. contracts, invoices)
Now I would need a software to manage the PDF files. It has to be a client-server solution so the files can be accessed from every computer in the office, and it should have built in OCR so I can search in the documents.
Does anybody have any experience with a system like this? Does this work? Are there any good and easy to use software solutions for small offices?
I did a little research but I could only find either single workplace solutions or products designed for big companies where you have to rent a whole archive server for thousands of Euros/year.
Complete nightmare slows everything down.
Excellent way of getting rid of paperwork.
What I do is scann the mail and store it as an image file, then I have a mail folder, within there I have a folder for each sender (add them as needed). In each senders folder I create a folder for the month and save the file to represent the day.
I find this does take a little time, but I have everything I need no more than a few clicks away.
Mack.
I have never lost data due to a filing cabinet failure.
OTOH I have had an unrecoverable data error from CoffeeMug Overflow. At least my digital files are backed up (twice).
Yep, once in the office and once online.
Fire, flood, earthquake....bring it on!
:))
LOL
It reminded me, i've have temporary data loss, until it was fully recovered. We had a metal cabinet which decided it would lock itself. The only way we got it open was to force it, and I tell you, it took some work.
Scanning documents is fine, but keeping track of what is where is the challenge. We ended up with a database linking to the files. That way we can search on the database (MS Access) and locate the link to the file. Biggest problem is making the correct link in the database.
We keep PDFs, word processing files and photographs, but we don't add new PDFs as it's too time consuming. It has not yet eliminated all paper documentation, but it has reduced some.
I'll probably keep it simple for now and won't use any of those complicated Document Management Systems. I guess sorting the documents into folders and a simple desktop search solution will do the job for now.
A summer-long scanning project reduced the need to about 3 of the tall filing cabinets. Afterwords, ALL of a client's information can be searched and brought up on the company LAN in seconds. No more searching for hours for information that was mis-filed or because you can't remember the client's maiden name before she got married.
The latest version before I left also seamlessly searched all MS Office file formats, .PDF files, and probably another dozen types of file formats (so you wouldn't have to waste time printing the file then scanning it in as a .PDF file). All you have to do is drag and drop the file using explorer, and the new file is automatically added to the existing "file" and indexed for search.
I believe now they you can also right click on an e-mail message (or other file) and save it to a client's file as well.
I got rid of HALF by producing and sending MY STUFF as electronic.
That's an excellent start. You can get rid of the other half (and save yourself a lot of time) by filing all your business taxes online, conducting your business banking online and never ever supplying business contacts with a bricks and mortar postal address. Oh and get rid of your office printer as well. Seriously.
Really, in 2009, there isn't much excuse for anybody sending you stuff on bits of dead tree or even for printing much stuff out. It's inefficient, expensive, time-wasting, space-wasting, environmentally questionable and almost always totally unnecessary.
That said there does seem to be great resistance in some quarters to paperless-ness. For example, I notice a lot of people print off their e-tickets when they go on holiday. Why? It's an e-ticket (ie. a six-digit code) isn't it? If you can't be bothered to memorise it (admittedly I can't) why not just write down the arrival and departure time and six digit code with a biro on the back of a piece of junk mail?
Really, in 2009, there isn't much excuse for anybody sending you stuff on bits of dead tree or even for printing much stuff out. It's inefficient, expensive, time-wasting, space-wasting, environmentally questionable and almost always totally unnecessary.
I have an employee that used to print out everything. When he got an email he did not simply answer it - he printed it out and put it on a pile on his desk. I guess that way he generated a feeling of having worked on it or something. It drove me crazy. Then I removed the printer from his office. (He was lucky I did not remove him.)
I have an employee that used to print out everything.
I've got a problem employee now with a similar situation. Hard worker, really cares about quality work, but prints way too much. He runs the day-to-day pull/pack/ship side of things. Policy is not to print an order unless it is a certain number of line items or complex in some way where using the printed order as part of the double-checking process is simply the smart thing to do. (No faster way to lose money than sending an order out wrong - and we don't.) We are set up so that the pulling and shipping is easily managed simply by watching the monitor. That office is well equipped. If it is twenty line items, or some bizarre combination of line items and quantities - then definitely print the order and use it as double or even triple check-off and sign-off for the order. This SOB prints every $@#%%&%# thing. One line item with a quantity of one - everything. Plain copy paper is cheap, but ink and total printed pages out of a machine are not. He may ultimately have to go because, for me, it is becoming an authority issue. You will adapt to what I f...ing want done. It's unfortunate, as his strong points are really strong; very high standard of work ethic. But I can't tolerate policy flouted. Exceptions, sure - I allow for judgment. What makes it worse it that I am not regularly 'on-site'. I must trust and rely on policies. There is no where he can go and make what I pay for what he does. His hard head is going to cost him a sweet deal if I can't find a way break him. He's definitely worth it to a point. I feel very good about his honesty and integrity. However, not being on-site all the time, I have to rely on checks and balances and don't have time for this. In the end, it is my money, my a.., and what I want is the bottom line. I'm really torn. Replacing him would suck. I can have his work covered by someone else for awhile without difficulty, but.....
I've got a problem employee ... Plain copy paper is cheap, but ink and total printed pages out of a machine are not. ...
Sounds like you use an inktjet.
The common way printer vendors make money: sell you a printer at (serious) loss, next rob you when you use it by overpricing ink.
Why not change your policy, get him a cheap to use desktop laser printer. There are printers out there for really cost just a hundred euro or so that _do_ print cheap per page. Check the cost per printed page by checking the price of the supplies of the printer before you buy it. Price of the printer itself quickly becomes irrelevant.
In the end it's the result that counts ...
I'm more concerned about counting on my people when they know that I am not always going to be personally on top of their doing what I want the way I want it. I have checks and balances, and very trusted people, so inventory control is safe - the only big risk
The issue is that one isn't going to get more responsibility if they aren't meeting clear and understood expectations now. In the end - up or out. Very few people are happy in the same job for long periods of time. I plan for that from Day 1. Anyone decent (there are exceptions) is going to want more responsibility, skills, money.....
I have the bigger horizontal filing cabinet in my office, so far 2000+ sheets have been scanned, and the lower half of the filing cabinet is now empty.
Everything gets backed up locally, and remotely.
The scanner turns the documents into PDFs on the fly, can scan front and back at like 18 sheets a minute, and then does OCR on the pdfs in your computers downtime to make the PDFs searchable.
A friend of mine gave me his older paper shredder, so this weekend I did 4 garbage bags full of old documents. It has been a great feeling to destroy all of these old papers.
My desk went from being cluttered to being cleaner then it has been in years. I did my taxes in record time this year (at least scanning/providing documentation to the accountant/etc).
I was using an all in one with a flatbed scanner and I was going through a refinance and had to scan like 60 pages... it took me 2 hours. This new machine it would take about 3 minutes. So it is a HUGE improvement.
I would say as of now, the technology is available for a good price, and will only get better and cheaper. I am shocked and really happy how good it is now though.
By the way they have 2 versions of this scanner. One comes with a higher end organizational software, but I got the cheaper one. The one I use you can have separate drawers in a filing cabinet, with folders and files. The other one also lets you set up "walls" and on those walls separate cabinets. And in those drawers/binders and folders/files.
Seemed like overkill for what I do.
I actually just got a Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 (about $350 usd with rebate) about 3 weeks ago and I have been a scanning mad man since.
I got the same. Together with a good desktop search programm this has been a revolution in my office. We now scan everything. When a customer used to call and tell us a product from his order was missing I always had to get the folder with the packing slips and look up which of my employees had signed for the particular order. However it took ages to find a particular packing slip. And they alone filled a whole shelf.
Now we scan and OCR them - one PDF file for one day - and throw them away. TO find one I simply type in the order no. in Copernic Search and all files to this order pop up and I can immediately see who signed for the order, what the weight was and how many items were packed. What took ten minutes before now takes 3 seconds.
Same with invoices and letters. I simply type in the name of a supplier and I have all documents right there on my computer.
But, I have to say, I much rather read a paper report as opposed to staring at a screen for hours. But I will say that Amazon's Kindle is a step in the right direction. I hope it will evolve into something similar to the handheld touch screens we see in futuristic movies. Now if only it wasn't so damn expensive ...
The biggest one seems to be carbonite. I use one called mozy, but there appears to be about 10-15 others that put your data in "the cloud".
There are all sorts of devices available for document scanning. There are portable ones, desktop versions and then some heavy duty corporate versions. There are many flavors of "all-in-one" printers that have a suitable scanner for this type of document archiving and storage. And, software is plentiful for the management thereof. Make the move now. Stop fiddling about and set the rules for moving forward.
I see many companies still holding onto traditional paper based systems. It is what they are used to. It is what most of their customer base is used to. Someone though has to break the chain and set the new benchmark. I've lost count on how many times I've told print clients that I would not send them paper statements. I'll send you a pdf statement via email if you want but we're not sending out paper statements anymore. The cost associated with those is quite hefty if you take into consideration all of the hidden time sucks. For example, I've been involved with studies on making copies in the office where the time it took someone to get up from their desk, stop to talk to a co-worker, then make a copy is calculated. When you add those costs up over an extended period of time, freakin' copies are expensive!
The technology to go paperless has been with us for many years. Someone needs to stand up and go into Accounting and tell them that you are not making copies of everything anymore! No more alpha copy, numerical copy, warehouse copy, accounting copy, just in case copy. < We call those "Marginal Words" in forms printing.
If you want to see a "copy" of something, go onto the Intranet and find it!
I remember the day I picked up my largest print client. "Who the hell made this a 6 part invoice?" Ummm, the CFO. "Let me talk to that bonehead right now!" Well, it sort of went like that. :)
