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Implementing an electronic document management system EDMS
Date: 27/03/2008
EDMS has saved countless hours for staff searching through documents for specific information. But how can an organisation prepare for the implementation of an innovative system which will change the process of archiving altogether?
When implementing an electronic document/records management solution it can be a unique process to suit the specific needs of the organisation. Different methods can be used depending on what information is used and why.
Consider this:
If you are indexing documents you should compare the effort required to do this once, compared with the effort saved by having the data quickly available in future
Organising your capture
An important factor to consider is how you will be indexing and organising the captured documents so they can be quickly located later. You should consider the folder structure layout as other members of staff may use this and the less training required the better.
• Make sure the folder structure is logically organised so that browsing through it will be the quickest way to locate a document.
• The folders should relate to how the department is organised, this will give the users familiarity.
• Creating and maintaining a good structure requires some extra effort at first but this will reduce as the document storage is used over time.
• Folders are created to organise documents so include more than two documents in one folder to reduce large folder numbers.
How can the information be captured?
Automated capture can be done by scanning documents in a centralised or by distributed approach. A centralised capture is an approach where the documents are submitted to an external scanning operator; here all of the documents are scanned in by the same operator whereas a distributed approach would involve the departments scanning their own work. This process can save on labour costs but can also involve less organisation if more than one person is involved in the process.
Records managers often prefer the centralised approach because it gives them a greater level of control over which documents are scanned and also because there is a consistent level of organisation involved.
Security
Setting up security will vary between systems but there are some general guidelines you should follow:
• Provide access rights by group rather than individual user. This enables you to move users from one group to another rather than changing individual’s access right.
• Use Windows file encryption if necessary for extra security.
Preparing for the regular use of an EDMS
Considerations should be taken towards staff usage of the EDMS. Who would use it? To what degree does the organisation or department require collaboration? Will it work between departments? These should be considered towards the scale of the EDMS. This type of assessment would help you decide where to use it and how wide an area to use it in.
The staff should also be consulted regarding attitudes to new tools and techniques and how easy or complex the new system will be for them to use.
A good approach is to implement the integration into steps. What preparation is required for a smooth transition from paper to electronic archiving? It is best to consider additional features once the system is live rather than in the middle of the process.
With thanks to Bulletin magazine
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