Paper-Mess to Paper-Less

Paper‐mess
to
Paper‐less
Larry M. Phelps
Copyright 2012, 2013 by Larry M. Phelps
Revision 1
All rights reserved
ISBN: 978‐1‐62050‐547‐2
2

Table of Contents
Introduction ……………………………………………………………………… 5
Are You Using Old Technology or New Technology? ………….. 7
A Paper Book about Going Paperless ……………………………….. 9
What Is EDMS? ……………………………………………………………. 11
A Few Terms to Know …………………………………………………… 12
Chapter 2: Benefits of an EDMS ………………………………………… 14
Saving Money ……………………………………………………………… 15
Reducing Clutter and Saving Space ………………………………… 22
Saving Time …………………………………………………………………. 24
Creating Meaningful Workflows …………………………………….. 27
Keeping Your Information Secure ………………………………….. 31
Bridging the System Gaps ……………………………………………… 33
Chapter 3: Choosing the Right EDMS System for You …………… 36
Functions of a Good EDMS ……………………………………………. 39
Storage ……………………………………………………………………. 39
Organization ……………………………………………………………. 39
Security and Revision Control …………………………………….. 40
3
Ease of Use ……………………………………………………………… 40
A Few Other Features You Might Find Helpful ……………… 41
Putting EDMS Vendors under a Microscope ……………………. 44
Determining Legalities ………………………………………………….. 46
7 Ingredients for a Successful EDMS Project ……………………. 48
Chapter 4: Getting Started with Your New EDMS ………………… 54
Determining Hard Drive Capacity …………………………………… 54
Determining File Formats ……………………………………………… 56
Recommendations for Setting Up Your EDMS …………………. 59
Getting Started with Scanning ……………………………………….. 59
The Scan‐Forward Approach ……………………………………… 60
Getting Started with the Scan‐Forward Approach ………… 60
Back‐File Scanning ……………………………………………………. 62
Choosing a Scanner ………………………………………………….. 62
Chapter 5: How We Did It: Stories from the Other Side ……….. 65
How One Organization Used Batch Scanning to Empty Filing
Cabinets ……………………………………………………………………… 66
How Laserfiche Workflow Increased One Agency’s Ability to
Help Others …………………………………………………………………. 69
4
How an EDMS Helped Oral Surgeon Prevent Devastating
Water Damage …………………………………………………………….. 73
Chapter 6: Moving Forward ……………………………………………… 75
Appendix A: Glossary of Terms ………………………………………….. 79
Appendix B: Worksheet for Choosing an EDMS Consultant or
Vendor …………………………………………………………………………… 83
5

 

Introduction
Since 1973, I’ve had the privilege of helping a variety of
businesses utilize technology to become more efficient and
effective.
During this time there have been four technologies that have
truly changed the way businesses operate.
The first was the local area network (LAN). This allowed users to
connect PCs and share files, resulting in a huge boost in
productivity. The PC suddenly became an essential business tool
across all industries.
The second technology was email. This essential communication
tool helped organizations communicate with their clients,
suppliers, and internal staff much more efficiently than before.
The third technology, the internet, opened up a world of
possibilities. Essential business processes like marketing,
research, customer support, hiring, training, and sales could all
be done using the internet.
Now, of course, these technologies are integral to the way we
do business. But when I initially introduced each one, many of
my customers thought they would never need them.
They were fancy and new, an extra expense that some thought
they would never use. But, when people finally took the leap
and implemented them, their businesses were changed forever.
Eventually, these technologies became widely accepted, and
they changed the way we do business. Now, most organizations
rely on these technologies on a daily basis and are greatly
impacted if they’re unavailable for even a short time.
6
I believe that we are, once again, on the cusp of a sweeping
technological change. The fourth technology that I believe is
going to change the business landscape is called Electronic
Document Management.
You’ve probably heard about this technology. Maybe you’ve
even said that you would never use or need it. But I believe that
this technology is even more exciting than the first three. I
believe it has the potential to make your organization more
efficient and effective than the first three technologies
combined.
If your company is anything like ours, you are experiencing a
much more competitive market than ever before.
This pressure could be coming from any number of sources:
large corporations that invest millions in marketing, small
businesses that are utilizing technology well, small independent
contractors who work from home to keep overhead low or
foreign companies that have extremely inexpensive labor.
If that’s not bad enough, you’re facing a weak economy, smaller
budgets, reduced staffing, increased individual workloads,
stricter compliance requirements, and impossible customer
expectations. It’s a lot to handle.
7

Are You Using Old Technology or New
Technology?

1. You’d probably agree that you couldn’t compete in today’s
   market if you were using any of the following business
   practices:
   1. Typing letters only on an IBM
   typewriter.
   2. Using a paper‐based ledger
   system to do all of your
   accounting.
   3. Using only a pink message pad
   to take telephone messages.
   4. Using the postal service to send quick follow‐up notes to
   customers.
   5. Keeping customer and prospect lists only on index cards.
   6. Having only a pager to field calls from the office.
   7. Being able to contact your office only via payphone.
   8. Designing your products using only pencil and paper on a
   drafting table.
   9. Having marketing literature that is only available as a packet
   sent in the mail.
   10. Needing several days to track down information for a
   customer before calling them back.
   Let’s face it: you wouldn’t be in business today if you were using
   processes and technologies that were ten to twenty years old.
   8
   Here’s the truth: You’re currently using outdated technology in
   at least one area of your business.
   Here’s a hint: It’s usually metal, and it has drawers.
   Organizations like yours are finding filing
   cabinets to be obsolete. Even in this economy,
   purchasing a system to reduce your paper
   documents is a wise move for your company.
   The effectiveness of a system like this is proven
   by the latest Gartner report on the subject:
   A funny thing happened in the depths of the recent recession.
   While budgets in many areas of information technology were
   under extreme pressure, enterprise content management
   (EDMS) spending actually grew, by 5.1% in 2009 and by 7.6% in
   2010…
   Why is all this money being spent on EDMS in a down economy?
   The answer is “productivity.”
   EDMS can drive process efficiency, improve data and process
   quality, and build better channels to your customers and
   prospects.
   9

A Paper Book about Going Paperless

I should begin by addressing the
elephant in the room: Why am I
writing a book (printed on paper)
about paper‐less technology? Am
I some kind of hypocrite?
No!
I want to be clear; this book is
not about no paper it is about
less paper.
Paper documents are, admittedly,
still important to a business. We
are familiar with paper documents. We’re comfortable with
them. To eliminate paper documents and do everything
electronically would force us to give up what we know. We’d
have to change. And for most of us, change is not easy.
If we try to make drastic changes all at once, people will resist
and return to what they know.
If you had to guess the hardest thing for records managers to do
when implementing an electronic document management
system, what would you say?
Perhaps you’d think it’s getting used to the technology,
justifying the cost of the system, changing people’s habits, or
knowing how to best implement the system.
10
While these things can sometimes be difficult, I’ve found that
the hardest thing for customers is actually getting rid of the
the paper once the information is in the system.
It’s natural to stick with what we know, so it’s important to ease
into it. When I help a company move to electronic document
management, I take it slowly. First, I make sure customers are
comfortable with the backup and disaster recovery plan we’ve
created. Then, I get rid of the first box of paper files for them. It
works wonders!
Remember, paper is tangible. You can see it and touch it. It’s
important to assure that people know their documents are safe
and that it’s okay to dispose of them.
So when I talk about paperless, I mean less paper. Not no
paper!
In this book, I want to take you on a journey toward less paper,
less clutter, and less expense. Let’s begin!
11
Chapter 1: Electronic Document
Management Systems (EDMS)
What Is EDMS?
An Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) is
a computer software that essentially replaces filing cabinets and
paper documents with electronic image files that are stored on
a hard disk.
EDMS technology allows you to create, capture, distribute,
review, maintain, store, retrieve and dispose of information. It
also allows you to streamline your workflows and can become
a crucial part of your company’s overall records management
strategy.
The goal of EDMS is to make storing and finding documents
easy and efficient. It’s as simple as that.
While EDMS may sound like a new technology, it’s actually been
around for a long time. In fact, a Business Weekly article from
June 20, 1975, that was titled “The Office of the Future”
suggested that a paperless office was not far off.
At the time, several manufacturers had specialized systems that
could image paper documents. However, this technology didn’t
gain acceptance as quickly as the article predicted.
I think the main reasons for the delay were that disk storage
costs were high and that these systems were proprietary
(meaning that the hardware, software, and file formats were
unique to each different manufacturer).
12
But in 1987, Laserfiche released the first PC‐based document
imaging system. This system was based on industry‐standard
hardware and image file formats, and it started the document
imaging/management revolution.
A Few Terms to Know
When you’re learning anything new, you have to overcome the
language barrier. When I began learning about paperless
technology, I felt like everyone was speaking French for all I
could understand. Perhaps you feel that way too.
While I like to refer to electronic document management as
EDMS, people use different language to talk about this
technology. Depending on who you’re working with, you might
hear EDMS called any of the following names:
 Paper‐less office
 Content Management System (CMS)
 Document Imaging
 Document Manager (DM)
 Document Management Software (DMS)
 Document Management System (DMS)
 Electronic Document Manager (EDM)
 Enterprise Content Management System (ECMS)
 Business Process Management System (BPMS)
There are a lot of additional terms associated with EDMS
technology. For a full glossary of these terms, see Appendix A.
13

You might be thinking why should I care? What benefit does this
technology have for me and my business?

I’m glad you asked.
14

 

Chapter 2: Benefits of an EDMS

• Perhaps you’re interested in the idea of an EDMS system but
  aren’t sure how to justify it in a down economy.
  There are countless benefits to implementing an EDMS system,
  but here are a few major areas where going paper‐less will give
  you more!
   Saving Money
   Saving Space
   Saving Time
   Creating a Meaningful Workflow
   Keeping Your Information Secure
   Bridging the System Gaps
  Let’s take some time to explore these benefits in detail and
  think about what an EDMS might mean for your company’s
  future growth.
  15
  Saving Money
  When I first started in this line of
  work, I thought that people would
  choose EDMS because it was
  efficient and effective. And they did.
  But the biggest reason that my
  customers took the plunge and purchased an EDMS was not
  future benefits, but rather the immediate return on investment
  (ROI).
  Even if you’re not sure whether you’re ready to move toward an
  EDMS, it’s good to get a realistic idea of what your current
  document storage is really costing you.
  To help give you an idea, I’ve completed
  a sample ROI for a Laserfiche Document
  Imaging implementation. Though every
  implementation is different, I hope this
  will help you to see exactly how moving
  toward EDMS can translate into dollars:
  “A 4‐drawer filing
  cabinet costs $25,000
  to fill and $2000 per
  year to maintain.”
  ~ Cooper and Lybrand
  “The typical
  document may
  cost on the order
  of $380 to create.”
  ~ M.K. Bergman,
  A Cure to the IT
  Indigestion
  Milestone Report
  16
  Step 1: Estimate how many pages of paper documents you
  have
  Storage Container Type Number Pages
  Standard 4-drawer filing cabinets
  (12,000 pages each)
  Standard 10 120,000
  Lateral filing cabinets (18,000 pages
  each)
  Lateral 10 180,000
  Standard banker boxes (2500 pages
  each)
  Boxes 20 50,000
  Large banker boxes (5000 pages
  each)
  Boxes 0 0
  Feet of open shelving (1500
  pages/feet)
  Feet 0 0
  1” binders (265 pages each) Binders 0 0
  2” binders (474 pages each) Binders 0 0
  3” binders (660 pages each) Binders 0 0
  Old customer files already scanned Docs 0 0
  Old customer files total to be
  scanned
  Docs 0 0
  New customer files per week Docs 0 0
  New customer files per month Docs 40 –
  Average number of pages in a
  document
  Pages 20 –
  Pages added to existing customer
  per month
  Pages 5 0
  Number of years to size system Years 3 29,760
  Percentage of documents that are
  double-sided
  % 0% 0
  Total Pages 379,760
  17
  Step 2: Estimate the labor costs in maintaining those paper
  documents
  Enter the numbers of employees directly involved in filing,
  retrieving, copying, and maintaining your paper documents
  Type # Avg.
  Annual
  Salary
  % of
  Time
  Spent*
  Burden
  Rate**
  Annual
  Cost
  Accounting 2 $50,000 20% 20% $20,000
  Admin 4 $30,000 20% 20% $24,000
  Mgmt 1 $70,000 5% 20% $3,500
  Professional 5 $50,000 15% 20% $37,500
  Case Mgrs 0 $40,000 10% 20% 0
  Total Annual
  Labor Costs
  $85,000
  * Estimate the percentage of time each employee spends on document
  activities
  ** Estimate burden rate including FICA, benefits, etc.
  Step 3: Calculate your document storage costs
  Storage Type Cost
  Standard file cabinet – Approx 6 sq. ft. floor space $60
  Lateral file cabinet – 16 sq. ft. floor space $160
  Annual cost for storage equipment and supplies
  (e.g. file folders)
  $200
  Monthly rental cost per sq. ft. for office space $20
  Monthly rental cost for off-site document storage $100
  Total Storage Costs $4,500
  Step 4: Calculate the cost of lost and misfiled documents
  According to a report from the Gartner Group, companies spend
  an average of $20 in labor to file a document, $120 in labor to
  find a misfiled document, and $220 in labor to reproduce a lost
  document.
  18
  Their research also showed that 7.5% of all documents get lost,
  and 3% of the remaining documents are misfiled. We’ve used
  those costs and percentages here.
  Note: The following calculations use the 379,760 page total
  from Step 1, each document averaging 20 pages.
  % Cost
  Each
  Docs Annual
  Cost
  Percent misfiled 3.0% $120 57 $6,836
  Percent lost 7.5% $229 142 $31,330
  Annual Cost of Missing Docs $38,166
  Step 5: Calculate the cost of copying documents
  According to Coopers & Lybrand, the average document gets
  copied 19 times. Even if we lower that number to 2, the costs
  add up quickly.
  Annual Cost
  Estimated cost per page to copy a document $0.10
  Estimated number of times the average document
  is copied.
  2.0
  Annual Copying Costs $1,920
  Step 6: Determine the size of your EDMS
  In order to determine what size of document imaging system
  you need, you have to think about how many pages you have to
  scan and how quickly you need to be able to scan those pages.
  You also have to calculate storage to determine how much disk
  space you’ll need.
  Scanning Requirements Value
  Number of pages to be scanned 379,760
  Number of scanners 1
  19
  Speed of scanner (pages per min) 40
  Total Hours of Scanning 158
  Storage Requirements Value
  Percentage of documents that are legal size 0%
  Calculate 50 KB of storage for each 8.5×11 page 18.99
  Calculate 75 KB of storage for each legal-size page 0.00
  Total Disk Space Required 18.99
  Step 7: Determine the cost of your EDMS
  Based on the cost of the Laserfiche Document Imaging System
  in early 2012, here is a breakdown of the components of one
  EDMS system.
  Obviously, prices are subject to change and are not
  representative of all EDMS systems. However, I hope this will
  give you a ballpark idea of how much you can expect to pay in
  relationship to the estimated document storage costs outlined
  above.
  Component Cost
  One scanner $1,200
  Laserfiche server $8,000
  Laserfiche software $13,000
  Installation and training $2,000
  Number of users accessing the system (not concurrently) 12
  Annual Laserfiche support (LSAP) $1,200
  Total System Cost $24,200
  Step 8: Determine the cost to scan documents
  The table below shows the cost of scanning when you multiply
  the hourly cost of a scan operator by the total hours of scanning
  20
  we estimated in Step 6. This calculation does not include prep
  time.
  Costs Associated with Scanning Amount
  Hourly cost of scan operator $20
  Total System Cost $3,160
  Step 9: Estimate labor to maintain your documents in the
  EDMS
  We estimate that with Laserfiche, electronic documents can be
  retrieved in about 1/5 the time as paper documents, especially
  since there is no longer a need to re‐file. This calculation utilizes
  the labor estimate that we came up with for copying documents
  in Step 2.
  Costs of Labor %
  Estimated percentage of labor 20%
  Labor Cost to Maintain Docs in Laserfiche $17,000
  Step 10: Calculate the cost of lost and misfiled documents
  when using the EDMS
  Lost or misfiled documents are no longer a problem in
  Laserfiche. If a document is filed in the wrong folder, it can still
  be found using the values in the template fields. Even if these
  values were entered incorrectly, the full‐text search can be used
  to find the document.
  We’ve estimated 1% labor associated with finding lost and
  misfiled documents, but the number should be virtually zero.
  Costs Associated with Lost Documents Amount
  Estimated percentage of labor 1%
  Total System Cost $382
  21
  Step 11: Determine strategic and miscellaneous
  savings/benefits
  It is important to note that this number is not totally
  representative since you can’t quantify better security, instant
  information, better customer service, and the protection of
  information if a disgruntled employee leaves the company.
  Those things are, of course, priceless.
  However, even without the additional benefits quantified, you
  can see that the initial ROI associated with implementing an
  EDMS is astounding:
  Amount
  Annual cost of paper documents $129,586.00
  Annual cost of Laserfiche Imaging System
  (Hardware and software over 3 years)
  $28,613.00
  Total Annual Savings $100,973.00
  The numbers speak for themselves. In this scenario, the
  organization that implemented the Laserfiche Imaging System
  saved over triple the amount that they spent. No wonder ROI
  was the deciding factor for so many of my customers!
  22
  Reducing Clutter and Saving Space
  For many growing companies, space is at
  a premium. There’s never enough of it,
  and the bigger you get, the more you
  need. At the time of this writing, real
  estate costs range from $15 to $40 per
  square foot in many major cities.
  But our need to retain important
  information requires things like storage
  rooms and big, four‐ and five‐drawer
  filing cabinets, taking up space that could be used for other
  things.
  Imagine if you could convert your records’ rooms into usable
  office space or eliminate warehouse costs for your old records!
  A good EDMS system allows you to do that. It reduces clutter in
  the office and on peoples’ desks (which, in turn, reduces stress).
  It also renders filing cabinets totally obsolete. Space and
  organizational complications no longer have to be a barrier,
  preventing you from taking on new clients or growing as a
  company.
  A great example of the value of
  saved space is the story of Lakes
  and Pines Community Action
  Council. Lakes and Pines is a nonprofit
  corporation that offers
  programs to assist low‐income
  families and individuals north of the Twin Cities.
  “7.5% of all documents
  get lost.”
  ~ Cooper and Lybrand
  23
  But when their funders informed them that they needed to
  increase document retention from three years to six, they
  realized they would have to double their storage space.
  Lakes and Pines considered their options. They could add an
  additional 40’ x 40’ of storage space to their current office, lease
  storage space in a warehouse, or purchase $50,000 of sliding
  file equipment. As they considered their options, they began to
  realize that these solutions were not only expensive, but also
  inefficient.
  The organization began looking into EDMS and eventually chose
  Laserfiche. They appreciated its modular licensing, which let
  Lakes & Pines purchase only what they needed, with the option
  to add additional modules later.
  They found the program simple to use and were surprised to
  learn how little it cost. “We not only solved our space issues for
  a fraction of the cost of other alternatives,” recalled Steve Long,
  Director of Data Processing for Lakes and Pines. “But we also
  gained staff efficiencies.”
  A similar story unfolded for another Laserfiche customer, a First
  National Bank. When they implemented an EDMS, they were
  able to scan and then eliminate over ten years’ worth of
  commercial and personal loans.
  Then, they turned their storage area
  into a new conference room.
  For these two organizations, and
  many others, saving space has
  translated to increased productivity.
  “The average
  document gets copied
  19 times, and many of
  those copies get filed.”
  ~ Cooper and Lybrand
  24
  Saving Time
  Did you know that one of the biggest
  hidden costs for businesses is the time it
  takes to handle paper files? Industry
  studies have shown that the typical
  worker spends over 20% of their day
  searching for documents.
  It’s not so hard to believe if you think
  about it. Let’s say an office worker has to
  find 10 documents throughout the day. She gets the request,
  leaves her office, walks to a records room, and finds the right
  filing cabinet. Then, she has to flip through folders to find the
  necessary file, copy the paper, and re‐file the folder. And, of
  course, walk back to her desk.
  How long do you think this whole process might take? 5
  minutes? 10? 20? If we estimate it takes 10 minutes for each
  file, 10 files a day quickly adds up to 100 minutes – 30% of her
  work week!
  The beauty of EDMS is that it cuts out all the legwork. Instead of
  spending time searching through file cabinets, you can retrieve
  the right one in seconds. All that time
  that she previously spent making the
  trek to the storage room can be used in
  more productive and lucrative ways.
  I recently met with a prospective
  customer to talk about Laserfiche
  Document Management technology. I
  told Dick that EDMS could save him and
  “The average
  knowledgeworker
  spends
  25% of work
  time searching
  for critical job
  information.”
  ~ Delphi Group
  “The estimated
  average per hour
  cost of paperwork
  and recordkeeping
  for a small
  business is $48.72.
  That’s per hour!”
  ~ NFBI Small‐
  Business News
  25
  his staff hours each week. I also shared the sobering statistics
  that I’ve found from reliable sources.
  Garter Research has found, for example, that on average,
  “professionals spend 50% of their time searching for
  information and take 18 minutes to locate each document.”
  And the Delphi Group notes that “companies on average spend
  $25,000 to fill a typical four‐drawer filing cabinet and $2000 to
  maintain it each year.” This means that “over its life‐span, a
  single sheet of paper
  ends up costing an
  average of $30.”
  He listened to the
  statistics and then said
  something that has
  haunted me ever since:
  “Who gets fired?” Dick
  asked. “Because if no
  one gets fired, we don’t save anything.”
  I’ve thought a lot about this question over the years, and I keep
  coming to the same conclusion. “Nobody!”
  A recent study examining work habits compared the amount of
  work that people were being asked to do today to that of ten
  years ago. 35% of those questioned said that they’re doing the
  work of two people, and 33% are doing the work of three
  people.
  The study also found that that work is much more complex: 40%
  of people have between 2 and 5 windows open on their
  computer at any given time, and 25% have between 6 and 10!
  26
  Our American more‐is‐more business ethic may seem best, but
  in the end, it only serves to push employees past their limits and
  create high levels of burnout.
  When you implement a good EDMS system, you’ll find that you
  have much more time to work with. The secret is in how you
  choose to use that time.
  Over the years, I’ve seen companies take three different
  approaches with this influx of time:
  1. They do nothing and let their employees find ways to fill
  the time. If their employees are self‐motivated and
  resourceful, they may choose to use that time wisely
  and do something that increases productivity or quality.
  But this can also backfire if the time saved is wasted on
  other unimportant things.
  2. They work with their employees to find other areas in
  the office where they could become more efficient and
  thus, more profitable.
  3. They change how tasks are delegated, making sure
  things are better dispersed and everyone has a greater
  margin. When things are appropriately delegated,
  everyone is able to achieve that elusive work‐life
  balance. Additionally, time is freed up for new ideas to
  grow. Creativity requires space, and those companies
  that want to be on the cutting‐edge of their industries
  are making time to develop the ideas that will
  eventually make them more profitable.
  In a way, my customer was right: simply purchasing an EDMS
  definitely saves time, but it’s up to you to translate that time
  27
  into money. Like all other resources, you have to use time
  wisely to improve other processes within your organization.
  Just think of the long‐term effect it could have on your
  organization if an EDMS saved each employee one hour a week,
  and each employee used that time to find ways to save another
  hour each week. If this refinement process continued, it could
  transform your organization!
  So, Dick, if you’re out there and this makes sense to you, give
  me a call. I’d love to talk to you again!
  Creating Meaningful Workflows
  With so many paper files coming and going, it’s no wonder
  things get lost in the shuffle. It’s a major problem; in fact, some
  industry experts estimate the cost of recreating and replacing a
  lost document to be around $250!
  Using the workflow feature of an EDMS reduces information
  loss by simplifying and streamlining processes. It becomes
  simple for multiple people to view and update files
  simultaneously. For example, in a process such as hiring a new
  employee, the file is routed automatically to each person in the
  process, making it simple for each person to do their part.
  Simplifying these processes not only expedites action, it also
  improves consistency, because the workflow does the naming
  and filing automatically. Simple improvements in daily tasks like
  these are what give your company an edge over the
  competition.
  Michael E. Gerber, author of The E‐Myth, has outlined some
  basic principles in his work that apply to all organizations. His
  28
  principles have impacted my own business practices, as they
  focus on using a well‐run, repeatable system.
  In the introduction to his book E‐Myth Revisited, Gerber writes,
  “The problem is not that businesses in this country don’t work;
  the problem is that they’re working on the wrong work.”
  If you take a hard look at the paperwork in your business, you’ll
  see that there’s a system to it. Some companies have a welldefined
  business process that can be automated by the
  workflow in an EDMS system. Other companies don’t.
  Think about it for a moment: how much work is being spent on
  your paper systems? Are your employees spending an
  inordinate amount of time trying to fix or manage inadequate
  workflows or processes? Is this the “right” work for your
  creative, capable staff to be doing, or is it, as Gerber states, “the
  wrong work”?
  Recently, I met with a business manager who told me proudly
  how efficient his employees were. He was right. They had an
  immaculate paper system, and his employees spent a lot of time
  making sure their paperwork was neatly filed and organized.
  Everything had its place, and everything was in its place.
  But one thing that occurred to me was that in the process of
  being efficient, they lost the reason for the paperwork in the
  first place. The paper had become more important than what it
  represented: customers and their needs.
  How much better off would the company be if they used
  technology to minimize the time needed to handle the
  paperwork and spent that time contacting and serving their
  clients? There is a difference between efficient and effective:
  29
  efficiency is doing things well; effectiveness is doing the right
  things. The magic happens when the two concepts merge into
  one.
  With a good EDMS like Laserfiche, this is what happens. The
  workflow is automated and intuitive. It takes care of the menial
  processes so that you can focus on those things that are most
  important.
  The benefits of an automatic workflow like Laserfiche are
  innumerable. Here are a few:
   Management knows exactly what the workflow is and
  can be confident that the correct business process was
  followed each and every time.
   Training of new employees is easier because they don’t
  have to learn business process rules; instead, they can
  focus on their part of the process. The Laserfiche
  workflow takes care of the rest.
   Management is alerted when certain processes are not
  completed in a timely manner.
   It’s easy to see where a file is in the workflow: no more
  searching the office to figure out who has it!
   Your organization is less dependent on key employees
  who know the business processes.
   The workflow does not stop if an employee is on
  vacation or leaves the organization.
  30
  Processes and workflows are essential for every business, but
  often the process becomes cumbersome and ends up taking up
  more time and energy than it saves.
  Regardless of whether or not you invest in EDMS, put your
  paper workflow under a microscope. Make sure that you’re
  doing all you can to have your documents flow as efficiently as
  possible.
  31
  Keeping Your Information Secure
  One of the biggest liabilities with paper documents is how
  difficult they are to keep secure. There’s no way to know who
  has accessed a paper document, and it’s almost impossible to
  make sure only authorized staff have access. The security of
  documents can easily be violated by disgruntled employees or
  by sheer carelessness.
  An EDMS simplifies and tightens security by adding layers to it.
  Most systems include multiple levels of password‐protected
  access for groups and individuals, encryption for document
  contents, and audit trails, showing who has accessed or
  updated documents.
  For example, if an employee using an EDMS system is not
  authorized to see Human Resource documents, they will not
  even see that the Human Resource folder exists – security is
  that granular. Administrators can define user privileges in a way
  that makes sense with the company workflow and ensures total
  security.
  As offices become more virtual, and employees begin to work
  more and more remotely, EDMS gives employees the freedom
  to access vital records while simultaneously ensuring that
  security is maintained.
  Another aspect of keeping your
  information safe is making sure that it’s
  backed up in case of a disaster. Have
  you considered what would happen if
  you had a fire, flood, tornado or break‐
  “Two out of five
  enterprises that
  experience a
  disaster go out of
  business within
  five years.”
  ~ Gartner Research
  32
  in that seriously damaged your office?
  The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that over 40% of
  businesses never reopen following a disaster. Of the remaining
  companies, at least 25% will close within two years. It’s not the
  damage to facilities that makes recovery so difficult. It’s the loss
  of crucial data.
  A good EDMS protects your paper records by creating electronic
  copies that can be backed up in multiple ways. It can also
  include off‐site data backups, as well as additional steps that
  ensure that a fire, flood, tornado or break‐in won’t cripple your
  business.
  33
  Bridging the System Gaps
  Businesses today use a variety of systems, from CRM to
  accounting, to email and fax. Each of these systems has some
  information that overlaps. For example, each one might have
  important contact information for customers, such as phone
  numbers, fax numbers and email addresses.
  The problem is that these systems cannot communicate with
  each other, so they become, essentially, silos of information.
  While this is not inherently bad, it can be a big problem if your
  customer changes her fax number. Instead of making the
  change once, you have to go into multiple systems and update
  the information.
  This is where EDMS comes in. A good EDMS has the capability
  to become the bridge between these silos of information.
  If an EDMS is designed correctly and has agile functionality, it
  can be used as the middle man (middle‐ware) to pass data from
  one system to another, making the two systems function as
  one.
  For example, I recently worked with a finance company that had
  two systems: one that dealt with loan applications and the
  other that handled loan payments. Since the two systems could
  not communicate with each other, much of the application
  process was handled by passing documents from person‐toperson
  and office‐to‐office. You can imagine the capacity for
  error here and the amount of documents that were somehow
  misplaced.
  34
  When we implemented the Laserfiche EDMS, however, it
  automated the process. Suddenly, drivers’ licenses and
  signatures could be captured in the field using an iPad and
  fillable PDFs to begin the application process. The Laserfiche
  workflow updated the loan application program directly by
  database connection and monitored the progress of the
  approval process.
  When one application began taking too long, a manager was
  notified immediately so that the problem could be addressed.
  When the application was complete, Laserfiche automatically
  connected to the finance application and updated the database
  with the applicable information.
  Laserfiche is constantly working in the background to keep the
  two systems in sync, eliminating the need to pass all that paper
  around!
  If you’ve ever dealt with that end‐of‐the‐month scramble to fill
  out expense reports, secure approval, and get them to
  accounting in time to get paid, this next example will make
  sense for you.
  At my company, the end of the month is always a high‐pressure
  time anyway, and the expense reports just made things worse.
  But once we integrated Laserfiche, we were able to automate
  the process.
  Now, as soon as an employee has an expense item, they can
  take a picture of the receipt with their cell phone or tablet. They
  can then email that picture to a special email address at our
  company. We created a program that takes those emails and
  sends them to Laserfiche, which then checks that a receipt was
  35
  included, assures that it has been designated to one of the
  allowed expense categories, and updates the expense report for
  that employee.
  At the end of the month, each expense report is sent to the
  employee’s manager for approval, and once approved, it is
  automatically forwarded to accounting for payment.
  This workflow not only saves time, but it also eliminates a task
  that no one liked doing and eases the stress for everyone at a
  busy time of the month!
  There’s no reason that our various business systems should
  remain silos of information. Technology should improve
  business processes, rather than complicate them! Think about
  the ways your bottom‐line would improve if your systems
  worked together in an effective, streamlined manner!
  36
  Chapter 3: Choosing the Right EDMS
  System for You
  When I was in college, I worked at a truck stop. One night in the
  middle of a winter storm, we got the strangest phone call. We
  were asked to tow three semi‐trucks that were in a ditch in the
  same location.
  When we arrived on
  the scene, the drivers
  were arguing. Two of
  the drivers were really
  angry at the third and
  were claiming that it
  was his fault that they
  were in the ditch.
  As the story began to unfold, we learned that the terrible winter
  driving conditions had made it difficult to see the road. Two of
  the drivers decided to simply follow the tail lights of the driver
  in front of them instead of looking for themselves where the
  road was leading.
  Everything was going just fine until the first driver, blinded by
  blowing snow, missed a turn on the freeway and drove over a
  hundred feet into a field. The drivers that were following his tail
  lights inevitably followed him straight into the ditch.
  The worst part about this story is that this is the method that
  many organizations are using when picking an EDMS system.
  For example, many years ago, one of the cities in our area
  purchased an EDMS system that was developed by an office
  37
  products manufacturer. The system was filled with proprietary
  technology (which crippled its usability) and had a user interface
  that was very difficult to learn.
  But, one by one, other cities purchased the same system. Why?
  Not because of the EDMS system itself, but because of the
  reputation of the first city that had purchased it.
  These cities assumed that the first city had done their research
  and had chosen a good product. It wasn’t long before they all
  began to realize that they were in the “ditch,” and needed help
  getting out.
  Perhaps you’re thinking, “That was a long time ago. Buyers are
  more sophisticated now.” However, in spite of the increased
  availability of good information, companies continue to make
  this very same mistake.
  Recently, I talked to an employee at one organization about a
  product they’d purchased. I asked what features he thought
  made that product a good choice for them. He could not tell me
  a single feature. Instead, he named three organizations that had
  purchased the product.
  “Okay,” I said. “When you talked to these other organizations,
  what did they say when you asked them why they chose the
  product?”
  The man shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “I didn’t really talk
  to them. I just know they purchased the product.”
  The truth is, the two truck drivers that blindly followed the truck
  in front of them are not all that out of the ordinary…at least not
  in the world of business.
  38
  It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the products and
  information out there. Maybe you feel like you’re in the middle
  of a blizzard, and you’re not sure which way to go.
  But don’t make the same mistake the truck drivers did. Do your
  research. Figure out what’s right for your company. I’ve
  compiled some guidelines to help you find the EDMS that’s best
  suited to your needs. We’ll talk about the basic functions of a
  good EDMS, how to find the best vendor, and the legal
  ramifications of moving to an EDMS.
  Hopefully these things will guide you through the winter storm
  of information and toward a better future for your company.
  39
  Functions of a Good EDMS
  When looking at an EDMS, the list of features and
  functionalities can be dizzying. But really, there are just a few
  basic things that you need. Make sure that whatever EDMS you
  choose has the following capabilities:
  Storage
  First of all, make sure that you choose a system that can store
  the following types of files:
   Image files, such as jpeg, gif, tiff, and pdf
   Video files, such as mp3, mp4, and avi
   All Microsoft Office file types
   Email
   Any other file that you can store on your network
  You’ll also want to make sure that you can scan and save files
  directly into the system.
  The EDMS you choose should allow you to store documents in
  their native format, but it should also use compressed TIFF files
  as its native format (rather than PDFs). (For more information
  on the problem with PDFs, see the Determining File Formats
  section of the Getting Started with Your New EDMS chapter.)
  Organization
  A good EDMS will allow you to organize your data in a way that
  is intuitive and that closely aligns with your current
  organizational structure.
  40
  Make sure you choose a system with a multi‐tiered folder
  structure with at least ten levels. It should also have the ability
  to apply indexing/metadata information to any record or
  document and to make those fields mandatory. It’s also
  important to be able to define the format of index fields.
  Finally, ensure that it has full text search capability.
  Security and Revision Control
  Revision and access controls are an essential part of a good
  EDMS. Make sure areas like workflow, audit trail, check
  in/check out capability and revision control are accounted for
  within the EDMS. There should be retention control for both
  paper and electronic documents.
  In a good EDMS, multiple users will be able to access a
  document at any given time, and you should be able to assign
  rights and restrictions to both individuals and groups. You
  should also be able to assign users “Read Only” access.
  Make sure that the EDMS uses Active Directory Synchronization
  to provide security, as it is well‐known and trusted across the
  industry.
  Ease of Use
  You’ll want to be able to access your information wherever you
  are, so take this into consideration and choose an EDMS that is
  able to integrate with multifunctional devices, and that you can
  access remotely.
  To ensure that it’s easy to work with your information once you
  get it into the system, choose an EDMS that allows you to view
  41
  multiple file types, email files, and “print” an archived copy of
  an electronic document directly into the system.
  A Few Other Features You Might Find Helpful
  While I’ve listed the absolutely essential features of a good
  EDMS above, the following features will also make your life
  easier.
  In an EDMS provider, it’s very helpful to choose someone who
  provides local support and training. You can also minimize risk
  by choosing a company that has been in the business for at least
  ten years (more about this in the next section).
  In addition to the requirements listed above, you might want to
  consider a system that has the ability to:
   Batch upload files with associated metadata indexing
   Easily integrate with external databases
   “Drag and drop” files directly into the system
   Search multiple index fields at once
   Save searches
   Rearrange search results by index/attribute/metadata
  values
   Support SAN/NAS and RAID storage
   Archive WORM media (i.e. DVD)
   Print EDMS directly from other programs
   Link documents within the system
  42
   Create folders of similar documents inside the system in
  a manner that’s congruent with how your documents
  are stored on paper
   Access a web brower
  You might also consider choosing an EDMS system that uses
  cloud computing. A cloud computing EDMS solution is delivered
  to you as a service rather than a product. It’s sometimes called
  software as a service (SAAS).
  When you use EDMS as a service you pay a monthly fee, just
  like your electric bill. You don’t have to worry about many of the
  details of owning an EDMS, such as maintenance, backup or
  capacity planning. You also don’t have to add a server to your
  network, which makes it easier to deploy and maintain.
  Here are some other benefits of using a cloud computing EDMS:
   Cost of ownership is lower
   Capital outlay is reduced
   There are minimal up‐front costs
   IT expenses are reduced
   Security is better
   Implementation is fast and simple
   Disaster recovery functionality is built‐in
   It’s scalable
   It’s easy to share information
   It’s ideal for multi‐location organizations
  43
   It meets compliancy requirements
   The monthly fee is predictable
   It is maintained by highly qualified IT staff
   It’s hosted in very secure, highly redundant datacenters
  There are many choices when it comes to cloud computing
  EDMS solutions. Some take a standard EDMS product and set it
  up on their servers in a data center. Others use software
  specifically written to be sold as a service (and cannot,
  therefore, be sold as a product and installed on your own server
  down the road.)
  If you decide to go the cloud computing route, I’d recommend
  finding a standard EDMS product that is sold as a service. That
  way, if you ever decide you want to have your own EDMS, you
  won’t have to convert. It also gives you more choices: you can
  look for a product that has a complete set of features.
  Take some time before you buy to think about what’s important
  to you in an EDMS system. Looking for a system that
  incorporates these features will make the integration of your
  system and the rollout to your employees intuitive and easy.
  44
  Putting EDMS Vendors under a
  Microscope
  Choosing a long‐term EDMS vendor is one of the major
  ingredients in a successful EDMS project. So how do you do
  that?
  I wish that picking the best EDMS package was as simple as
  finding out which developer had been in business the longest.
  Unfortunately, it’s just not that easy.
  It is definitely important to find a vendor that has supported the
  product they developed for a long time (this shows that the
  vendor is committed to their product, their customer base, and
  EDMS technology in general). However, it’s not the only factor.
  You have to dive in deeper to get a better understanding before
  you can make a good evaluation.
  I recently talked to my friend, Jim, another value‐added reseller,
  about this topic. Jim and I had been competitors for over ten
  years. We went to a lot of the same trade shows and sold
  paperless technology to some of the same target markets.
  One day, Jim got a letter saying that the main product that he’d
  sold for nearly ten years was being discontinued in one year. He
  was shocked. The vendor that he worked for was one of the
  early pioneers in the paperless technology field! They were well
  known! He couldn’t understand how this could have happened.
  Jim wasn’t looking forward to telling his customers that their
  system was being phased out. Because of this, they would have
  to go through the process of purchasing a new product again
  45
  and endure the expensive process of migrating data to a new
  system.
  As Jim and I talked about what had happened, we learned a few
  things. First of all, the software vendor that Jim worked for had
  been in business for about 15 years. They had grown to about
  75 employees and idled at that size for about five years. The
  same people who started the company still formed its
  management team; they’d neglected to bring on anyone new or
  to invest in younger employees.
  For many years, this company produced a new version of their
  EDMS each year, while also rolling out several patch‐level
  updates. But then, something changed.
  The number of patches and new versions of the product
  decreased. And when a new version did come out, it lacked any
  new and exciting features or functionality. Management
  stopped reporting the number of installations, which we
  suspected was due to less new clients and the attrition of older
  customers who had converted to other products.
  The product itself was suited to an organization with 50 users or
  less and could not grow with clients. As the volume of data and
  number of users increased, customers’ desire for more
  sophisticated features grew…but there was nothing new or
  interesting being offered by Jim’s company.
  The nail in the coffin, Jim concluded, was that the company was
  acquired by a software giant. The strategy of the new company
  was to simply migrate the user‐base from Jim’s company to
  46
  their core EDMS product. It was a great strategy for them, but
  not so great for Jim’s customers.
  The good news is that we can learn from scenarios like this one.
  The moral? The experience of a company is not necessarily the
  best indicator of whether or not they’re the best choice. It’s
  important to ask the right questions to get a thorough
  understanding of the company, it’s position in the market, and
  the state of its product.
  Not sure where to start? No problem! I’ve compiled a
  Worksheet for Choosing an EDMS Consultant or Vendor. You
  can find it at the end of this book, in Appendix B.
  You can use this worksheet to guide your own search so that
  the vendor you choose really is the best one for you.
  Determining Legalities
  As document imaging becomes more commonplace, laws have
  emerged regarding the legality of imaged paper and electronic
  files.
  Many government agencies now accept imaged documents as
  legal records, meaning that the paper originals can be stored
  off‐site, or, in some cases, destroyed.
  Here are some general guidelines shared by many jurisdictions
  for document imaging systems:
   Digitized records must be stored on unalterable media,
  such as CD, DVD, or WORM.
  47
   The system must have reasonable controls to ensure
  integrity, accuracy and reliability, and to prevent and
  detect the deterioration of records.
   The system must provide some type of audit trail to
  prevent and detect unauthorized creation of, addition
  to, alteration of or deletion of records.
   It must be possible to make a complete and accurate
  transfer of records.
   The system must include an indexing system that assists
  in finding records.
   The system must have the ability to print copies of
  records.
   The system must be able to cross‐reference with other
  record‐keeping systems and software.
   The system must have sufficient end user and
  installation documentation.
  The legality of imaged documents varies depending upon the
  federal agency, state, county, municipality and department
  involved. Therefore, before you get started, you should consult
  with an attorney on the specific statutes governing your
  industry and geographical area.
  The guidelines for the State of Minnesota can be found at:
  http://www.mnhs.org/preserve/records/electronicrecords/erdi
  gitalimaging.html
  48
  7 Ingredients for a Successful EDMS
  Project
  My journey with electronic document management began over
  ten years ago, when I volunteered for an assignment that I had
  no idea how to start.
  It was like in high school
  algebra, when the teacher
  scribbled a long,
  complicated equation on
  the blackboard. As she
  turned to face the class,
  you knew she was looking
  for a victim, and you knew
  it was probably going to be
  you.
  In this case, I volunteered to help a client select an EDMS, which
  felt like a complicated algebraic equation all its own.
  I began this task by talking to vendors of these products and to
  their references. I learned very little. It felt like I kept hitting a
  wall.
  One day I had an insight. I remembered that, in life, we learn
  the most from our failures. I began searching for “failed” EDMS
  projects, and that’s when I really started to learn some things.
  What I’ve learned from the failures of other peoples’ EDMS
  projects is that an implementation needs seven basic
  ingredients in order to succeed.
  49
  Some of the ingredients are actually features that must be
  present in whatever EDMS you choose. Others relate to how
  you implement it. Combined, they’ll become a set of guiding
  lights that will make the process clear and simple.
  Ingredient 1: The EDMS is Easy to Learn and Use
  If the EDMS that you choose is not easy to learn and use, your
  project will fail.
  The reality is that people tend to take the path of least
  resistance, especially when they’re busy. If a new program or
  product is complicated, most people either revert to what they
  know or they rely on the one person who took the time to learn
  it.
  If the EDMS proves to be simple and effective, however, people
  will find it much easier to get behind it. A great barometer for
  ease‐of‐use is the search capability. Your EDMS should have a
  good search engine that allows index searches, as well as fulltext
  searches. If users can quickly find the documents they
  need, no matter what information they know (or don’t know)
  about them, they’ll be hooked.
  In the past several years, I’ve actually been asked to replace
  existing document management systems because they weren’t
  working for the company. An EDMS can be full of robust
  functionality, but if users aren’t actually using it, it’s completely
  worthless.
  Ingredient 2: The EDMS is Non‐Proprietary
  50
  Proprietary technology is technology that is owned exclusively
  by a single company. An example of this is the popular PDF
  format, which is owned by Adobe and requires their Reader.
  Many of the early EDMS products were loaded with proprietary
  technology – they had unique hard drives, hardware, databases,
  and image files. Today, it’s a little harder to spot, but it’s still
  happening. Some EDMS products only use a modified TIFF file
  format or rely on the PDF format, which requires the Adobe
  Reader.
  Additionally, many vendors offer an add‐on imaging module to
  their product, such as a CRM or ERP system. These imaging
  modules, for the most part, have very limited capability and are
  only useful for documents related to the vendor’s product.
  Often, companies use proprietary formats or methods of
  attaching documents to their systems. Having these proprietary
  items may make it difficult to upgrade the system, integrate it
  to another system, use it for other documents in the
  organization, or migrate to a new EDMS system.
  Ingredient 3: The EDMS is Scalable
  Any product you select should be able to grow as your needs
  grow. Many of the early systems came in certain user sizes, such
  as 10, 25, 50 or 100. This meant that if you were at 24 users and
  wanted to add just one more, you would have a huge expense.
  Equally problematic are systems that can only handle a certain
  number of users and pages.
  51
  The system that you select should be able to expand from one
  user to any number of users. You should also be able to add
  features such as batch processing or workflow, if and when you
  need them.
  Ingredient 4: The EDMS is Adaptable to Your Current Working
  Environment
  The product you select and the way you implement it must be
  able to adapt to the way people are accustomed to working.
  This means that the way you store things on paper should be
  similar to the way you will now store them electronically.
  For example, if you filed accounts payable documents by
  company name, then the imaging system you choose should be
  able to list electronic accounts payable documents in folders
  filed alphabetically by company name.
  Bottom line: you should not have to change the way you do
  business to fit the software.
  Ingredient 5: The EDMS Has Open Architecture
  Electronic document imaging systems are very powerful and
  useful to an organization as a standalone unit. But value grows
  exponentially when you are able to integrate it with other
  existing systems, such as accounting or contact management.
  For example, one city I worked with integrated their EDMS with
  their graphical information system (GIS), their permit program,
  and their online credit card processing system. The result is that
  they can now go to a map of the city, click on a parcel (lot), and
  52
  see all the documents associated with that parcel of land,
  including permits, correspondence, payments and building
  prints.
  To make sure you can take advantage of integration, pick a
  system that runs on an open platform, such as Microsoft SQL. It
  should include a programmer’s tool kit and other utilities that
  allow it to link to other databases.
  Ingredient 6: The Vendor Has a Long‐Term Commitment to
  their EDMS Product
  One of the leading causes in EDMS project failure is when
  organizations choose a product that is eventually phased out by
  its vendor.
  This is not a problem that is specific to small, entrepreneurial
  companies. In fact, it occurs just as often in large, solid
  companies if those companies are focused on some other major
  product area (such as copier equipment or computer
  hardware).
  Problems occur when large vendors like these view EDMS as a
  small addition to their large corporate portfolio. Meanwhile,
  their users are viewing the EDMS product as a key part of their
  strategy and using it to house vital company documents. When
  this happens, users end up feeling betrayed. They’re left
  hanging with no recourse but to find a way to migrate their data
  and documents to a new system.
  Avoid this problem by choosing an EDMS vendor whose main
  focus is document imaging and who has been in the business for
  53
  more than ten years. Use the list of questions in Appendix B to
  help you choose a reliable, committed vendor.
  Ingredient 7: The EDMS is Implemented in Phases
  In my experience, I’ve found that organizations that try to
  implement everything at once are more likely to fail than those
  who break the project into several phases and systematically
  move through the organization.
  One reason that these all‐or‐nothing projects fail is that nothing
  actually gets completed. Time is divided among all the
  departments, resulting in lots of starting, but not a lot of followthrough.
  Another reason for failure is that people really don’t like
  change. The default position for most people is resistance, and
  when a change is fast and sweeping, they tend to push back.
  You’ll have much better results if you implement document
  management slowly over time. Give your employees a chance
  to see how easy it is. Create realistic goals, and stagger them.
  EDMS projects do best when they are implemented by
  evolution rather than by revolution.
  54
  Chapter 4: Getting Started with Your
  New EDMS
  Once you’ve chosen your EDMS system, how do you get
  started? Here are a few things to consider as you move forward.
  Determining Hard Drive Capacity
  One question I often get is, “How do I know how much drive
  space I need?”
  The process looks similar to step one in our sample ROI back in
  chapter 2. You can use the following procedure to get a good
  idea of how much information you have and, consequently, how
  much space you need.
  1. Estimate how many pages of paper documents you
  want to scan and store.
  2. If you’re going to store electronic files, such as Word
  Documents, AutoCAD or media files, determine the file
  space that these files are currently taking.
  3. Determine how many pages you will be storing each
  month.
  4. Determine how many years you want your storage
  capacity to last.
  For example, say you have all 8.5 x 11” single‐sided documents
  kept in 10 four‐drawer filing cabinets, 5 four‐drawer lateral
  filing cabinets, and 20 standard storage boxes. This adds up to
  about 260,000 pages.
  55
  You can use a spreadsheet like this one to calculate the number
  of pages you have:
  Existing Files Type Number Pages
  Standard 4-drawer filing
  cabinets (12,000 page each)
  Standard
  cabinet
  10 120,000
  Lateral filing cabinets
  (18,000 page each)
  Lateral
  cabinet
  10 180,000
  Standard banker boxes
  (2500 page each)
  Boxes 20 50,000
  Large banker boxes (5000
  page each)
  Boxes 0 0
  Feet of open shelving (1500
  page per foot)
  Feet 0 0
  1” binders (265 page each) Binders 0 0
  2” binders (474 page each) Binders 0 0
  3” binders (660 page each) Binders 0 0
  Stacks of paper in inches
  (175 pages per inch)
  Inches 0 0
  Total Pages 350,000
  Next, we can calculate how much hard drive storage space
  these documents will take. If you’re scanning at 300 dpt and
  using Group IV TIFF files, these documents will only take 11 GB
  of space.
  If you want to simplify the process even further, you can use my
  easy estimate method. Simply assume that each of the
  following will use about 1 GB of hard drive space:
   1 four‐drawer standard filing cabinet
   1 four‐drawer lateral filing cabinet
   7 standard‐sized storage boxes
  56
  Determining File Formats
  Before documents are scanned, you should decide in which
  format you will store them. There are two primary choices: PDF
  or TIFF. While there are technical differences between the two,
  both require roughly the same amount of hard drive space.
  PDF files are created using Adobe Acrobat software and require
  a proprietary reader to view the file.
  Does that raise red flags for you? Perhaps you remember from
  my 7 Ingredients that one of the major components of a
  successful EDMS project is a product that is not proprietary.
  PDF document image files are technically just a file wrapper
  around a TIFF image, but unlike TIFF (which is pure raster image
  file), PDF files can be a combination of raster and vector, which
  can create issues in authenticity.
  My opinion is that scanning your paperwork and storing it as
  PDFs on your server isn’t much better than keeping the paper!
  Here are a few reasons why:
   PDFs have very limited search capabilities. You have to
  know the name of the document in order to find it. This
  is not evident at first when you begin scanning, but as
  time goes on, and you accumulate more and more
  documents, you’ll find yourself opening each one to find
  the correct file. It’s not that much different than
  rummaging through a filing cabinet – and it’s just as
  time consuming!
  For example, I recently met with an organization that
  had scanned all their important documents as PDFs.
  57
  However, they’d failed to use a naming convention or
  index. There was no way to figure out where files were
  and which were in the wrong directories. It was a mess!
   PDFs can pose a security threat. It’s possible for PDFs to
  contain dangerous code execution vulnerability or
  malware. For example, a flaw in Adobe 8.1 could allow
  hackers to include dangerous code in PDF files to take
  control of Windows XP computers.
   PDFs can be corrupted. Not long ago, I tried to open a
  PDF of an important contract. I got the following error
  message: There was an error opening this document.
  The file is damaged and could not be repaired.
  I did a Google search on “corrupt PDF” and found nearly
  1,000,000 hits. I found that there are programs to repair
  corrupt files and even companies that specialize in
  attempting to recover severely corrupted files. It’s a
  common problem!
  I was lucky: the client was able to find a copy of the PDF
  that was not corrupt. But if he hadn’t, the details of the
  contract could have been permanently lost.
   You can’t secure PDF files. While storing PDFs on your
  network seems easy, you’ll find that securing them is
  much more difficult. How do you keep someone from
  renaming, moving, viewing and editing archived PDF
  documents? You can’t.
  Conversely, the uncompressed TIFF file is an industry standard.
  The National Archives recommends it because it accommodates
  large file sizes, is widely used and supported, has a long track
  58
  record, and has no native support in current web browsers,
  among other reasons.
  I recommend the TIFF file to all of my clients, and I’d suggest
  that you use it as well.
  59
  Recommendations for Setting Up Your
  EDMS
  In my years in the field, I’ve set up my fair share of EDMS
  projects. Here are four simple things that I recommend doing
  for every EDMS set‐up.
  1. Load the document imaging software on a server
  dedicated to commercial‐grade servers, such as HP
  Proliant ML‐350.
  2. Store the documents and metadata on the hard drives
  of the server using hardware RAID technology or on a
  SAN.
  3. Back up the imaging data on a tape backup unit or
  portable external drives using a proven rotation
  scheme, such as a 12‐tape rotation. I highly recommend
  using the SQL backup agent of your backup software.
  The backup tapes or drives should be stored off‐site in a
  secure location (such as a bank vault) at least 30 miles
  from your office. This can also be an effective disaster
  recovery backup plan.
  4. Burn the data to CDs or DVDs, and keep those off‐site
  too. They should be kept in their protective cases and
  stored in a cool, dry location at least 30 miles from your
  office.
  Getting Started with Scanning
  Scanning can be an overwhelming task that sometimes prevents
  organizations from purchasing and implementing an EDMS. If
  60
  the idea of a total conversion of all your old paper files sounds
  intimidating, you’re not alone!
  However, there are a couple different ways to approach
  scanning:
   The scan‐forward approach
   Back‐file scanning
  The Scan-Forward Approach
  In a scan‐forward implementation (also known as “day forward”
  or “forward scanning”), you begin by choosing a cut‐off date.
  After that day, all new documents will be scanned. Existing
  paper records are only scanned if they’re used. In many cases,
  documents that aren’t scanned after a year can be archived or
  even thrown away.
  This approach means that you can get started much more
  quickly, since there’s no delay while a backlog of paper is
  scanned. Once the value of the system is proven, you can
  decide whether or not to start scanning older files.
  Getting Started with the Scan-Forward
  Approach
  Starting a scan‐forward process can be intimidating, but it’s an
  easier transition than you’d imagine.
  Here are 14 simple ideas for getting started:
  1. Pick a department that will run with the product. This
  should not be the department that most needs the
  technology.
  61
  2. Keep things simple at the beginning. Don’t attempt a
  company‐wide implementation, unless it’s absolutely
  necessary.
  3. Start scanning from this day forward to avoid adding
  daily to your problem.
  4. If you have lots of files you’d like scanned into your
  system, consider hiring a vendor. There’s more
  information about this in the following section on backfile
  scanning, and I’d be happy to recommend some
  great companies.
  5. Hire temporary workers or interns to do the scanning.
  6. Have each department scan their own files and set a
  completion date.
  7. Ask anyone who retrieves a paper file to scan it instead
  of re‐filing it.
  8. Set goals and make scanning a priority.
  9. Make a game of it! Have a contest to see which
  department can scan the most documents in a month.
  10. Start as soon as possible and don’t stop. It’s important
  to keep up the momentum.
  11. Check your digital copier to see if you can add scanning
  capability to do large batches.
  12. Look into bar‐coding or cover sheets to capture the
  necessary information to file large batches
  automatically.
  62
  13. Check to make sure that your backups are working and
  are storing both images and databases.
  14. Once you have a good amount of documents scanned,
  archive your data to WORM media store it off site.
  Back-File Scanning
  For some businesses, access to old paper files is essential. In
  those cases, you’ll need to invest in back‐file scanning services.
  Document management vendors generally don’t perform back
  scanning for you, but they’ll be able to recommend file scanning
  services.
  These niche vendors have expensive high‐volume scanners and
  plenty of staff to operate them. It’s not uncommon for them to
  scan millions of documents for a single customer.
  Typically, you ship your documents to these scanning services,
  but some also come to you. This can cost more than twice as
  much, but if your files contain highly sensitive material, it can be
  reassuring to keep them on‐site.
  Once the documents are scanned, the services provide CDs or
  DVDs of the images, or they import them directly into your
  EDMS. Depending on your preference, they’ll either destroy or
  return your paper documents.
  Choosing a Scanner
  Depending on which approach you decide to take with your
  scanning effort, you might already have the scanning
  capabilities you need in‐house: your copier.
  63
  A modern digital copier with an automatic document feed and
  network connectivity can be exactly what you need to keep up
  with your day‐to‐day scanning needs. Almost any network
  copier can be used with an EDMS.
  If you’re buying a scanner, your vendor can provide valuable
  assistance. They’ll be able to recommend certain brands or
  models that will work well with their software. Often, they can
  even sell you the hardware directly, which can simplify your
  purchasing process.
  When choosing scanners, you’ll have to consider the balance
  between quality and speed. If you want to scan paper
  documents so that the full text is searchable, you’ll need optical
  character recognition (OCR). This requires more expensive,
  high‐quality scanning. If your system will simply be storing your
  documents as images, the level of detail isn’t quite as
  important.
  Additionally, document scanners are different than image
  scanners used for graphics. Image scanners have high resolution
  capacity, which is not necessary when scanning documents.
  Document scanners have very efficient document feeders. We
  typically scan documents at 200 or 300 dots per inch (dpi). If
  you use higher resolutions than these, you’ll use a lot more file
  space.
  Whether or not you do back‐file scanning will also impact your
  scanner purchase decision. If you plan to scan millions of pages
  yourself, you’ll want a high‐end scanner – one that can scan
  more than 80 pages per minute (ppm). However, this could cost
  $5,000 or more.
  64
  A more reasonable scanner, rated at around 40 ppm, might cost
  around $1200. A machine like this can easily handle around
  1500 pages per day, but it won’t be adequate in processing
  large amounts of back‐files.
  To meet high scanning volumes, I suggest that you consider
  getting multiple scanners instead of one ultra‐high‐capacity
  model. Three 40 ppm machines will be considerably less
  expensive than one 120 ppm device. Plus, they’ll allow three
  people to work on scanning simultaneously, and provide two
  people the ability to continue working if one of the scanners
  needs service.
  65
  Chapter 5: How We Did It: Stories
  from the Other Side
  While it’s good to be informed about the basics of the process,
  it can be additionally helpful to see how others have navigated
  the process. I believe that we can learn a lot from each other’s
  stories.
  This chapter will introduce you to several organizations like your
  own, who have successfully implemented an EDMS.
  You may recognize yourself in their challenges, and I hope you’ll
  be encouraged to see how easy the process has been for them.
  You’ll see the benefits that EDMS has provided to real‐life
  customers, and the ways it has improved their business.
  My hope is that these stories will give you the confidence you
  need to take that step forward toward your own EDMS project.
  66
  How One Organization Used Batch
  Scanning to Empty Filing Cabinets
  Community Action Partnership of Suburban Hennepin (CAPSH)
  is an organization that works to improve the lives of low‐income
  people in the suburbs of Hennepin County, Minnesota.
  CAPSH utilizes outreach, energy assistance programs, home
  ownership services and financial counseling to help people
  achieve self‐sufficiency and to break the cycle of poverty.
  One of CAPSH’s largest departments is Energy Assistance, which
  is also one the greatest producers of paper files. It processes
  about 15,000 10 to 40‐page applications every year. To make
  things even more complicated, CAPSH is required to keep these
  applications on file for four years.
  These requirements resulted in thousands of files, and a huge
  storage issue. Cindy Hamilton, Electronic Document
  Management Systems Coordinator at CAPSH recalled the mess.
  “Files at various stages of processing were scattered among a
  number of different filing cabinets. A file inadvertently placed in
  the wrong cabinet could take hours to find.”
  Finally, at the end of 2008, CAPSH found itself out of space to
  process and store applications. They began to look at electronic
  document management software.
  After seeking advice from several other CAP agencies that had
  made the change to EDMS, CAPSH selected and purchased
  Laserfiche.
  Cindy, who had never worked with a document management
  system and claimed only basic computer skills was chosen to
  67
  scan and organize the documents. She worked with a Laserfiche
  engineer from Solbrekk, to make the process as efficient as
  possible.
  As they worked, they noticed that all application files had a
  page printed from E‐Heat – the department’s main software
  application – which they used as a cover sheet for batch
  scanning. This page included all the information they needed:
  client first name, last name, social security number, household
  number, and program year. However, over the years the E‐Heat
  program had changed, and so had the location of this important
  information on the printed page.
  To remedy this problem, the Laserfiche engineer created a
  Quick Fields session that could find the information, regardless
  of the year it was produced. They were also able to use
  Laserfiche Real‐Time Look‐Up to validate the accuracy of the
  information by retrieving information from E‐Heat and
  comparing the values.
  Armed with this powerful Laserfiche Quick Fields session, Cindy
  was able to scan large batches of application files at once. The
  program separated the batch into individual applications,
  named the files, created folders, stored each application in a
  folder and populated its index fields.
  Using this process, Cindy was able to completely empty 14 fourdrawer
  filing cabinets the first year, and by the second year,
  every department’s documents were scanned and recycled.
  “I remember the mess we had before,” Cindy said. “But now,
  with Laserfiche, any application file can be found in just
  moments.”
  68
  With the implementation of Laserfiche, CAPSH has been able to
  spend less time on frustrating paper issues. Now, they focus
  that time and energy on meeting the needs of the low‐income
  families, and helping them find their way to financial
  independence.
  69
  How Laserfiche Workflow Increased One
  Agency’s Ability to Help Others
  This article was originally published by Meghann Wooster on the Laserfiche website.
  It is being used with permission and has been modified for this book.
  Community Action Partnership of Ramsey and Washington
  Counties is a state agency that runs the largest low income
  home energy assistance program in Minnesota. This
  organization helps people who are struggling to pay for heat
  and basic utilities.
  “In 2009, we had more than 25,000 active applications stored in
  30 extra‐deep, four‐drawer filing cabinets,” explains Catherine
  Fair, Director of Energy Assistance Programs at the agency.
  “Due to State regulations, we need to keep past applications on
  file for three years, so we had even more paper stuffed into two
  on‐site storage rooms and an off‐site storage garage.”
  Paper files slowed staff down, but they also complicated the
  energy assistance program’s twice‐yearly audits. Fair explains,
  “As a State agency, we’re regularly audited to ensure that
  applications are accurately processed. Files are randomly
  selected by the auditors, and it was a daunting task to find the
  ones they requested among 25,000 others! Something had to
  change.”
  Fair began researching content management solutions and
  found that Laserfiche’s name kept cropping up. “The tech sites I
  visited all mentioned Laserfiche as the industry standard for
  government organizations.”
  70
  Fair notes that Laserfiche Workflow, a business process
  management tool that enables organizations to automate
  manual processes, was a major factor in their decision to
  purchase Laserfiche. “We knew that automating our application
  approval process would make us more efficient and accelerate
  our ability to help households in need,” she says.
  Laserfiche’s use of the TIFF file format was another big point in
  its favor. “Laserfiche stores files in the TIFF file format, which all
  computers can read,” says Fair. The IT department at the
  agency wisely steered them away from closed‐file formats like
  PDFs. “If you choose a file format that’s controlled by a single
  vendor, you invite a lot of unnecessary risk from both an IT and
  an information governance perspective.”
  After researching its options, the agency settled on Laserfiche
  Avante, an EDMS solution for organizations with fewer than 100
  users, from Solbrekk, a Laserfiche reseller in Minneapolis. This
  model fits their needs since multiple staff members frequently
  need to access the system at the same time.
  “Another important feature,” says Fair, “is that the functionality
  and appearance of the Laserfiche user interface is similar to
  Windows. The familiarity is comforting for our less confident
  computer users.”
  The agency threw a party to get their employees excited about
  Laserfiche and created a movie illustrating the way things were
  before Laserfiche, showing how easy the new process would be.
  They also provided training on how to use Laserfiche workflow
  to empower their staff.
  71
  Now that Laserfiche has been implemented, the agency is
  finding that it’s easier to complete the work they set out to do:
  help people.
  “We receive thousands of calls from clients anxious to know if
  we can help them,” says Fair. “Before Laserfiche, these kinds of
  calls were hard to field, since staff didn’t have the relevant
  information in front of them.”
  “Today, the calls are much more productive. We can find a
  client’s application immediately by looking in Laserfiche, and
  can then let the client know exactly what he needs to do to
  complete his application.”
  The Laserfiche Workflow has also significantly changed things
  around the office. “By digitizing applications and automating
  the approval process, we have significantly improved crisis
  response time,” says Fair. “When an application shows a
  disconnection in progress, we route the file to an expedited
  queue simply by changing a template field. We can also sort
  through income documents much faster to determine grant
  amounts as soon as possible.”
  Fair also appreciates Laserfiche’s security features, such as
  Windows authentication and named user access. This helps to
  protect client information, such as social security numbers. “The
  agency would face hefty fines if we had a breach of data
  security. With more than 100,000 files in four locations, we
  were taking a big risk.”
  “Laserfiche protects sensitive information while making our
  business processes more efficient,” Fair concludes. “It has
  helped us tremendously and we hope that other non‐profit
  72
  agencies that deliver federal programs can learn from our
  success!”
  73
  How an EDMS Helped Oral Surgeon
  Prevent Devastating Water Damage
  Esthesia Oral Surgery Care prides themselves on their ability to
  combine excellent patient care with leading‐edge technology.
  They work hard to make sure patients feel welcome and cared
  for throughout their visit.
  Part of that is making sure that patient records are both secure
  and easy to access. For the head of Esthesia, Dr. Thomas Keane,
  getting patient records digitized felt like an important step in
  this process. Patient files were being stored in 4‐drawer filing
  cabinets and were taking up valuable space.
  With a HIPAA compliance deadline approaching, Dr. Keane
  decided there was no better time than the present.
  Esthesia had been utilizing Solbrekk for IT network support for
  several years, so it felt like a natural progression to have them
  install a Laserfiche document imaging and management
  solution.
  The staff was able to quickly and easily scan all patient records,
  files and forms into a central repository. They are now available
  instantly through a keyword or phrase search.
  While many in the healthcare industry were scurrying to make
  the HIPAA deadline, Esthesia was already HIPAA compliant.
  They are also one step closer to Dr. Keane’s goal of a totally
  digitized office.
  Each day, paper documents are scanned immediately into
  Laserfiche, and by the end of the day, they are paperless again.
  Any patient file can be viewed through Laserfiche in any room
  74
  of the clinic. They have also been able to streamline their
  operations without disrupting the care of their clients or
  changing their daily routines.
  Recently, Dr. Keane was called into work on a weekend by the
  property manager. There had been a water leak in the building
  and he needed to assess the damage.
  Other building tenants were panicking. An employee at the
  medical clinic borrowed a digital camera to take pictures of the
  serious damage: hundreds of patient records were completely
  saturated and irreparably damaged.
  When they asked Dr. Keane how many patient records he lost,
  he was able to tell them the wonderful truth: none. All his
  records were stored safely in Laserfiche and were backed up. He
  had nothing to worry about.
  75
  Chapter 6: Moving Forward
  In my years in this business, I’ve had the privilege of helping
  companies implement important new technologies like local
  area network, email and internet. I watched these technologies
  improve efficiencies and totally change the way we do business.
  But I still believe that this technology – the move from papermess
  to paper‐less using EDMS – can have a far greater impact
  on an organization than any of these other technologies.
  In this book, I’ve outlined all of the obvious ways that EDMS can
  make your life easier, save you money and streamline your
  business. But one of the great pleasures I’ve had in working
  with so many clients to implement EDMS is the unexpected
  benefits – the ways that EDMS has helped them solved
  problems or create efficiencies in areas that they hadn’t even
  imagined.
  I remember one of the first calls I got from a customer who had
  found a “golden nugget.” Steve Long, the IT director from Lakes
  and Pines Community Action called to say that for years their
  accountant had spent hours trying to balance their legal ledger.
  He’d finally asked them to print their trial balance into
  Laserfiche using the built‐in print‐to‐TIFF converter, Snap‐Shot.
  What they found eliminated all the headache of an imbalanced
  ledger forever. Using Laserfiche, they were able to input the
  amount of the discrepancy and search the document for that
  number or for its multiples. For example, if the books were off
  by $66, they could instantly search the report for any
  76
  transaction that was $66 or $33 and find the error. Problem
  solved!
  Another customer had spent years printing off a monthly
  customer summary report that was hundreds of pages long and
  was printed on continuous computer paper. It took one
  employee almost an entire week to tear the report into sections
  for each individual customer and then file it into the designated
  folder.
  With Laserfiche, all of that has changed. Now, they simply print
  the report into Laserfiche and move the pages into individual
  customer folders. The time spent executing this task was
  reduced from one week to just a couple of hours.
  Buoyed by the new efficiency, my customer was challenged to
  rethink the purpose behind some of their processes. They found
  that they seldom looked at those individual pages within the
  customer folders and thus eliminated the step of copying pages.
  Instead, they left the report where it was printed in Laserfiche
  and showed users how easy it was to search for customer
  information in reports when they needed it. This small change
  saved them over 32 hours a week. For a small organization, this
  savings alone paid for the EDMS.
  A medical company that I worked with was very happy with the
  way Laserfiche handled their documents. They had small profit
  centers in each of their thirteen branch offices that produced a
  small amount of product. This product could be ordered for
  stock, for a customer or for display.
  However, it was becoming increasingly difficult to manage this
  product with their POS and accounting systems. We helped
  77
  them develop a workflow to manage this inventory through
  Laserfiche, which resulted in huge savings, while also
  streamlining an essential business process.
  I’ll give you just one more example. Shoreview, a city I worked
  with, spent years using 3×5” index cards to represent each
  building in the city. Each card included a hand sketch with the
  location of the gas and water shut‐off valves for the property.
  However, as the city grew, managing these paper files became
  nearly impossible. Other products proved expensive and
  cumbersome, but, using Laserfiche, we were able to set up an
  index template that included property IDs alongside other
  important fields, such as house number and street name.
  The City of Shoreview was able to scan their index cards into the
  system, and Laserfiche automatically filled in the property ID.
  Laserfiche Quick Fields was able to instantly look up the
  property ID in their GIS database, populate other fields, and
  store the document in its logical format or location. This
  “golden nugget” justified their purchase of EDMS and made
  their files manageable once again.
  It’s easy for me to get carried away with these stories because I
  have seen how EDMS can change a company’s entire business
  strategy. I get excited about the way Laserfiche helps people
  who feel overwhelmed and buried in busy‐work to find new
  purpose in their jobs. I believe in this product and its potential
  to change business across the board.
  I wish you luck as you go through the process of choosing and
  implementing an EDMS in your organization. If you choose a
  good system and implement it well, you’ll be thrilled with the
  78
  results. Keep your eyes open. There are all kinds of “golden
  nuggets” buried in these systems. Be mindful and you’ll find
  opportunities to create efficiencies you never expected.
  And if you need any help or have any questions, give me a call.
  I’d be happy to be your guide.
  79
  Appendix A: Glossary of Terms
  Access Rights: Permissions defined by system administrators
  which limit the folders and document a user can access. This is
  one of the key components of security in an EDMS.
  ADF: Automatic Document Feeder. This is the part of a scanner
  that feeds the paper to be scanned automatically.
  Annotations: Notes, highlights and other digital markups made
  by a user. A well‐designed EDMS stores these annotations in a
  separate file so the original document is not altered. The system
  overlays the annotations over the original document
  automatically, as if the original document had the annotations.
  Audit Trail: The process that tracks all access to an EDMS
  system, document or record. This can include the date, time
  and the names of the users who accessed, modified, deleted or
  added documents to the system.
  Bar Code: A pattern of lines that represents text characters. A
  bar code can be created simply in your word processing tool by
  highlighting some characters and changing to a bar code font.
  An add‐on component to EDMS, bar‐code recognition is
  designed to increase the speed that documents can be stored
  and eliminate the need to annually enter file names and index
  information.
  Batch Processing: The technique used to input a large amount
  of information in a single step (as opposed to individual
  processes).
  A great example would be accounts payable files. If these
  80
  documents are filed by PO number, the first page being the PO,
  followed by packing slips and other information, then a number
  of POs could be scanned at once.The batch processing system
  would recognize the first page of the PO by using zone OCR. It
  would then capture the PO number from the page and validate
  it by looking it up in the accounting database. The system would
  continue to scan until it found the next new PO.
  Then, it would take those pages, create a file, name it, and add
  index information that would relegate it to the accounting
  database. Finally, the system would file the document in the
  proper folder and continue on to process the remaining
  documents.
  Document Management System: Software used to store,
  manage, retrieve and distribute digital and electronic
  documents as well as scanned paper documents.
  Full‐Text Indexing and Search: A search capability that enables
  users to find a document by searching any word or phrase in
  that document. This requires that every word in every
  document is indexed into a master word list, which has pointers
  to the documents and pages where each occurrence of the
  word appears.
  Image Enabling: A process that allows simple integration
  between an EDMS and a third‐party software application.
  For example, image enabling allows a user to find a PO in the
  accounting software and, by hitting certain keys, to then launch
  a search into the EDMS, displaying all documents associated
  with that PO number.
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  Index Fields: Database fields that can be used to store
  additional information about a document or folder. These fields
  can be used for searches and for integration with other
  applications.
  OCR: Optional Character Recognition. This is a software process
  that recognizes text on a scanned image. You must have a
  scanner with OCR capabilities in order to enable full‐text
  searching of documents.
  Open Architecture: Hardware or software that uses standard
  technology rather than proprietary technology. This makes
  supporting and integrating with third‐party devices and
  applications easier.
  SQL: Structured Query Language. This is the most popular
  standard for running database searches. It is often used to refer
  to Microsoft SQL database.
  Scalability: The capacity of a system to expand to include more
  document capacity, users, or modules without requiring major
  changes or reconfiguration.
  TIFF: Tagged Image File Format. This is a non‐proprietary image
  format that has been widely used since 1981. It allows for
  several different types of compression. TIFFs can be either
  single or multiple files; a single‐page TIFF is a single image of
  one page of a document.
  WORM: Write‐Once‐Read‐Many. These are discs which are an
  optical storage archival media. Included in this media type are
  CR‐R and DVD‐R media. Industries like financial and government
  are required to keep an archive copy of EDMS data for disaster
  recovery purposes.
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  Zone OCR: An add‐on feature of EDMS that allows information
  to be extracted from a page using OCR on a specific area or
  zone. This information is often called a token and can be used to
  name a document, populate an index field or perform a number
  of other functions.
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  Appendix B: Worksheet for Choosing
  an EDMS Consultant or Vendor
   How many years have you been in business?
   How many times a year do you release new software?
   How many updates or patches do you release each year?
   Tell me about some interesting new features or technologies
  that have been added to your most recent releases.
   Is your customer base growing? By what percentage each
  year?
   Is the size of your company growing? By what percentage
  each year?
   Describe the strengths of your management team.
   Is your product scalable? What is the largest organization
  you handle? What is the size of the average company who
  uses this EDMS?
   Do you use the premier industry database?
   Are you using up‐to‐date programming tools? Which ones?
   Are you supporting the latest scanner models? What about
  user devices, like tablets and iPhones?
   What new ideas and technologies have you brought to the
  table?
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   Do you consider yourself a leader in the industry?
   Do you have local user groups?
  You might also search the internet and news for additional
  information about the company such as:
   Has this company ever been acquired? Is there any sense
  that there may be an impending acquisition?
   What is being said about this company on internet forums
  and user reviews