As your company takes on the challenge of going “paperless”, hiring a document scanning company is usually the best way to go, but there are several steps in the process that must occur before you begin working with an outside vendor.
1. Assemble your team: Changing the way documents, billing statements, patient records and interoffice correspondence are managed within an office environment can be a daunting task, and it is not one that can be done effectively without the input of your organization’s major stakeholders. Before embarking on this process, be sure you have the right team in place to make it happen, and that you know who will be participating in each phase of the project.
2. Analyze your usage: Once your team is in place, you will want to take a closer look at your document usage, including the types of documents your company uses the most, and how they are typically used.
3. Get organized: Plan out the way you would like to see your documents organized, whether it is in digital libraries, team-based portals, limited access sites, etc. Once you determine this, you will have a better idea of how and where each type of document should be stored and who should have access to which documents. If you choose a library, you can further organize specific documents into folders and subfolders.
4. Go with the flow: How is content currently moving through your company. Does it need to be converted from one format to another as it moves around? How can you make the flow of content easier for your organization? This may take some input from the entire team.
5. Be Consistent: Plan out how you will identify “content types” in your new document management system. Some companies use metadata, others use specific templates. The most important thing is to maintain a level of consistency throughout the organization.
6. Maintain Security: For each document, you will want to maintain different levels of control. This is especially true with legal documents, where many firms opt to require employees to go through a check-in/check-out process to prevent unauthorized distribution.
These are just some of the many ways companies prepare for a complete overhaul of their document management. In most cases, these decisions are made before any document scanning or electronic document storage begins, because the planning process helps determine the level and scope of services.