Organizations often need to create and produce a large number of documents, resulting in a number of challenges. They may need to run batch jobs that generate millions of transaction documents, making performance and reliability key criteria for document technology. Enterprises typically also need to produce a lot of correspondence documents quickly, so they can be mailed in a group, distributed via Web,etc. This requirement means these documents need to be printed, enveloped, optimized for postage and sorted into containers.
Therefore, an organization’s document software system must be well suited for both batch jobs and individual correspondence to meet high scheduling requirements. It also needs to exploit available computing resources effectively and scale operations to meet increased demands for both single systems and networks. As a result, there are many challenges surrounding high-volume document generation. In this article we will focus on three: document creation, review and retention.
Overview
Most organizations routinely generate a large number of electronic documents, often in anticipation of a time when virtually all documents are electronic. However, most enterprises must also maintain paper documents, regardless of their size. After all, despite the increasing use of knowledge management technology, paper documents will very likely continue to be an important storage media for the foreseeable future.
The information that documents contain may be structured or unstructured, both of which are critical for the continued operation of any organization. Documents with structured information are connected to other documents in some way and are typically generated from sources such as spreadsheets and databases. Documents that contain unstructured information aren’t directly related to other documents, although they collectively describe an organization’s experience, expertise and processes. These documents include email messages, letters, marketing materials, images and meeting minutes.
Creation
Enterprises need to create documents in multiple ways, which poses some of the most significant challenges for document technology software. These methods include single file uploads from Web browsers, batch uploads through communication protocols such as FTP, scanned images and manual creation. Enterprises usually import documents into a central repository after creation, allowing them to manage their documents more easily with tasks such as replication and defining access permissions. Placing a document processing server within a secure environment is essential, since it needs to be accessed through multiple networks, including the local area network (LAN), internet and intranet. This strategy allows the document system to become a central repository for all of an organization’s knowledge.
The use of metadata is one of the key features that distinguish document generation software from desktop publishing software such as Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft Word products. Metadata allows document software to provide documents with business sense, generally by encapsulating business related information. This type of data provides the basis for an indexing system that can be used to search for documents on a particular subject.
The content of many documents produced by today’s enterprises will change over time, requiring document technology solutions to provide additional capabilities during document creation. For example, most document software solutons can manage dynamic content through version control by retaining all versions of documents in the repository. This capability allows users to access a document’s current version in addition to rolling back to a previous version when subsequent versions are undesirable.
In addition, document software solutions typically store documents in a repository on a document server by using a hierarchy of folders and subfolders, providing a logical organization that groups similar documents together. A separate index server is often used to provide links to the documents on the documents server, which accelerates the location and retrieval of documents. Documents should also be stored in their native format to ensure they retain their original appearance. The document software solution should also allow users to view and annotate a document even if they don’t have its native application installed on their machine.
Review
Document creators in an enterprise must be able to submit their documents for review in order to track the document’s journey through its workflow. A DMS should provide this capability from both the submitter’s local machine and the central repository such that each use of the workflow template is treated as a separate process. Reviewers should receive notification when they have workflow tasks to perform through electronic communication methods such as email and instant messaging. A document’s review process should also include tasks such as checking documents in and out, adding comments, attaching supporting documents and digitally signing a document’s worksheet.
Another challenge in an enterprise’s document review process is the requirement to automatically distribute documents to the people who need them once the documents have been approved for use. Print output management should allow users to specify the recipients and storage folder that have been approved for each document. This capability allows recipients to quickly act on the information in a document while preventing unauthorized personnel from viewing them. A DMS should also provide toner-saving processes by printing documents only when needed.
Retention
Enterprises typically must comply with many regulations when deciding how long to retain a document, especially those in the health and finance sectors. Regulations such as Basle II, CFR 21 PART 11, HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley directly affect a document’s retention period and those of its associated emails and attachments. The implemented document archiving solution should therefore allow users to define retention policies by document class, including retention actions such as archival, transfer to another folder or deletion. The ability to move selected documents to an archive rather than deleting them allows users to retrieve the documents if they serve an active purpose at a later date. Archived documents can also serve as backups for the repository.
Summary
The increasing complexity of regulatory compliance and a global marketplace ensure that an adequate document software solution is essential for the modern enterprise. However, paper documents will continue to play an important role in modern organizations in addition to the requirement for electronic document management. Meeting these challenges requires enterprises to apply the right document technology and, depending on the area of business, work closely with government agencies and organizations for their industrial sector.
References
- https://smartdocuments.eu/en/products/highvolume/
- https://docpath.com/project/output-dynamics-high-volume-document-output-management
- https://docpath.com/category/blog-articles/
André Klein
Freelance DocPath Consultant
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