Electronic Document Storage

Electronic Document Storage

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We have up to a million sheets of paper in files in boxes in the attic and it won't take anymore!
The time has come to consider scanning papers and using a computer document /cd storage system. Can anyone recommend such a system or software supplier?
sharon clipperton

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By AnonymousUser
30th Oct 2002 16:44

Ease of access is paramount
in addition to all of the comments about how long it will take to scan and what hardware you need, the key thing in my opinion is the ease of use of whatever software you choose. bear in mind that the staff who will be using this new, fancy document management system are the same staff who have been using your simple to use filing cabinet for the last god knows how long. Make sure the system is intuitive and can be used by anyone.

Good Luck,

Dave Jones
Commercial Director
PlanAlpha Consulting

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By AnonymousUser
16th Sep 2002 19:38

Scanning the old stuff...
Hi Sharon,

There are many reasons why scanning the old stuff might be important:
1-depending on the nature of the documents, having them in electronic format might be important as it allows you to have backups and ensures you're covered in case of disasters (fire, water leaks).
2-You will perhaps be able to use the space for something else (conference room? office space for new staff? training room?). Scanning is much cheaper than moving.
3-How often do you need to send someone up to retrieve something? How much time is wasted looking for documents? With appropriate indexing, retrieving an electronic document is much faster than climbing up to the attic!
4-Are these client files? If so, once in electronic format you could have them on your laptop when you visit clients. That could improve your customer service considerably by speeding up response time.

If any of those reasons is relevant to you, please visit www.papershrink.co.uk or give me a ring.

Elisabeth Belisle
Director, Papershrink
Shrinking filing cabinets into CDs

30 Fallowfield, Peterborough, Cambs
Tel. 0870-011-3262
www.papershrink.co.uk

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By AnonymousUser
13th Sep 2002 10:02

A Few General Points
Dear Sharon

An additional point to emphasise is "how will you want to retrieve" the documents. The answer to this question will determine the indexes for your scanned documents.

Also - index schemes can often seem daunting whereas the reality is they are usually simple to implement.

Another point is your throughput - i.e. the number of documents to be scanned per day. This will determine the type of scanner. If you need to scan 500 or more A4 sheets per day, then my advice is - buy a good one! To produce consistently good images requires quality automatic feed mechanism, scan-head etc. Fujitsu are one of the better suppliers in this range.

Please feel free to e-mail me - [email protected] if you have additional questions.

Good Luck

Cliff Smith

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By AnonymousUser
13th Sep 2002 15:50

It's not the IT that's important - it's how you want to use it.
Most of the respondents below have talked about hardware and software, some of which may be right for you, but only AFTER you decided what you want the solution to do.

A million pages, scanning 500 a day will take 2,000 working days – that’s 8 years!!! Any decent document management solution supplier will tell you scan the new stuff and only the old as you need to pull it from store. Why scan something you have no reason to view?

The key issue is indexing, how quickly do you think you are going to find one document out of a million on a computer? Going to the attic may be quicker!! A decent indexing structure needs careful analysis if you are to get the most from any document management system.

Lastly, speak to a specialist. If my car needs fixing I take it to a garage – I don’t try to do it myself.

Frank Fischer
Business Development Manager
iRevolution Limited – Document Management Specialists

+44 (0)1895 425 708 Direct
+44 (0)1895 444 420 Tel
+44 (0)7887 775 374 Mobile
+44 (0)1895 444 460 Fax

www.iRevolution.com Web

achieving BUSINESS ambitions


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By AnonymousUser
13th Sep 2002 09:44

Hardware & software used by us
We purchased a Canon DR-3020N which scans very quickly a pile at a time. It's connected to a computer and we then add a brief description to the file number so we know what is in it. There is a better scanner for the same price made by Fujitsu. This file is then zipped and both are transfered to a CD which is labled as well.

We would be happy to provide further info. Norman Smith [email protected]

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By cwmaccountants
10th Sep 2002 18:05

Document management
We already have virtual correspondence and accounts working paper files.
We decided to write our own software for filing correspondence and office administration documents, which we have now done and have recently released to third parties. This was written in conjunction with a software company.
All correspondence in and out, including faxes, emails etc are all stored in our document management system.
We started filing documents electronically from April 1999 onwards and decided not to file previously created documents. There are companies available that will scan old files for you.
If you would like details regarding our system please contact me.

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By AnonymousUser
11th Sep 2002 03:44

Why do you want to scan old documents?

Sharon,

Personally, I think it is a waste trying to scan old stuff. I suggest you should acquire a system to scan current documents and all documents that are generated hence forth.

The most basic and highly versatile software you could buy is adobe acrobat which comes with its own scanning software and a distiller. This allows you to create pdf format files (Portable Document Format) that can be kept on the server for ready access. distiller allows you to print the documents such as email, web pages etc into PDF i.e. it acts as a printer but instead of printing it creates a pdf file.

You will also need few HP scanners with Auto Feed facility for various staff to scan their daily documents and archive them.

Don't try scanning old stuff because you are likely to miss some and get into unnecessary trouble.

How about downloading a trial version of pdfFactory from:

http://www.fineprint.com/

You can now keep copies of emails and webpages! Great stuff and I love it.

Hope this helps.


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By dclark
07th Sep 2002 18:33

What type of documents
Sharon,

There are a lot of alternatives, but before others wade in

1 is this a businesses situation or a private situation

2 can you tell us what type of documents these are. It depends a bit on the answer to point 1, but if they are purchase and sales invoices then a good accounting system will allow you to attach a scanned copy of the document, if they are audit papers then it would point to another solution, if they are personal phone bills, tax returns, etc, etc

3 what is you likely budget - £100, £1000, £10000, etc, as some of the solutions can cost a great deal

Kind Regards

Daniel Clark
Ryba Macaulay Ltd
[email protected]

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By asdesign
08th Sep 2002 17:44

Do you require linkage to customers etc
If you don't need a link to any other data then www.retsoft.com have a nice piece of archiving software for scanned documents.You can search on and store as required.
If you would like to gain more information and maybe link to customers/suppliers cases etc then we have solutions to suit.


Yours

Viv Burrows

[email protected]

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By AnonymousUser
09th Sep 2002 10:42

Document Management Software
Sharon,

If you require a simple scanning service then there are quite a few scanning bureauxs who can carry out your needs of straight paper document scanning onto CD's.

However, if you have ongoing documents that are being created either electronicaly or paper based you may need to look into document management. A good DM system will allow you to not only scan and archive documents but also to make documents secure, restrict access, create audit trails of the use of documents, integrate with Microsoft office, fast fully indexed searching.
Document Management can support the scanning side for archiving but also provide the ongoing control and management of documents rather than simply having CD libraries of documents in an unorganised fashion.

If you would like to receive some information you can contact at [email protected]

Regards

Matthew Crowther

Hould you require any information please take a look at www.meticulus.com

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By User deleted
21st Dec 2009 18:30

Old files are important

I work for a document management company which has many clients who I speak with on a daily basis and the subject of scanning older files is one that comes up frequently. As a business grows, it will in turn create more paper and at some stage will come to a point where there is no further space to store paperwork, from here some companies will draw a line under the old paperwork and scan any new paperwork created, some will revert to offsite storage and some will scan the backlog of paperwork and create a strategy to handle new paperwork.

I have to agree with some of the above comments and I personally think that scanning your old files is important. I have heard several horror stories over the years, with archive rooms going up in smoke and files suffering from water damage. Electronic document storage is the safest way of preserving your archives and has many other benefits. You can access your files within seconds and use the space for more profitable use. For more information on document scanning please visit www.paperescape.co.uk or contact me.

James M (IT)

Paper Escape

0845 603 9893

 

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By davidmaldren
03rd Mar 2020 15:04

Just came accross this thread and although rather old the question about scanning old paperwork has become more inportant than ever. Since the introduction of GDPR companies really do need to know what they have lurking in those old filing cabinets and scanning and indexing the contents is the only alternative to shredding the lot of it.

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By Cardigan
03rd Mar 2020 17:43

Hi Sharon,

We were in a similar situation a few years ago but we didn't have quite as much paper!

We decided to go paperless going forward and not to scan the old stuff. It was just going to take too long to scan and take up too much disk storage space. Instead we sorted it into boxes, indexed the boxes and archived it with a third party secure storage company. It doesn't cost us that much to store the boxes.

We did scan a few documents that we thought we might need in the future, but not that much.

In the past few years, we have never needed any document we sent to storage.

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