Electronic document management systems (EDMS) transform the speed and quality of information access. You can now extract needed information from a base of millions of documents. Provided you know how not to be overwhelmed with this potential and how to extract really relevant information and use it, the result can be a dramatic improvement in business decisions.
A look at the different elements of a modern electronic document management system will reveal the potential.
Electronic Data Capture
In the beginning, data entry from paper documents was the way data was captured for use by the electronic document management system. Data capture has progressed much since then. Scanning and OCR (optical character recognition) software transfer data on paper documents quickly into the EDMS. It’s even possible to transfer field data from paper forms directly to relevant electronic database fields.
Online data capture through handheld devices eliminates the need to come back to the office and transfer data to the document management system.
Electronic Data Storage
Databases that store the captured data can now be optimized for transaction processing speed or for querying and analysis. Data warehouses are examples of the latter. As a result, data needed for day-to-day transactions can be stored in special databases while all data can be stored in the data-warehouse databases.
Data warehouses enable business managers to query it in different ways and generate reports that reveal trends and other patterns.
Electronic Data Processing
While transaction data processing and querying and analysis have been the ‘traditional’ kinds of data processing, modern techniques like data mining use the power of the computer to find previously unknown patterns and information. Users may not consciously look for this kind of information because they may be unaware of its existence.
Overall, the speed of data processing has been improving continuously.
The New Dimension of Intranets
While networking systems added a new dimension to desktop computing, the arrival of the Internet (a network of networks) and Intranets adds a dramatic new dimension of electronic document management systems. It’s now possible to network computers across the globe.
Intranets allow documents generated anywhere on the globe to be instantly available anywhere else connected to the Intranet. Even global corporations with offices spread across the globe can operate almost like a local business. Intranets also make secure access possible. Unlike the Internet that makes information accessible to the general public, Intranets allow only authorized persons to access the information held by it.
At the End of the Lifecycle
Documents typically have a lifecycle. Old documents that are no longer needed can consume valuable storage equipment and space. In a paper-based environment, it’s quite difficult to locate and dispose of documents that have passed their expiration.
Electronic documents can be marked by their expiration dates, and the electronic document management system can be programmed to alert managers about the documents nearing expiration.
Once selected for deletion, removal of the document and reclaiming its storage space is a comparatively simple matter in an electronic system. The only danger is that unauthorized deletions might happen, which must be prevented through appropriate authorization procedures and audit trails.
About Author
Ademero, Inc. develops electronic document management software. Visit their website devoted to document management system . Browse the resources section which includes the largest collection of posts from real users reviewing all of the most popular document management system available.
Source : http://www.articlewheel.com/
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