Dealing with documents is a pain in the neck for most of us. The problem starts with finding the document you need. The pain does not end there. Now you have be sure that the document you just found is the correct one. If you need a paper-document, you may have a bigger problem. You have to find the filing cabinet and locate the document. You're lucky if the filing cabinet is close by. What if the document is stored off-site and you need it now? Let's take a look at some of the common pain points in managing documents
And that is just the beginning. The documents they find must be valid and up to date. They must be confident that they will be working on the correct version of the document.
How many times have you heard these before?
- I spent hours updating an outdated version, only to find out that a newer version existed.
- I spent hours putting together this document, only to find out it was already available in our company.
- This document is named "Q1-2017 Sales Report-Latest.xls". This one is named "Q1-2017 Sales Report-Final.xls". Which one is current?
- Okay, I found the document but is this the latest version?
Common question when working with file shares.
Where is that document? Which disk is it on? Companies create multiple drives and shared resources on their network to store documents. This is mainly done to prevent documents from being stored on individual workstations because it is very difficult to back them up. This however becomes a huge issue for knowledge workers who need quick access to documents to perform their daily tasks. Often, knowledge workers spend a huge amount of time searching for documents and some end up rewriting the document rather than continue to search for it.
I wonder if there is a document out there about this topic?
In today's competitive environment, time is money. Users need quick access to documents whenever they need it. Being able to quickly search for and find documents is critical for businesses.
Searching for documents is a pain
Searching for documents take up a surprising amount of time for knowledge workers. The loss in time and productivity trying to find the document you are looking for is a huge cost to organization.
In today’s competative environment, access to documents should be immediate. You need a system that allows users to quickly find the right information based on content and meta searches. Visit Document Management Facts and Figures to get a feel for how much is lost due to inefficiencies in searching for documents.
- I need access to my documents when I am on the road.
- What if documents are updated while I am on the road? How would I know about this?
- This document has been changed but who did it?
- I need to share documents with vendors and customers. Am I supposed to let them into my network?
- Who else knows about this document? Who has seen it?
- There has to be someone in this organization who knows this, but who?
We find ourselves asking questions related to who did what and when. This is an all too common problem when you are manually trying to deal with documents.
Who, What, When questions
- Who created this document?
- How can I tell if someone changed this document?
- Who updated this document?
- When did it get updated?
- Who else knows about this document? Who has seen it?
- There has to be someone in this organization who knows this, but who?
Trying to manage documents manually is a drag
There are many other questions and issues with trying to manage documents. It is painful!
Here are many more questions and pain points we can name
- Which one is the current version? How do I get to an earlier version?
- I am on the road a lot; how do I get to the latest versions of documents remotely?
- What about document security?
- When did it get updated?
- Who else knows about this document? Who has seen it?
- There has to be someone in this organization who knows this, but who?
Version Control issues
Version control issues are painful. It is very common for knowledge workers to be in doubt about working with the correct version of a document. Working with the wrong or outdated version of a document is a huge waste of valuable time and productivity.
- Which one is the current version? How do I get to an earlier version?
- I am on the road a lot; how do I get to the latest versions of documents remotely?
- What about document security?
- When did it get updated?
- I need to see an earlier version of this document. Is it possible?
- I wasted hours on a document only to find that it was an outdated version.
Security and Access issues
Document security is a critical issue. Not having granular control of document security is a common problem if all you have is a file share to store documents.
You also have to make sure that the right people have access to mission-critical documents. Balancing the two is not easy in a network environment.
- I need access to my documents when I am on the road.
- What if documents are updated while I am on the road? How would I know about this?
- This document has been changed but who did it?
- I need to share documents with vendors and customers. Am I supposed to let them into my network?
- I want to share some documents in a specific folder but I do not want them to see the other documents. Is this possible?
- How can I tell if someone has seen this document?
Document Format and Access
Even small companies have to deal with thousands of documents that must be managed. Very few are aware of the magnitude of their problems associated with managing documents. Being able to share documents in a format that everyone can deal with is an issue. Can you imagine how long it would take to convert documents to a format everyone can agree on? It would be a daunting task. Even if you were agreeable to converting all your documents to PDF and HTML, how would you update or edit them?
- I want all these documents to be online but it will take years to convert them to HTML. Can we just publish them as is and still make them searchable?
- What if documents are updated while I am on the road? How would I know about this?
- This document has been changed but who did it?
- I need to share documents with vendors and customers. Am I supposed to let them into my network?
- Who else knows about this document? Who has seen it?
- There has to be someone in this organization who knows this, but who?
Notifications
Documents are being changed around us and we have no idea that this is happening. Control of documents requires a notification system that allows stakeholders to be notified when documents change. Mission critical proposals, writing or editing procedure documents, document review results, recurring document reviews for iso procedure documents are just a few examples of cases where an effective notification system can make a huge difference
- ISO document control
- Workflow notifications
- Edits to critical proposal documents
- Document expiration notifications
- Retention and Disposition Schedule notifications
- Check In/Check out notifications
Getting organized
Business documents on personal laptops, documents haphazardly saved to file shares, folders littered with unrelated documents, large files placed on network shares, documents that are no longer relevant kept on network shares are just a few examples of the disarray that is common to many organizations.
- Everybody has a file on every server and every disk including their desktop. How can we get organized?
- I am a control freak. When things change, I want to know right then and there.
- Everybody puts documents all over the place, I want my images, documents and spreadsheets where they belong. Not just saved in any folder. We need "Configuration Management".
- Document expiration notifications
- Retention and Disposition Schedule notifications
- Check In/Check out notifications