Connect with the world's leading business experts.
Get instant access to their expertise via world–class Q&A, Research, and Events.
0
I need help looking for the right electronic document management system.
I want to deploy an electronic document management system, but don’t know where to start looking. I work for an accounting firm and would like to make the office as paperless as possible. What systems are out there?
Events
- Social Media and Content Marketing For Business Q&A Feb 14 @ 11 am PT
- #TNLive Radio: Workforce Marketing & Recruitment Feb 14 @ 4 pm PT
- The Rise of Pinterest in B2B Feb 15 @ 11 am PT
- ERP – Priming Your Business to Deliver Value From Strategy to Operations Feb 15 @ 1 pm PT
- How Not to Coach Your Salespeople Feb 16 @ 1 pm PT
Related Activity
13 Answers
Paul, some things you need to have with you when you talk to anyone about document storage.
1. what are you storing (financials/ triplicate forms)
1a. do you need to link to an account? or system? (ERP or CRM)
2. how long are you storing it
3. what are you doing now (file cabinets?)
4. how do you get current paper trail in the box (if you have reams and 1000's of filecabinets this is going to be a big part of your budget and timeline)
5. budget for project
6. training and customization
(who is going to own the system and what do you do when your business changes?)
once you can get this out on paper with your peers and the leadership you can be able to see if this is a viable plan... typically your going to spend a minimum of $8k - $15k in hardware and software at a minimum and the sky's the limit on how much more it can cost you based on your requirements, and the size of what you are looking to do.
I have worked on 3 implementations of Document Storage systems...
IBM Content Management Server, Onbase, and a custom developed system...
IBM's will run you about 25k-40k for a small business doing under 1 million sheets and will allow a lot of customization. it can link with other systems and is web enabled and thick client also. it will need a dedicated scanning station along with a person to staff it, but it has a whole slew of options like quality control, version control, bar coding. will need 1-2 people at 60k-120k a year to keep this guy in tune and working... or a good consulting firm.
Onbase is windows based and will run you about 10k - 20k for hardware and software. it is comparable to the IBM CMS, but not nearly as complicated or customizable. Your typical IT guy can operate and tune the system, it will have a front end scanner and workstation with a MSSQL backend. pretty simple install, easy maintenance. and it is windows based so most people can operate it. it is also powerful and can store a decent amount of paper.
I wouldn’t recommend you go the custom route, unless you have a army of devs and I.T. folks at your disposal, and a year or 3 to develop it.
So the components are pretty much the same, a front end desktop PC, a decent high volume scanner and software (usually ascent capture), a backend DB server with the document management framework that may support website services.
that should get you in the right direction!
Thanks
Kelly P. Fitzgerald
Database Administrator
The Wasserstrom Company
477 South Front Street
Columbus, Ohio 43215
GoogleVoice (614) 489-9522
Some good resources check out these links.
http://www.business.com/directory/computers_and_software/software_application...
http://www.document-management-software-system.net/document-management-softwa...
http://www.buyerzone.com/software/doc_man_software/qz_questions_839.jhtml
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/r-article-a-40939-m-7-sc-31-document_managemen...
We use http://www.ironmountain.com/documents/management/document-management-solution...
Also http://www.esker.com/
Hello Paul,
you can take help of USourceIT,an online market place for B2B It needs.Use USourceIT search engine to find a suitable service provider.You can also Submit the requirements with USourceIT and get the complete assistance to find a suitable service provider in your budget for free....
NO charges Applicable........http://search.usourceit.com/
Paul:
There are hundreds of packages out there for Electronic DM. We have used a couple in Accounting practices, Sentryfile - www.sentryfile.com, doci-it - www.doc-it.net are a couple that we have found work well and are not too costly. We have a white paper on our website you can check out which will give you some Red Flags for Document Management Systems which might help.
http://www.leppert.com/documents/RedFlagsForDocumentManagement.html
Good luck in your search. Lee www.leppert.com
I have a system which is related to document management system, here with the document we are giving one very nice feature like if you have more then 3 lakhs of document and you need to find any document we are giving the search facility which find your document with in 3 seconds and that helps you lot....
Hi Paul,
Just wonder whether you found the answer you were looking for. What product did you settle for at the end? All in one or best of breed?
Best regards
Manoj
CEO - http://edocr.com - Generate Sales leads through document share
Paul:
Did you ever get to the point where you were comfortable going with one system? If you are still looking, Imay be able to guide you as Docutrend, the firm I represent helps companies with this ALL day, EVERY day. We are a document management firm handling everything from hardware to software, and we do it nationally. If I can be of service, please contact me at 917 828 0006. Thanks,
Todd Griesman
Check out Aras management solution, which is available to be accessed via mobile phones as well. I know the guy who deals with it and you can get the best solution, at low cost.
Contact: Prateek, mob: +91-9604211311
Some more options - HyperOffice (http://www.hyperoffice.com), Google Docs (http://www.google.com/a), Alfresco (http://www.alfresco.com).
Though this question is over a year old, I though I’d add this for the benefit of others who might be looking as well. (Paul, I’m also interested to know how that initiative has turned out)
There are countless solutions available for document management. I would suggest before you begin exploring and evaluating products, first looking at your internal operations structure and determining what your organization’s needs are.
The danger in looking at products first is that you’re at the mercy of the vendors to tell you what you need and each will insist that you need their product.
Developing an imaging and Electronic Content Management (ECM) strategy is extremely important. Below are a few high-level considerations:
- Legal concerns around identification and classification of records and record retention must be carried over from current paper-based operations to digital.
- Appropriate meta-data schemas must be designed and implemented to ensure that digitized documents are searchable and can be grouped and retrieved accurately.
- Access control planning has to be established (who has access to what records and when).
- Technology requirements (in-house expertise and infrastructure capabilities, connectivity to existing and future planned systems, etc).
- Bulk Scanning (buy/rent high-volume scanners and hire interns or outsource, what actually needs to be scanned and what can stay on paper, etc).
Once all of the operational requirements have been identified and documented, vendor and product selection is a breeze. Bells and whistles are still nice but you can cut right to the chase and make an informed decision based on your needs.
You probably found your solution, but I am sure others have found your post in their own search for a document management service. One of the first comments mentioned the costs of implementation for traditional document management software. IT costs and upkeep can put a DM system out of reach for many companies, especially those with limits on capital purchases.
Thenext generation of Document Management is less software and more service. If you want a system configured to the way you work, check out Kern EDGE. www.kerncan.com/edge. Kern EDGE is a SaaS document management gateway that is structured to help businesses be more productive with their documents. We have saved companies hundreds of thousands of dollars annually without a big investment. Plus, you can be using Kern EDGE in 30 days! Call us before you spend too much. My number is 614-317-2620.
Hi Paul,
Please find a link to our website at http://www.ascot-solutions.co.uk We are a specilist document management and content management provider who supplys a number of different document management products dependent on the clients budget and functionality/benefit requirements.
A lot of organisations in this market simply provide a one solution fits all product that actually often does not achieve all that a client is looking for or is far too costly as it contains additional functionality that the client simply will not use.
If you wish to discuss further, please do not hesitate to contact me on 0845 3510570
Hi Paul,
Our website link is http://www.Quantor.biz
At Quantor we provide a variety of services for businesses all of which help to ease the burden and cost of handling paper especially now there are very effective well proven and cost saving inexpensive options using both paper and electronic documents.
We offer our services on a pay as you go basis with no upfront investment required and some services deliver very significant automation improvements saving time and freeing staff to deal with exceptions. If this is of interest and you are able to let me know an idea of your monthly document volume and types you handle them at the moment we will have a picture of your situation to discuss which options would be of most value. We can then give you an idea of the cost and probable cost saving.
The number for Quantor is 01543 377266 and my name is James. I'd be more than happy to talk to you regarding Electronic Document Management.
Thank you.
Answer This Question