Virtual Cabinet Document Management

Each user has a unique User Id and Password. Security is achieved by the user’s profile and the user will only be able to access those documents that he or she is allowed to see. They may be restricted from updating certain documents while being allowed to amend others (version controlled), update the document status or document owner and add notes.

Once indexed, documents can be found very quickly. Using the User Defined Fields (UDFs) means that the level of indexing is unlimited. Using a combination of Date Received, Document Type and User Defined Fields, for example ‘Invoice Number’ will quickly retrieve the document you want at the time that you need it.

Documents stored within the system can be shared throughout your organisation by anyone authorised to do so. This means that you do not need to photocopy documents or reprint them. If one user is making amendments to a document then that document is checked out to that user. However, this does not prevent other users from viewing it.

Certain documents may require updating on a regular basis. Health and Safety regulations for example. These would normally be in Word or PowerPoint or another similar format. When a change is required the user needs to ‘check out’ the document. This locks the document from being changed by any other users until the first user has finished updating the document. (Note that this can only be done by a user with the right permissions.) Once a document has been amended it is then ‘checked in’ and a new version created. Previous versions are never overwritten, they can still be viewed. The system tracks all activity for this document.

Each time a user logs on to the system it is recorded and all the activity that the user does is also logged. The system also records when a document is added, viewed, amended or had its attributes changed (status or index information) and it also records which user performed this and when.

IT departments are extremely good at ensuring that adequate backups are performed and in the event of a flood, fire or theft and would be able to reinstate the organisation’s data within a reasonable time frame. The same cannot be said of the organisations paper records. The cost of copying every document and making sure they are stored offsite or in fireproof cabinets would be colossal. 60% of businesses that have had suffered a disaster of one kind or another never recover. Having the organisations documents within our Document Management system means they can be recovered and accessible within a very short time.

Our Document Management system, by default, uses Optical Character Recognition on all documents that are scanned into our system. This means that documents can be searched for textual content. However, this is not just limited to scanned documents. Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, PDFs can also be searched using this facility. Text files and HTML files are also included. This is a very powerful feature and is extremely useful for finding documents relating to a particular subject when the other characteristics i.e. Document Type, Date etc., are not known or the user is unsure about.

Once paper documents, in particular, are stored in the Document Management system they are no longer required on site. These documents could then be stored offsite in cheaper locations or in some circumstances (provided there is no legal requirement not to do so) they could be shredded. The amount of space freed up by not having rows and rows of filing cabinets in some cases provides an instant return on investment.

The advent of the Internet has allowed E-Mail to become the most commonly used form of inter-business communication. It has also meant that information can be made readily available wherever you are. Using our Document Management system enables organisations to have access to all their documents and records anywhere in the World provided that have Internet connectivity. This means that businesses that have branches is other countries can share information; documents can be ratified; invoices can be authorised and data made available for meetings at a minutes notice.