Document Management - White Paper (ID 5277).pdf Jul. 2014 | Page 8

Long-term Value
Document management solutions exist first and foremost to organize, store, and retrieve files
accurately and efficiently. Once documents and company data reside in a structured system, more
sophisticated file-handling procedures become possible.
For example, because most document management systems log information about the history of
document creation and modification (i.e. a digital “paper trail”), managers can query the system to
assess the status of employee progress or trace the history of past versions.
This accountability also makes a document management solution indispensible for businesses in
industries that must report their record-keeping procedures to maintain compliance with regulatory
mandates such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) for financial institutions and accounting firms, the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for medical practices, and International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9000 and 9001 for manufacturing and engineering.
With the right electronic document management solution in place, businesses have far more
capabilities than they would with just paper-based file or standard PC folder structure. Effective
document management enables employees to:
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Retrieve the correct document out of myriad of items throughout the company within seconds.

•

Access up-to-date file changes while working from home or on the road.

•

Prevent overwritten changes, misfiled items, and confusion over file versions.

•

Share information confidentially with other employees, partners, and customers.

•

Recover automatic backups of digital content to protect against accidental data loss.

The Basics of Easy Document Management
This guide is divided into three sections. The first two sections explore the benefits of adopting the
technology and describe the basic features common to organization-wide document management
system. The chapters also profile several examples of organizations that have adopted solutions to
meet their particular business needs.
The third section shows how to assess one’s own requirements -- which features best apply to a
particular situation and what kind of business issues can be addressed by document management.
The last section of the paper outlines some common rules for records management, for those
organizations that must follow legal or industry mandates for the creation and management of their
files.

EASY DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT

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