We've Moved!

I'd like to thank everyone taking the time to check in our blog so regularly and I'm excited to announce we've moved our blog to our main website!

Check out the new blog and new posts at www.mesltd.ca/blog

Examining the Costs of Application and Database Licenses

Some document management systems are designed to give users direct access to the underlying database used to store document metadata and therefore require a database access license for each user.

For example, an installation of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS) requires a license for each SharePoint server, as well as client access licenses (CALs) for each device or user connected to the servers. Additionally, an equal number of server and user CALs must be purchased to allow those users to access the requisite Microsoft SQL Server. It should be noted that these MS SQL Server licenses and CALs cost almost as much as the MOSS licenses, immediately doubling the apparent license cost of a SharePoint system.

In contrast, other ECM systems, such as Spielberg's FileDirector, shield the underlying database from direct user access and therefore do not require a database client access license for each user. Further, organizations have the option of choosing a database engine—MS SQL Server or Oracle—that best fits their environment and IT skill set.

Find out more about ECM solutions by visiting our website

You can also follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/MESHDS

Spielberg North America Conference

MES Hybrid Document Systems was pleased to once again host the annual Spielberg North America Conference. The conference which took place between June 23rd and 28th was focused on improving end-user and value added partner support as well as discussing new marketing avenues to promote FileDirector and ScanFile.

“I feel this year’s conference was a huge success” say Mark McClung, President of Active Data Systems. “Not only did we develop a new awareness strategy which includes marketing vehicles such as Twitter and YouTube, but we were also able to formulate new solutions to help our value added partners address complex process management and workflow challenges faced by their clients.”

“I think the biggest take away from the conference was our new unified approach to marketing these document management solutions.” says Kevin D’Arcy, Vice-President of Sales & Marketing with MES Hybrid Document Systems. “Before this conference there was a lot of independent, and therefore duplicated, marketing efforts. Not only were we doing the same things twice, but the image we were portraying was different depending on which side of the border you reside on. The solutions that were resolved this week will help streamline our North American marketing campaigns by giving us a uniformed look to our videos, case studies, twitter posts and much more.”

More About Active Data Systems

Active Data Systems, located in Sioux Falls South Dakota, is the US distributor of the Spielberg document management and paperless office solutions. They specialize in enterprise level document management and content management solutions not only throughout the Midwest but across the United States through qualified value added partners. Active Data Systems employs many CDIA+ certified professionals and is active member of both AIIM (www.aiim.org) and IIMDA (www.iimda.org).

Web: www.activedatasystems.com

Twitter: www.twitter.com/activedatainc

More About MES Hybrid Document Systems

MES Hybrid Document Systems, founded in 1971 and located in Markham Ontario, is the proud Canadian distributor for the Spielberg document management and paperless office solutions. They pride themselves on providing customized and industry specific solutions to their clients across Canada. MES Hybrid Document Systems employs professional certified in enterprise content management (ECM) and electronic records management (ERM) and is active member of both AIIM (www.aiim.org) and IIMDA (www.iimda.org).

Web: www.mesltd.ca

Twitter: www.twitter.com/meshds

YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/meshds

Blog: www.meshds.blogspot.com

Why Choose A Certified Document Management Specialist?

Undertaking a new document management program can be a daunting and complex task without extensive research, experience and education. With the help of an industry certified professional such specialized tasks as system design, hardware requirements and information capture can be streamlined and simplified.

When designing a new system everything from storage requirements, database configuration, bandwidth and security need to be addressed. Calculating storage requirements can depend upon the types of documents being stored within the system. An average letter size page scanned in black & white at 300DPI will require 50KB of storage space. This means that a department scanning 2,000 pages per day with an expected 5% increase in volume after the first year would require over 130GB of storage space after five years. With the relatively low cost of storage media this may not seem like much over a five year period, but this is only one department and migration and back-up requirements still need to be addressed. Database configuration also plays a key role in determining the requirements of a document management system. Will your selected document management system integrate into your existing database server or will it exhaust your system resources? For instance, some document management products will actually store files and images as "blobs" within the database, where others simply use call-outs within the database to retrieve the images from a dedicated storage pool. The industry preferred method, however, is to use call-outs to reduce the burden on your database and improve performance. Meaning you have a greater chance of utilizing existing system resources without further investment.

Selecting the right hardware and capture software can lead into a sea of manufacturers, brochures and specifications. Asking the question, which is the right choice for your business? One of the most important factors to consider when selecting a document scanner is daily volumes. This can be based on the peak or an average daily amount. This number should be sufficiently large to prevent an ongoing backlog. Virtually every brochure will list the maximum images per minute the scanner will perform at with all factors being optimum. These numbers never represent a true working environment. For instance, simple math would tell us in order to scan 50,000 pages in an eight hour shift; we would need a scanner capable of 105 pages per minute. However, this doesn't take into account higher resolutions, image clean up features, orientation correction, operator fatigue and loading/unloading time. Even though every scanner is different a commonly used calculation for determining scanner throughput is:

Rated Scanner Speed x Average Throughput (70%) x Number of Working Minutes Per Hour (50mins) x Hours Per Shift = Actual Daily Throughput

Using this calculation a scanner rated at 90 pages per minute will actually only achieve 25,200 pages per shift, not 43,200.

Capturing index values and other critical data is another hurdle in a document management roll-out and can be performed in a variety of different fashions, including:

• Barcoding
• Manual data entry
• Forms processing
• Full text OCR
• Zone OCR
• Handwriting recognition
• Automatic data extraction

How do you find the right balance of accuracy and efficiency? What methods produce excellent results automatically? And what methods can result in documents lost permanently?

Many methods of capture can reduce the time spent manually entering/correcting information. Barcodes, for instance, tend to have a superb accuracy rate. If your document management software is able to recognize an accurate barcode on the document it will extract the proper information. If the software is unable to recognize the barcode the field will be left blank and easily identifiable during quality control.

Barcoding matched with database extraction allows you to populate all index values based on one highly accurate and unique barcode field. This same database extraction method twinned with an OCR process can actually lead to very small, yet very critical, percentage of records that are mis-indexed. Imagine if you were to OCR a health card number from a patient record, and the OCR results we're in accurate. When the system queries the database for the remaining index values it could potentially populate the fields with another patient's information losing a vital patient record.

The above examples indicate why professional document management companies employ industry certified specialists as part of their sales and technical support teams. They come prepared to better assist in making informed decisions critical to the success of your document management solution and operating efficiency.

Find out more about ECM solutions by visiting our website

You can also follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/MESHDS

Involve All Departments In Document Management Planning

A successful document management project must bring together multiple departments within the company, even those which may not yet be putting the system into use. Involving other departments in the planning and definition phase, including those not targeted for the initial rollout, makes it easier to extend the system to those departments later without additional development and customization.

Only when all parties are involved can critical questions be answered, such as:

• What documents must be managed? Is it necessary to keep every piece of communication including e-mail, instant messaging logs, and hand-written letters?
• For how long must the various document types be retained? Which level of government legislation takes precedence? Are there documents that should not be saved?
• What security must be applied for access, editing, and destruction of documents? Should some records be prevented from being edited? Who should be able to delete records and when?
• How will the system accommodate and enforce workflow and document routing? Can business processes be adjusted or simplified?
• Which paper documents need to be scanned? Should the system perform optical character recognition on the entire document, on only specific form fields, or is metadata sufficient, and if so, how will it be generated?

Find out more about ECM solutions by visiting our website

You can also follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/MESHDS

Development and Customization

A mature ECM system represents many development-years of effort with careful attention paid to security, workflow, data integrity, extensibility, and usability. It is unrealistic to expect even a dedicated programmer-analyst to build a skill set to match this challenge, particularly in an environment where the relatively low cost and accessibility of polished, pre-packaged line-of-business applications has seen most organizations move away from maintaining in-house development teams.

Yet, even if such an application could be produced in-house, development efforts could not end once the system was in place. A myriad of factors—both internal and external—would force continual re-development and customization. An organization's growth and changing environment necessitates extensive and costly updates to all of its systems, including ECM.

An application originally sized for a limited number of users will not scale well when extended to additional departments or branch offices, and will require considerable modifications to support multiple servers for load balancing and redundancy.

New data types and specialized file formats—including scanned image graphics, audio, and video—will require custom plug-ins, assuming the application developers had the foresight to build with a modular architecture.

Integrating the ECM system with legacy applications—or new applications—can be easily accomplished through the use of open formats such as XML, HTTP, or ODBC, but again only if the developers foresaw this need. Otherwise, extensive re-programming will be necessary.

Applications written to support only specific image capture devices will need to be revised to work with new hardware.

Other forces beyond the control of the developers will also necessitate ongoing customization.

New government legislation may require changes to document security, retention, and workflow.

Updates to the underlying language and framework, be it Java or .NET, frequently demand extensive re-coding and a complete cycle of testing and debugging. The same holds true for operating system updates. (Consider the notorious case of Windows Vista. Many applications and hardware devices that worked well with Windows XP were incompatible with Vista and had to be either updated or replaced.)

Alternatively, an organization can choose to shield itself from much of the added time and expense of unanticipated re-development efforts by purchasing a pre-packaged ECM system covered by a clearly defined software maintenance agreement.

Choose an ECM consultancy that will deliver a complete system that is easily upgraded and that will provide customizations to match your organization's changing needs.

"When asked what they sought most from an ECM solution provider, survey respondents indicated a desire to address ECM through packaged solutions, rather than through just a platform on which they themselves can build solutions. More than half, 69% of our survey respondents stated they seek solution-based products."— AIIM Market Intelligence 2008

Find out more about ECM solutions by visiting our website

You can also follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/MESHDS

Selecting An ECM Vendor That Is Right For You

A quick google search reviles over 33,000,000 million hits for "document management software", so how do you differentiate the good from the bad, what you need from what you don't need, what's going to work and what you're going to just sink money into? Every site claims to have the "perfect solution", that one magical piece of software that is designed for every application, every market, whether you're in healthcare or widget manufacturing; whether you're a small office or a fortune 50 company. Before you decide to jump into the document imaging selection process, there are a few simple steps you can establish that will help minimize frustration and narrow your search criteria to allow you to find the best solution possible.

The solution should work within your processes, not force you to change the way you work. You need to know how your processes work and what content is involved. You can then start to look at which technology will expedite these processes the most. It's best to document your processes and define the workflows, this will help you identify and correct unnecessary steps early in the process.

Establish a selection committee. Who in your company will be evaluating the document management solutions? At the end of the day, this committee is your decision, but it should be broad enough to make sure the needs of the various departments involved are met. Typically, companies rely on System Support Technicians/Records Management/Subject Matter Experts/Management people.

Have a decision-making process. The key is to decide on a process at the beginning, share the process with everyone involved, and follow it to make your decision.

Establish your criteria for success. Develop a checklist that covers all aspects you require in a solution. At the end of the day, we refer you back to the first point, the solution needs to meet your needs and work within your business processes so every solution being evaluated should meet your requirements. Not only do you want to evaluate the software as it relates to your specific needs, but you also want to establish if the solution provider has the required skill set and experience to make your document management rollout a success. A few things that you might consider when evaluating different potential vendors:

Do their products follow industry standards?
What is the market size for the product?
Can solid project references be obtained for the company in question?
Is the company financially stable?
How much experience does the company have implementing the kind of solutions you require?

The big decision. At this point you need to review all the collected information, and determine which solution features best align with your goals and prioritize them accordingly. Once you've determined your priorities, add corresponding weighted values to your checklist. At this point the choice should be clear and you're ready to make move into the realm of electronic document management.