I don’t get excited by technology much these days. I tend to have a rather cynical view about it – Typically it’s either been done before, or it’s a solution looking for a problem. But occasionally something comes along which makes me sit back and take notice.  I’ve known about Google Wave for a while now. It’s been heralded as an “email killer” or a “wiki on steroids” or a “collaboration on the fly” and various other profound marketing statements. So it’s been sitting in the “wait and see…” corner of my mind for a while. I’m particularly skeptical about products which are declared “game changing” before they are even released…

Yesterday however, I indulged myself in watching the 1:20′ demo video of Google Wave. If you have not seen it, get yourself a cup of coffee and some biscuits, lock yourself in a room, stick the headphones on and be prepared to watch a good movie. You’ll laugh out loud too! This isn’t your typical PowerPoint presentation or even product demo. It’s good fun and it’s important.

However, beyond the functionality that you see demonstrated, pay attention to the personalities of the presenters, the people behind the product. You will begin to understand why Google Wave is significant.  It’s not the technology, it’s the attitude that’s different.

“What’s this got to do with ECM?” you may ask… It has everything to do with ECM. If Google Wave succeeds as a corporate platform (and I see absolutely no reason why it wouldn’t), it will fundamentally change the ECM industry.  Why? because the ECM industry, and Document Management before it, was invented as a workaround to compensate for NOT being able to do what Google Wave does. Let me explain… let’s look at some of the fundamental capabilities of ECM and how they might change in Google Wave world:

1. Check-In / Check – Out: This was invented primarily to overcome the issues of multiple authors trying to edit the same document at the same time and then having to synchronise the edits. Google Wave’s real time authoring synchronisation, removes the need for asynchronous editing and document locking.

2. Version history: Each Wave contains a complete version history of its lifecycle. The “Playback” function allows users to go back in time and trace the lineage of any edit in the document. A much more detailed and granular approach.

3. Lifecycle workflow management: Author, review, comment, modify, authorise edits – all native to the authoring interface and contained within the Wave. With the development of agent/robots I can imagine adding a “Review-y” (when you see the video you’ll understand what I mean…) to the wave, which will make sure that the right people are invited/uninvited to wave at various stages, based on the type of discussion or queries raised. All with complete audit trail information contained in the wave itself.

4. Security: Here we have another paradigm shift: Forget for a moment the traditional Access Control Lists (ACL) that we are all familiar with in the ECM world. Although not explicitly demonstrated in the video, the fact that the protocol supports federation and has the intelligence to allow/disallow the relevant people in and outside the firewall to see parts of the wave, means that it supports contextual security. The Wave’s security model is (appears to be…) contextually adaptive. That means that it will define its access behaviour based on the context/domain that it appears in. So not only you can implement implicit access security, but effectively it comes with Rights Management already built in.

5. Search & retrieval: The search capabilities demonstrated on the video were impressive, and given that this is Google, I don’t think it will have scalability issues, somehow…

6. Publishing: Of course you can take a snapshot of the wave and create a traditional document or another wave, much like we do today. But here’s another shift… (If any of you have seen the Harry Potter movies, you will remember the newspapers with the moving video clips on the page?) Rather than publishing content to websites, blogs, etc. you “embed” the wave on the site. Which means real-time dynamic web-publishing rather than static. The same way that Google Wave obviates the check-in/out, review cycled of traditional ECM, it also eliminates the need for elaborate web content publishing cycles. If you need to use staged publishing (remember, the approval itself is embedded in the wave), it’s easy to have an embedding function that checks for approval and only presents the wave up to the previously approved point!

7. Process / BPM: Process engines can attach Waves as documents, so that’s not an issue. Forms are not an issue either as they are included in the Wave.  Where things are different, is that a Wave is the ultimate “active content”. It is an entirely even-driven engine, which adopts its behaviour to external events. So, by introducing “agents” into the Wave audience, you are effectively embedding both rules processing and predefined behaviours into the wave. Think of this simple example: you added a third party to your wave, asking them to complete a part of a form inside the wave. Since the wave is jointly monitored by both internal and external wave environments, as soon as the information is completed, your process agent (who is a participant to the wave and therefore also monitoring the wave live) immediately recognises this, removes the third party from the wave and continues the process. Remember, the whole audit trail is “recorded” inside the Wave itself!

8. email management: Redundant. The purpose of email management was to convert emails to document objects in order to apply document management rules and controls. As the wave replaces email but is a document in its own right, you get both functions effectively rolled in one

9. Imaging: Imagine embedding both a scanned image and it’s OCR’ed text rendition in a wave, where you have created overlay-ed documents – much like the Satellite/map views of Google maps. Remember, it’s the same people that invented both…

I can go on and on… Yes there are holes in all the above and there will be some niche scenarios where this will not work quite the same way. But for 90% of standard office communications and documents, I can see Google Wave turning the whole ECM industry on its head: My colleagues have heard me rant repeatedly about the need of a new ECM strategy that is no longer bound to the file / folder paradigm.  From what I’ve seen so far, a Wave is exactly that: a self-contained, self-governing multiple-content object, which includes both content and its associated behaviours.

As an ECM practitioner, am I scared? No, I’m excited – very excited! The ECM software, as we know it today, may change dramatically in the next 5 years because of Google Wave.  But the ECM practices and principles are still required. We just need to make sure that we adapt them to the 21st century. So ECM guys, roll your sleeves up, there is A LOT of work to be done here…

A survey by a Washington law firm (Arnold & Porter) found that a typical lawyer uses 20,000 to 100,000 sheets of paper a year. At the high end, that translates into the release of 4.5 tons annually of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Think about 100,000 sheets of paper? 

• That much paper makes up 12   40-foot trees.
• That much paper could publish 271 copies of John Grisham’s novel “The Partner.”
• And that much paper stacked would be as high as Michael Jordon ….on stilts.

So, there is a serious environmental side to our discussion this afternoon. Paper is the number one material thrown away. That is why the Australian Government offers a range of incentives for small, medium and large businesses to lower their carbon emissions and reduce waste.

In addition to environmental impacts, paper is time consuming to manage. Record keeping constitutes more than 90% of all office activity. Studies indicate that of the paper filed, over 80% is never referenced again!

Then there is the cost aspect of paper. Think about the cost of paper, printing, mailing, distribution, and handling fees. A study done by Coopers and Lybrand estimated the cost of paper management to be about $50 per document.

As you can see, there are many advantages to becoming a paperless office. Of course, as lawyers there are some original documents that need to be stored physically and there are times when documents will need to be printed but what we want to focus on is developing a consciousness around the amount of paper we use.

LawMaster can get you on your way to becoming a paperless office, as we have all the tools and experience in completing such a task.

The paperless office will:

• Increase efficiency by having all of the firms information residing in one central place and its all searchable.
• Have better risk management and improve client service
• Also reduce operational costs  

The paperless office provides lawyers with the ability to work remotely, enhancing their work life balance. These days, who wants to spend every working hour in the office. Electronic files mean that you can work anywhere!

 And finally, let’s not forget the positive environmental impact. 

Remember the statistics mentioned at the beginning? In one day you can save about 100 pages of paper – so remember, on average if it will cost you $50 per document assuming each document contains10 pages – so that would save the firm  $500 per day per lawyer!!  The thing to remember is that technology doesn’t come for nothing, you have to invest in your firm’s IT. But with these figures and with these savings it is clear that it is financially beneficial for your law firm to become a paperless office.

Congratulations to the City of Richland, Washington.  Their ECM solution deployed earlier this year has earned  two prestigious awards within the past month. 

In early November, the City of Richland won the   ImageSource Customer Partner Award for best return  on investment.  The award was presented to Jon Amundson, Assistant City Manager and Christina Palmer, Project Manager at Nexus 2009 www.nexusecm.com. 

Last week it was announced that the City of Richland was also named to the Info World top 100 list of IT projects.  The solution consisted of Oracle IPM, Cardiff Liquid Office,  a Bundle of ILINX products http://www.imagesourceinc.com/Products/ILINXProducts/index.htm which were used to extend the capabilities of the Off The Shelf Software.

The vision, professionalism and standard of excellence exhibited by the Richland team is to be commended.  Congratulations, City of Richland!

29 Ottobre 2009

La presente interrogazione a risposta in commissione è stata presentata da Luigi Bobba (PD) lunedì 26 ottobre.

Agile srl, con sede legale in viale Liegi, 44 Roma, nasce nel 2004 dall’esperienza della realizzazione del centro servizi della regione Basilicata, nell’ambito del piano di realizzazione della Basilicata Telematica, all’interno del gruppo multinazionale Getronics, leader mondiale nel settore ICT;

il 22 giugno 2006, il controllo di Agile Srl viene ceduto ad Eutelia Spa, attraverso l’acquisto di Getronics Italia Spa, controllante di Agile Srl;

il 15 giugno 2009, Eutelia attua una cessione di ramo d’azienda del settore IT, comprendente 2.002 persone, verso Agile Srl, e, nello stesso giorno cede le quote di Agile Srl ad Omega Spa;

Omega Spa, fondata nel giugno 2001 come società a responsabilità limitata dall’imprenditore toscano Pio Piccini, diventa Società per azioni nel 2003, è specializzata nel Document Management tradizionale ed evoluto, in breve tempo inizia un processo di acquisizione di aziende diverse presenti nel mercato nazionale. In qualità di società fondatrice Omega svolge servizi di staff management e coordinamento per l’intero Gruppo (risorse umane, controllo di gestione, amministrazione, direzione commerciale, finanza e controllo, acquisti, direzione tecnica). Rientra nelle sue competenze anche l’elaborazione del piano strategico;

nel luglio 2009, Omega Spa acquisisce il gruppo Phonemedia che include società di servizi di call center in outsourcing, con sedi che vanno da Ivrea a Novara, da Casalecchio di Reno a Catanzaro, nonostante Phonemedia, negli ultimi tempi, fosse oggetto di forti contestazioni sindacali causate dal mancato e ritardato pagamento delle competenze degli operatori, causando scioperi e manifestazioni in tutta Italia;

a partire da luglio i dipendenti Agile non prendono lo stipendio, i rimborsi non vengono pagati, così come i fornitori, mentre la gestione d’impresa appare insufficiente, infatti i clienti non vengono più seguiti;

nello stesso periodo l’azienda Omnia Network, che doveva far parte della rete di imprese con Omega, viene messa in liquidazione;

il 5 agosto 2009 Sebastiano Liori, rappresentante di Omega ai tavoli istituzionali, si dimette dalla carica di consigliere di amministrazione e dalla carica di vicepresidente di Omnia Network S.p.A;

il 21 agosto 2009 con un comunicato stampa Omnia Network dichiara «in relazione alle informazioni rilasciate in data 13 luglio 2009 presso il Ministero per lo Sviluppo Economico da un proprio amministratore, S. Liori già dimesso, e concernenti, fra l’altro, i progetti aziendali del Gruppo, rende noto di aver informato il suddetto Ministero che i progetti descritti in quella sede e riportati nel relativo verbale sono diversi da quelli che la Società sta attualmente perseguendo.»;

il 31 agosto 2009 Omnia Network cede le partecipazioni delle controllate Omnia Service Center, Omnia Group Service e Vox2Web a suoi stessi dirigenti attraverso la società Alba Rental s.r.l., per cui diversi impiegati e dirigenti di Omnia Network, tra i quali S. Liori, entrano in Omega. Lo stesso accade per il presidente in pectore di Omega Claudio Giannettoni, già consigliere indipendente di Omnia Network, dimessosi il 1o settembre 2009;

a settembre l’azienda inizia a pagare qualche stipendio, creando quindi anche problemi di discriminazione, ma la maggior parte dei dipendenti è ferma allo stipendio di giugno;

il 17 settembre 2009 in occasione dell’incontro al Ministero dello sviluppo economico, viene indetto uno sciopero di otto ore con manifestazione nazionale a Roma ed altre manifestazioni locali, ma l’azienda non si presenta;

nello stesso giorno in Piemonte i lavoratori fanno un presidio sotto la sede RAI Cernaia di Torino, cliente Agile, ricevendo la solidarietà delle RSU RAI. Si spostano poi davanti al comune di Torino, anch’esso cliente Agile, dove una delegazione viene ricevuta da una funzionaria in rappresentanza del sindaco che non era in sede;

il Ministero dello sviluppo economico, in un comunicato stampa, stigmatizza il comportamento dell’azienda e chiede alla stessa l’immediata soluzione del problema di tutte le spettanze arretrate entro il 22 settembre, data nella quale viene convocato un nuovo incontro presso lo stesso Ministero;

il mese di settembre 2009 segna il tracollo dell’azienda, i clienti non chiedono più commesse, i fornitori bloccano il servizio logistico, non essendo retribuiti da luglio, mentre i magazzini restano chiusi;

il 22 settembre 2009, si è svolto un nuovo incontro presso il Ministro dello sviluppo economico, a seguito del quale si ottiene che l’azienda paghi lo stipendio di luglio entro il 2 ottobre 2009, e le altre spettanze entro il 20 ottobre, tuttavia gli stipendi verranno corrisposti «a partire», e non entro, il 2 e fino al 7 con valute diverse;

nello stesso periodo l’Azienda chiede ai lavoratori di ritirare le impugnative alla cessione di ramo di azienda operata da Eutelia, condizione necessaria, a parere della stessa azienda, per poter presentare un piano industriale, così argomentata;

nell’ultimo incontro presso il Ministero dello sviluppo economico, del 14 ottobre 2009, l’azienda, nella persona del presidente in pectore Claudio Giannettoni che però dichiara di non aver ancora accettato l’incarico, presenta una bozza di piano totalmente inadeguato alle professionalità del ramo di azienda acquisito a giugno 2009. Nello stesso piano l’azienda dichiara che 1302 dipendenti Agile su 1937 risultano non occupati, non accennando a richieste di ammortizzatori sociali;

il 22 ottobre 2009, l’azienda avvia, senza preavviso alle organizzazioni sindacali, una procedura di mobilità per 1.192 unità dichiarando che «non sono ipotizzabili soluzioni alternative al licenziamento» e che non è praticabile il ricorso alla cassa integrazione guadagni, né a quello dei contratti di solidarietà, nonostante nel maggio 2009 la stessa azienda avesse rifiutato un proseguimento dei contratti di solidarietà in atto dal 2008 -:

quali iniziative il Ministro intenda assumere per poter risolvere la situazione già incresciosa e pregiudizievole ed ora divenuta drammatica, a seguito del licenziamento collettivo, in cui si trovano migliaia di dipendenti;

come mai non si sia intervenuti con maggiore incisività presso l’azienda richiedendo trasparenza societaria e dei piani industriali prima del precipitare della situazione aziendale;

come mai fino ad oggi non si sia intervenuti con gli ammortizzatori sociali previsti, come la cassa integrazione guadagni straordinaria o contratti di solidarietà, garantendo così la sostenibilità dell’azienda;

se non si ritenga opportuno convocare con urgenza un nuovo tavolo di crisi, con i vertici aziendali, le parti sindacali e sociali, al fine di trovare una soluzione idonea sia per l’azienda, ma soprattutto per i lavoratori e le loro famiglie.

Chi è Luigi Bobba
Dal sito della Camera

Nato a : Cigliano (Vercelli) il 29/05/1955, laurea in scienze politiche; dirigente, già presidente nazionale delle Acli

Eletto nella circoscrizione II (Piemonte 2)
Proclamato il 22/04/2008
Elezione convalidata il 18/12/2008
Già senatore nelle legislature: XV
Iscritto al gruppo parlamentare: Partito Democratico dal 05/05/2008
Uffici parlamentari: Vicepresidente XI commissione (lavoro pubblico e privato) dal 22/05/2008

Whose Filing System Is It, Anyway?

When considering what form of “paperless” or document management solution to implement in your accounting practice, the first and most important step is to clearly define what types of records you will be storing, and which ones belong to the client and which ones belong to the firm. There are quite a number of issues to consider, not the least of which is the fact that the client is likely to have different records retention requirements than their accounting firm. Another consideration should be the professional’s recognition of the AICPA Code of Professional Ethics, which addresses some of these issues, and discusses many of them as they pertain to “Acts Discreditable” of AICPA Professional Standards (ET Section 501; in particular Interpretation 501-1, Retention of Client Records).

Fundamentally, it is wise to approach the problem with one simple understanding – that the client’s filing system and the professional accountant’s filing system are not the same thing. While both the client and the accounting professional may use the same information at times, it is often used for very different purposes. The systems that are used to support the storage and management of the information must be designed to work for individuals as they perform their work tasks and to support specific business requirements. The result is that the client’s business filing system and the accounting professional’s filing system are different.

The AICPA addresses issues relating to the retention or return of client records in a professional engagement. Whether this engagement is for bookkeeping, tax work, or auditing, the requirements are fairly straightforward and were created to protect the client as well as preserve the value of the work performed by the professional. With electronic document management systems becoming somewhat of a standard, many professionals are unwittingly extending their own filing systems to incorporate file storage for clients, as well. This is a handy way to keep the data available to the accountant, but will result in increased risk exposure and/or increases in operational costs for the professional practice. If the professional is in any way mixing the storage of client records and firm records, then the long-term management, disposition, and distribution of records to the client becomes a complex process with many considerations. When the professional is offering storage to the client as part of the service fee, then the problem becomes even more complex and questions may arise about how to determine if a particular record is owned by the client or not. It is important to be able to clearly identify the records that belong to the client or the firm, because the AICPA is fairly clear on which of these records must be made available to the client upon request.

A simple way to interpret the AICPA standard on client records retention would be to say that “any attempt to retain client records after a demand is made for them is an “act discreditable to the profession”, and is in violation of Rule 501. However, closer reading of the rule is necessary, as there are a few areas where the interpretation has required clarification. The areas where the most confusion exists is in the identification of which records are actually client records (as opposed to tax or other workpapers), and in determining whether or not a professional may require payment of fees due on engagements prior to providing clients with the records.

Professionals may lean towards retention of client records when a client fails to pay fees for work performed. However, according to the AICPA interpretation, “the fact that the statutes of the state in which a member practices may grant the member a lien on certain records in his or her possession does not change this ethical standard. A client’s records are any accounting or other records belonging to the client that were provided to the member by or on behalf of the client. If an engagement is terminated prior to completion, the member is required to return only client records.” The interpretation goes on to read that “A member’s workpapers – including, but not limited to, analyses and schedules prepared by the client at the request of the member – are the member’s property, not client records, and need not be made available.”

In some instances, the professional’s workpapers contain information that is not reflected in the client’s books and records, causing the client’s financial information to be incomplete. This would include, for example: (1) adjusting, closing, combining or consolidating journal entries, (2) information normally contained in books of original entry and general ledgers or subsidiary ledgers, and (3) tax and depreciation carryforward information. In those instances when an engagement has been completed, such information should also be made available to the client upon request. The information should be provided in the form or medium in which it is requested, provided it exists in that form. The professional is not required to convert information that is not in electronic format to an electronic form, and the professional may require that all fees due – including the fees for the above services – be paid before the information is provided.

To summarize:

• Client-provided records in the professional’s custody should be returned to the client.
• Client records prepared by the professional should be provided to the client, but may be withheld if the preparation is not complete, or if there are fees due for the preparation.
• Supporting records that relate to a completed and issued project should be provided to the client, but may be withheld if there are fees due for the work.
• Once a professional has met these requirements, there is no further obligation to comply with subsequent requests for the same information. However, if the client experiences a loss of records due to a natural disaster or act of war, then the professional should provide the information again if requested.
• Professional workpapers are the property of the professional and do not need to be provided to the client. There may be state or federal statues or regulations, or contractual agreements, that impact this.

In any case, when a client requests information – client-provided records, records prepared by the professional, or any supporting records – the professional can:

1. Charge the client a reasonable fee for the time and expense of retrieving and copying the records
2. Provide the records in any format usable by the client
3. Make and retain copies of any records returned to or provided to the client

Joanie

Voor wie niet kan wachten op de nieuwe mogelijkheden kan nu een gratis versie bemachtigen van de veelbelovende nieuwe versies van Microsoft.

Op Microsoft.com/2010 noemt Microsoft het de ‘next wave’ in productivity, wellicht een sneer naar ‘Google Wave’ dat zo veel aandacht krijgt maar nog niet goed af is.
Een filmpje plus top-10 van de grote veranderingen moeten de vroege gebruiker over de streep trekken voor Office 2010. Hetzelfde laken een pak voor SharePoint 2010. Hier de downloadpagina.

Every company no matter how big or small has an Accounts Payable department.  It may be as small as one person or it may have ten, fifteen or more people.  For medium and large companies there are problems that arise with the data entry of all that invoice data and the tracking of all those invoices through the approval cycle.  There have been many different methods that companies have created to try and handle both which still lead to missing/late invoices and mistakes during data entry.  Methods such as logging the invoices either in a spreadsheet or manually on paper are just some of the types of methods that companies have tried to keep track of where invoices are and how long they have been waiting to be paid.  Maybe there is a better way.

 Kofax KTM in conjunction with Oracle I/PM provides a solution to these two issues.  Kofax provides two software packages to scan and then process documents like invoices.  KTM is the processing part and is able to OCR and identify the key fields on an invoice no matter where on the page the data is located.  KTM can also validate some of the data against the ERP system the company is running. Fields like PO Number, PO Release, Vendor Name, Vendor Address, Vendor Pay Site, Vendor Payment Terms and other fields can be read from the ERP system and added to the set of data held by KTM.  KTM can then pass this data on to Oracle I/PM.

 Oracle I/PM is an imaging and workflow software package.  Not only does it store the invoice document with the index data entered through KTM, but it also has a workflow module that can track the invoice through the business process so the users can know where in the process the document is sitting.  With I/PM workflow the invoice can be routed electronically to the assigned approver for invoice approval that is done on a Form built for workflow.  If there are multiple levels that can be handled within the workflow in one of several ways depending on the information available from other systems such as the company ERP system.  In addition, I/PM workflow scripts allow a programmer to write code to transfer the data directly into the ERP system through its data import tables.  I/PM has been successfully integrated to pass data to JDE F0411Z1/F0911Z1 tables and Oracle EBS Open Interface tables to name just a few.  These code scripts are re-usable so we can quickly get them working in your environment.  Have we have found, not every company process their AP Invoices in the same manner, so each implementation we do is slightly different than any other, so we need to discover the differences and then modify the form and script code to match.

 We at ImageSource can provide the expertise and experience to quickly get an imaging and workflow process into place in your company.  Just contact us at http://www.imagesourceinc.com to find out how.

The beginning stages of getting a business off the ground is tough.  As a business struggles to get established, it has to consider things like: personnel, service providers, advertising methods, administrative processes, overhead costs, etc.   A mistake in any of those areas can prove to be a costly one.  Business owners often make the costly mistake of poorly managing their records.  Small businesses often neglect their records management process because they don’t understand exactly what’s to be considered in terms of design.

Here are some important things  to consider when determining your business  needs for records management:

1. Consider what records will be stored.
2. Figure out if your records will be paper, or paperless.
3. Number of people that will require access to those files
4. Categorize the files into no more than ten categories, initially (typically all a small business would need)
5. Crunch the numbers to see what your business can easily afford for records storage
6. Estimate the amount of time in a given week you will be able to allocate towards records management
7. Based on the budget and the hours of labor available, decide if the process will be outsourced or handled internally
8. Track the number of files that are being created on a weekly basis
9. Consider how long the records should be held to meet business, legal, or other requirements
10. Identify where the records should go once they have aged.

All small businesses can benefit from a well-planned records management system.  There are many systems that are ideal for records management, some of which are extremely affordable.  As you consider the necessity of having a such a system, consider how long it could take you to recover a lost file.   Think of how difficult it would be to reorganize/revamp your entire filing process when the volume of records increases dramatically.

There are a vast amount of companies and organizations that utilize document scanning services in our region, and in this article we’ll look at some of those types of organizations and what they use scanning services for.

The vast majority of document scanning services are able to scan images of various sizes – often from items as small as a receipt to huge A0 drawings. The storage of paper documents can take up a huge amount of space, and while people may not wish to scan their documents or drawings and then get rid of them – they will be able to store them in a more remote location, and be able to utilize more local space for other things.

We feel though, that more importantly, once document scanning services have been used to scan documents/drawings etc., they are extremely easy to access and view by whoever needs to see them. When one considers that up to 5000 large documents can be archived onto a single CD ROM, then it becomes apparent just how much easier it is to store some documents this way, rather than having to sift through many real documents – saving time and money in terms of man hours.

In order to make the viewing process as easy as possible, many document scanning services convert documents to the popular PDF format file. These are considered a good option because they can be easily opened by anyone who needs to see it – the PDF reader is free to download too. As part of this file type, there is the PDF Searchable file, which as the name suggests allows the document to be searched. This is something that can save many businesses and organizations a great deal of time in the long run; it uses Optical Recognition Software which recognizes the letters in a printed document and converts them to searchable words, letters and numbers.

There are a huge range of industries that use document scanning services, from financial and legal, through to construction and local authority. Paper documents continue to be a very important way of keeping track of all manner of events and plans, but the huge amount of space they take up means that the ability to scan documents has become invaluable in speeding up activities in all manner of organizations.

Scanning documents is not always a cost effective option for some organizations though, which is why some firms provide a scan-on-demand service, which means certain regularly used documents can be scanned and stored for retrieval.

Precision Document Imaging is your answer to these solutions and we would be glad to assist you in any of the processes you have in place, or speak to you about new ones.

Precision Document Imaging

(775) 337-1987 ext. 106

429 West First Street

Reno, NV 89503

Introduction

What are these metadata things anyway?  A friend once told us in a meeting that there was a cool name for those fields we associate with documents in our document management system.  He said, this data is called metadata.  Naturally, we had used the term for many years in R&D and QA, so we knew what metadata were…metadata are data that describe data; until that point however, I had always associated the word metadata with XML schema or the attributes that define columns in tables in databases.

If you accept the WikiPedia definition of metadata, or what appears to be the socially and legally accepted definition, then here are some examples of metadata:

• Properties of Microsoft Office documents, such as Author, Title, Subject, Keywords, Category, Status, and Comments.
• Original creation dates and times for documents.
• Change history of Microsoft Office documents, including history in the non-visible text as well as visible.
• Change history of documents on file systems.
• Change history of documents in document management systems.
• Headers in email messages, including both visible and non-visible text.
• Visible and non-visible field values associated with documents in document management systems.

This is a very incomplete list, because there is likely a plethora of examples of information that we could consider metadata.  And, when we talk about document retention policies, the subject of metadata rarely comes up.  There appears to be a legal trend abounding, though, making your metadata part of the discovery process.  Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP Rule 26) state that materials required for discovery must be delivered within fourteen days of the Rule 26 conference, and within thirty days for those that enter into litigation following the conference.  (Naturally, these timeframes may be adjusted by the courts, but … gasp!)

Wow, if you’re sitting out there without some kind of document management or records management system, and you’ve got a warehouse full of paper, imagine the cost associated with a single discovery!  Referring back to FRCP Rule 26, discovery involves producing any information that may be relevant to either side of litigation, with only a handful of exceptions.

On the other hand, if you have a document management or records management system, and document retention policies that don’t include indexing information, then you might want to rethink your strategy.

News and Opinions

Here are some links regarding retention management and metadata.  While there is some dissention among the ranks, such as New York, Florida, Alabama, and the District of Columbia, metadata appears discoverable for the most part.

American Bar Association

http://www.lctjournal.washington.edu/Vol4/a13Reznikov.html

In 2006, the American Bar Association rules that searching metadata for information regarding comments, history, etc, is ethical.  The ABA’s decision contradictions the ethical decisions made by states like New York, Florida, and Alabama, as well as the District of Columbia.

Arizona Supreme Court

http://aiimknowledgecenter.typepad.com/weblog/2009/11/do-you-know-where-your-metadata-is.html

Arizona Supreme Court overrules lower courts by agreeing that metadata is subject to discovery.  The state of Washington has rules stating that metadata is discoverable, as do many other states.

Vermont Bar Assocation

http://69.39.146.6/Upload%20Files/WebPages/Attorney%20Resources/aeopinions/Advisory%20Ethics%20Opinions/Electronic%20Documents/09-01.pdf

Vermont Bar Association concludes that lawyers can search the metadata of documents supplied by opposing counsel.  They conclude, however, that attorneys must disclose accidental exposure of confidential information included in metadata.  (Some document formats track changes and the dates and times those changes were made.  In addition, some document formats include user comments in metadata.)  Metadata is also included as discoverable information in litigation.

Alabama Bar Assocation

http://www.alabar.org/ogc/fopDisplay.cfm?oneId=412

Alabama Bar Association is of the opinion that the searching of metadata is not ethical because it may violate attorney-client privilege.  They go on to warn, though, that certain types of metadata may be considered discoverable by the courts.

Retention Strategies

So, what should your retention policies look like?  Maybe that is the subject for further research and follow-up articles specific to certain industries.  In the meantime, you should research the document retention requirements for your particular industry and make sure that you are a) mitigating your risk, while b) complying with associated regulatory legislation and guidelines, and c) managing the effective lifetime of your documents and metadata to keep your workers efficient.  As well, any document retention policies that you create should include your backup media!

PaperWise Features

For those of you who are PaperWise customers, there are a few tools available that can help you manage discoverability and your document retention policies.

Archive

Archive gives you the ability purge documents, as well as index values or metadata, as they meet lifetime criteria.  You can do this based upon the document types of your documents.  For example, you might want to delete bank statements older than seven years, provided that they have not been accessed within the past ninety days.  Set up as many archive jobs as you need to in order to support your document retention policies.

Container Compression (TCK Compression)

Unless you’re storing your documents in database volumes, they are stored securely in container files.  They are compressed and possibly encrypted using AES (Advanced Encryption Standard.)  We do that in order to protect them from unauthorized access.  As documents are deleted from containers, Archive can destroy them in such a way that they are not retrievable.  The space is left occupied, however, in the containers.  You can gain that space back and further ensure the non-recoverability of your documents using the TCK Compression, or container compression.

Full-text Search

While Archive and TCK Compression can help you with document retention policies, and information lifecycle, what happens if you are the subject of litigation?  Naturally, you can search for relevant documents using the index values, or metadata, associated with your documents.  There could be discoverable information included in the actual documents in PaperWise, as well.  Full-text Search can help you with this problem!  Using full-text search, you can find relevant information in the text of Microsoft Office documents, emails, PDF files, and images that have been OCR’d (Optical Character Recognition.)  As well, PaperWise scrapes the textual data from less common file formats.

Conclusion

In conclusion, you should research the regulatory requirements regarding document retention and discovery for your industry.  If you do not already have some sort of document management system in place, even if it’s a series of folders on a file system, then you should get one or create one.  Make sure that whatever system you employ is easily searchable, so that you can comply with the discovery process.  Chances are very good that you will be the subject of some kind of litigation at some point, so create document retention policies for your documents and make sure your employees follow them consistently!

–Markus Pope, MCSD

PART 1: Background

For years now, companies in corporate America have been turning to outsourcing to help improve margins and make their organizations more competitive.  The thing is that the successful stories – the ones that truly deliver on the promise – are the ones we hear the least about.  Conversely, the biggest disasters are told many times becoming modern versions of the warnings to mariners of sea monsters or the edge of the earth over time.

Why hide it?

Well as it turns out, large companies in America have lots of competition looking to tighten the belt just as much as they are.  When a company outsources successfully a particular part of the operation, the only people they would want to tell about it might be shareholders or potential shareholders.  Then again, if it is successful enough, the better numbers should speak for themselves better than any details of their process ever could.  As such they would be only giving their competition a roadmap to re-level the playing field.  In addition, outsourcing can have negative connotations with some customers regardless of the positive overall effect on the product or service they are purchasing.  Better to keep the best stuff under a hat overall in most cases.

As it turns out, there are huge amounts of information available on successful cases of outsourcing things as varied as IT Services, Call Center work, Tech Support, Data Entry, Manufacturing or any number of others.  The problem is that this information is usually generated courtesy of the company providing the outsourcing services.  Predictably they are going to give “case studies” that proffer stories that might as well include cutlery jumping over celestial bodies (ibid Neal Stephenson).

So how is the busy COO or President to know what is best to pursue and what things should be avoided?  My approach to almost all problems in life is to reduce them to their primary and build back up from there.  I’ll try to be brief since most readers understand the background, but the point needs to be made.  Outsourcing is a modern way of expressing a very old concept: economic specialization.  Without economic specialization, the modern world could not exist.  If each of us had to grow our own food, build our own shelter, weave our own clothes, provide our own healthcare, etc. we would have little time left to concentrate on designing efficient engines, packing more transistors on a wafer of silicone or making a beautiful sculpture.  Today’s modern communication and transportation have simply allowed us to take advantage of varied conditions in further away places.  The answer to WHY outsource lies in the very same roots as any economic specialization.

NEXT POST: The 2 Areas Not to Outsource

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Angela_Sands

For many of us, top ten lists have been a part of our late night routine.  We stayed up to watch David Letterman’s monologue because it was alway funny and entertaining.

I have found a top ten list developed by a non-profit organization, AIIM, that helps people find, control, and optimize their information.  It gives the top 10 excuses for not considering a document imaging system this year.

If you have been looking at implementing a document imaging system such as Laserfiche, you may be asking, will this technology help my business be more efficient?  How do I justify this expense at this time?  What is my return on investment (ROI)?

I think that AIIM’s short videos will help answer all of these questions and more:

Excuse 1:

Excuse 2:

Excuse 3:

Excuse 4:

Excuse 5:

Excuse 6:

Excuse 7:

Excuse 8:

Excuse 9:

Excuse 10:

If you would like more info on AIMM.org and the answer to these excuses click here.

I hope you find this helpful in considering if now is a good time to implement Laserfiche document imaging and management software.

Larry Phelps

Solbrekk

Minneapolis, Minnesota

For those of you who attended my breakout session at the NEXUS ECM Conference on automating business processes this topic will be familiar to you.  If you missed the session, this blog will provide a glimpse into the world of automating and optimizing business processes. 

There are many different ways to approach process automation and optimization and the purpose of this blog topic is to provide information based on my industry experience.  I will discuss identifying processes within an organization and then automating those processes utilizing a number of valuable implementation strategies.

Why Automate?

From my experience in the Enterprise Content Management industry, I have found the main reasons to automate or optimize a business process are as follows:

• Gain Process Efficiencies
• Process Quality Improvement
• Improve Reporting, Tracking & Auditing

Process Identification

Let’s take a look at identifying a business process that could be automated.  When looking at processes to automate or optimize, the starting point is to identify a process and then extensively research the process to get a clear understanding of the current state.  A good place to start with this research is to look at all of the inputs and outputs of the current process.  This can include documents, data and communication associated with accomplishing tasks in a process. 

Next, we will want to evaluate the identified process to determine what manual steps in the process can be automated.  From identifying the steps we then can determine which ones will provide the best return for the business and/or user.

The last key to identifying and evaluating business processes is the inclusion of the user community in the analysis of the current process to determine; 1) what is currently working well, 2) what could use improving, 3) what are the major deficiencies and 4) what is on the user’s wish list for the process.

By following these steps in identifying and evaluating a business process you will set yourself up for success when architecting and implementing a solution for automation or optimization.

Implementation Strategies

Now that we have discussed identifying business processes let’s take a look at some implementation strategies to assist you in automating/optimizing the process.

• Understand the Business Process: As discussed earlier in the post, it is critical to fully understand the process that you are automating.
  • Evaluate current bottlenecks
  • Determine the user interaction with the current process
• Require Ownership at All Levels: In order to get full acceptance of the solution you are implementing you should ensure that the entire team is on board and understands the benefits to them and the organization.  This includes:
  • Executive Level
  • Departmental Management
  • End Users
• Know what to Automate: Don’t automate every manual process for the sake of automation.  Determine the return value associated with the re-engineering of the process.  In some cases it will make more sense to keep the process manual.  For example, in a customer service organization, it may be more beneficial to provide human interaction to a customer instead of sending an automatically generated email.
• Educate Yourself on Existing Systems: Understanding the current infrastructure in place can be critical when determining the return on investment and initial cost of the process re-engineering. 
  • If there is already an Enterprise Content Management system in place, you should be able to leverage this for tasks associated with document capture, document management/archival, workflow, etc…
  • Line of Business systems (Oracle E-Business, JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, MSFT Great Plains, etc…) can be leveraged for storing metadata associated with the documents you are capturing.   Using software like ILINX Integrate, these LOB systems can then be image enabled to retrieve documents directly from your document management system without ever leaving the LOB system.
• Promote Ongoing Analysis & Optimization: This strategy is key to creating and maintaining truly efficient and optimized processes within an organization.  Let’s take the following example:
  • A manual process is identified to automate
  • The process is automated with success using the above implementation strategies
  • Everyone is happy and uses the new and improved process
  • Now that the process has been improved it is common to call the project a success and never look back.  This may work for some time, but eventually the process will need to be evaluated again to determine if additional automation or optimization needs to take place.  Over time business processes evolve and technology changes, so this step can be imperative to keep your business process streamlined.

 In summary, we have taken a quick look at the process of identifying business process to automate and optimize, as well as, some strategies for success when taking on the task of business process re-engineering.  Please feel free to post comments related to this information or your own experiences related to this topic. 

  

Nexus 2009 ECM Solutions Conference was a resounding SUCCESS!!

First I would like to thank every single attendee and our valuable sponsors for your enthusiastic participation and support.  Nexus2010 registrations continue to be completed by organizations that understand the value and importance that this event has on the strategic planning of ECM initiatives for their businesses.  Nexus2010 will be held at the Meyedenbauer Convention Center on Nov. 4^th & 5^th – 2010.  We are encouraged of course by the outpouring of positive feedback we have received, we are grateful for each and every comment.  ImageSource will work diligently to again “raise the bar” in all aspects of planning, execution and content delivery.  We are listening on our Nexus Twitter feed for any and all recommendations for speakers, breakouts and special events that you feel would be valuable, so Tweet us!

The Green ECM Video can be found on YouTube so check it out.

We are offering a limited time promotion for early registrations of $195 for a full conference pass. Use discount code NEXUS10SPL.  Register early as we are keeping this event exclusive so seating is limited

Also a reminder of where you can find more information on ECM topics, please add us to your RSS feed and Follow us on Twitter.  Stay tuned for our FaceBook fan sites too.

BLOGS
Nexus ECM: http://nexusecmsolutionsconference.wordpress.com/
ECM Project Managers: http://ProjectManagementForECM.wordpress.com
ECM Systems Engineers: http://ECMTechnicalExpertise.wordpress.com
ECM Solutions: http://IndependentIntegratorsOfECM.wordpress.com
ECM Developers: http://SoftwareDevelopmentForECM.wordpress.com
ECM Products: http://ProductsAndSolutionsForECM.wordpress.com
ECM Support: http://ECMTechnicalSupport.wordpress.com
ECM News: http://newandgoodinecm.wordpress.com

Twitter
Nexus ECM Twitter feed http://twitter.com/nexusecm
ImageSource Twitter feed http://twitter.com/imagesourceinc
ILINX Capture Twitter feed http://twitter.com/ilinxcapture
ECM Support Twitter feed http://twitter.com/ecmsupport

Shadrach White
ImageSource, Inc.

When it Comes To Re-designing You Website,

We Can Help SharePoint You In The Right Direction.

What can IMPACT Management and SharePoint do for your organization?

Whether it’s enhancing organization-wide collaboration, providing portals for your students and faculty, or acting as an enterprise search vehicle, SharePoint’s web & enterprise content management, forms-driven business process and workflow can help you.

SharePoint improves business insight through dashboards, analysis and business intelligence.

For more information about this webinar or our Education offerings,

please contact Kevin Roskot at 516-495-1300 x 303 or kevin.roskot@impactmgmt.com.

IMPACT Management has helped education organizations develop and deploy SharePoint technologies to:

• Enable their students & faculty to work more efficiently and effectively — Share class schedules, assignments and lecture notes.
• Create online communities for students, faculty, and administrators to collaborate.
• Allow students, faculty, and administrators to access their institution’s resources anytime.
• Build high traffic websites
• Gain better visibility into business processes such as the faculty tenure process
• Facilitate sharing of best practices among faculty and administrators

This Webinar is for you if your goals are to:

• Use your website to attract new students and faculty
• Deploy a website with easy and flexible deployment, administration and application development – A time and dollars savings
• Have the ability to provide important and relevant information quickly and easily by enabling non-technical staff to become webpage content creators
• Create a Content Management System that meets your requirements for Versioning, Publishing, User Roles and Audience Targeting
• Meet critical governance requirements

Join Us For This Webinar→

SharePoint Is The Magna Cum Laude of Website CMS

Date: December 2, 2009

Time: 12:00pm-3:45pm
(12:00 registration, 12:30 start)

Microsoft Waltham
6th Floor
201 Jones Road
Waltham, MA 02451
*Picture ID is required for entry.

New Group to Combine Consulting Services and Technical Resources with Sales to Improve and Automate Customers’ Business Processes

West Caldwell, N.J., November 12, 2009 – Ricoh Americas Corporation, a leading provider of digital office equipment, today announced the creation of a Business Process Automation (BPA) Group. Aligning under Ricoh’s Document Solutions and Services Division (DSSD), BPA combines consulting services and technical resources with an experienced sales force to help current and prospective customers analyze their document management operations. In addition, BPA helps customers implement appropriate solutions to meet compliance and safety regulations, and improve overall efficiency and profitability.

To evaluate customers’ manual business processes in key practice areas including mailroom, finance, records management and order processing, Ricoh employs a Targeted Practice Approach (TPA). This approach enables Ricoh to assess its customers’ unique needs, and address key business challenges including complexity reduction, process innovation and strategic cost reduction. Ricoh subject-matter experts are brought onsite to review and provide customized recommendations of process improvements that will enable business growth and create a sustainable competitive advantage. Based on these recommendations, Ricoh’s BPA Enterprise Solutions Consultants will assist the company in turning its current processes into turnkey solutions to fit their workflow requirements rather than merely providing tools that will work with their current processes.

“BPA is a true value-add for Ricoh customers because we’re able to offer a suite of services from consultation to sales to implementation under one roof,” said Mark Miller, senior vice president and deputy general manager, Document Solutions and Services, Ricoh Americas Corporation.  “Ricoh’s comprehensive approach eliminates the need for separate vendors to handle different aspects of the procedure, which can be costly and cause delays. Furthermore, customers benefit from access to our experts who can design workflows that increase efficiency, reduce waste and energy consumption and improve environmental sustainability to save firms time, money and resources.”

For more information about BPA, please visit www.ricoh-bpa.com.