Author: Laura Bulmer
Document retrieval is an essential part of most employee's daily routine where they must store and find documents to perform and complete tasks, successfully and on-time.
They way staff do this varies greatly from one business to another. Some have stringent document policies in place with defined search and store rules, while others have various tools in place to offer a level of automation.
However, many organisations still use manual and traditional methods which can make storing, and document retrieval in particular, a huge headache for staff. It is also a risk to the business in terms of compliance and efficiency.
Organisations can process thousands of documents every year, some process thousands every month; invoices, contacts, supplier invoices, purchase orders, booking forms, holiday requests, policies.....the list is endless.
However, problems arise with document retrieval when information is spread across paper and digital formats, and when the multitude of files and documents are stored in various locations with no uniformity around how they are processed.
Having a well-organised system in place can greatly streamline the document retrieval process and ultimately enhance productivity. In our opinion, the best way to do this is with a document management system. You may consider a solution like DocuWare which we have provided for almost 30 years.
As we touched upon above, problematic document retrieval is the result of poor organisation, lack of process control and disjointed systems. Throw paper and electronic documents into the mix and employees will waste a huge amount of time looking for documents.
In a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit, employees spend 25% of their time looking for information to do their jobs. If they're struggling to find that information, or end up having to recreate it, valuable time is being wasted. This goes hand in hand with employees feeling frustrated.
Alongside this, document retrieval can also present risk when employees don't follow business processes, such as storing documents locally on their desktop, or using incorrect naming conventions when saving documents.
With the increase in cloud technology, the number of online collaboration tools and storage facilities available to employees such as SharePoint, Dropbox and Google Drive means documents can be stored in too many locations.
This also opens the business up to risk when important documents could be stored somewhere management are unaware of. Document retrieval should be a simple part of an employee’s job but this is often far from reality.
DocuWare is a powerful document management system that simplifies document retrieval and document storage. It securely stores digital documents in a central location, only accessible to authorised users. For our clients, it becomes the only place to store documents relating to key processes and so document retrieval becomes straightforward and risk free.
DocuWare efficiently manages and organises documents, and once stored, a document cannot be lost or duplicated. A document management system simplifies document retrieval in a number of ways:
IndexingWhen a document is added to DocuWare, it is indexed based on its metadata (e.g. title, author, date of creation, keywords). This metadata helps in categorising and retrieving documents later.
DocuWare also performs full-text indexing as standard, where all the data on a document is captured and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) performed. This enables users to search for a word or phrase within a document and not just the metadata. For example, a user could search for “10mm piping ” and every document in the system containing that phrase would be presented.
Users can search for documents using keywords that match either the metadata or the content of the document. DocuWare returns a list of documents that match the search criteria.
Filters such as date range, document type, author, etc. can also be used to narrow down search results. Users can pin frequently used search criteria for quick access in the future.
After performing a search, DocuWare displays a list of documents that match the query. This list typically shows key metadata (title, author, date) to help users identify the correct document.
Users can also preview documents directly from the search results, which helps in quickly verifying the document without fully opening it.
DocuWare has high levels of security to ensure document retrieval is performed in line with document access permissions. Users only have access to documents they are authorised to view. Access controls are enforced in the back end of the software, based on employee role or unique user ID, to maintain document security.
If multiple versions of a document exist, DocuWare can allow users to only retrieve a specific version, or indicate which version is the latest.
DocuWare logs all document retrieval actions, including who accessed a document, when, and what actions were taken. This audit trail is important for quality and compliance and security purposes.
A huge selling point of DocuWare is that it allows integrations with other systems such as ERP, finance and Office 365. With a feature call Smart Connect, DocuWare can enable document retrieval through those third-party systems, meaning users don't have to switch between systems to view a document.
Document retrieval with DocuWare provides a variety of benefits to the business that will boost employee productivity, efficiency and profitability.
Easy document retrieval is a key feature of DocuWare, and optimising this process can significantly enhance productivity and information management within your organisation. Speak to us about how our solutions and help your organisation.
