Bridging the Gap Series: Microsoft, Nintex, PSIGEN, Canon and Eastridge technology Partners
Bridging the Gap:Paperless with SharePoint
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/709652592
Webinar: Paperless and SharePoint
Category Archives for sharepoint online
What is “Bridging the Gap”?
The movement towards an office with less paper and more efficiency can be quite difficult, and with the wrong tools can end in failure. The key challenge is a process I call “Bridging the Gap”, which uses several applications to create a bridge between the physical and digital world, and helps create a seamless process. So what is required? How do you create the bridge?
On one side of the gap, you have your physical environment: file cabinets, inboxes, stacks of folders on desks, etc. There are two components that facilitate the crossing:
- Scanning Hardware – scanners allow the conversion of paper documents into digital documents or images. Organizations can use scanning copiers, fax machines or dedicated scanners to digitize.
- Capture Software – capture software works with the scanning hardware to create an efficient and automated bridging process. It controls the flow of digitized documents, standardizing how they are routed, and using OCR, Barcodes, Advanced Data Extraction (ADE) and other features to automate the collection of information. It spans the gap and creates a connection to the other side or the repository.
Once the gap has been spanned, the documents need to land somewhere, just as physical documents land in a file cabinet, inbox on someones desk or another location in the organization. Below are the two components that exist on the far side of the gap:
- Workflow Software – think of this as the digital inbox and outbox…on steroids. Workflow Software is utilized to create a digital mirror of your physical processes. It can move around files, create approval steps, automatically email and perform logic that usually requires intervention by a human. Some oraganizations dont have this entity on the other side of the gap.
- Repository – Think of the repository as a temporary and permanent file cabinet that can hold files during a workflow process, or as an archive copy once the whole process is complete. You can search, sort and organize, print, distribute and copy. Most repositories can allow full text search, if the capture software has created a searchable file format, and also allow column based searching for specific criteria.
I have seen many organizations try and bridge the gap, and not have one of the pieces above, or a piece that cannot suit all their needs. A missing component can impact the overall value of the system. For example, take a scanning copier that an AP department uses to scan invoices. They email themselves the scans, open them, rename them and then save them into their repository. Without capture software to automate the naming and routing, this is a highly inefficient process. Without capture, files are not made searchable through OCR, and this can also reduce effiency during search. Another example might be the lack of a repository that can provide all the bits and pieces an organization may require. Take the organization that just saves PDFs to a network directory. This may be fine for many organizations that merely need a simple archive to house their files. But what about an audit event, or legal issue that may require extensive searching and sorting?
“Briding the Gap” and creating an office with less paper can provide an organization countless benefits with proper planning and design, and the inclusion of all the above components.
SharePoint Scanning Planning – Part 4 – Document Scanning Models
Document Scanning Models
After doing some planning on the hardware types and document scanning volumes, the next step would be to examine what type of model you need to deploy. There are typically 3 standard models for document scanning and capture: Centralized, De-centralized and Distributed.
Each model has its own pros/cons, and below I will examine each, and dive into some detail.
Centralized
Ah, the centralized model. Some call this old school scanning and capture, as for many years, this was the only way to get the job done, and convert your paper to digital form. This model provides a centralized scanning center to provide mass conversion for the organization. The operation can be run by in house personnel, be managed by a services provider in house, or be outsourced to a scanning service bureau. It requires high volume/high speed hardware, and typically utilizes advanced capture software to allow for the utmost in automation and efficiency. The software and hardware operators are typically highly trained, and there are usually only a few of them. Paper and/or digital media is shipped to the centralized location and processed through a set, standardized capture workflow.
Centralized Pros
- Easily standardized process due to a limited number of skilled/trained scan operators
- High speed hardware/software results in minimal processing time once paper is received
- Centralized reporting and control of overall process
- No loading on WAN infrastructure
- Centralized backup and restore
Centralized Cons
- Usually a high time delay for availability of documents
- High cost due to shipping of documents
- High maintenance costs
- High training costs to bring on new operators
- Disaster recovery planning issues if centralized site is down
- Operators are typically not knowledgeable in the documents they are indexing
Decentralized
Over time, as bandwidth and scanning hardware/software prices went down, the obvious move was to decentralize the whole scanning and capture process. This move placed scanning in the branches, and allowed the whole document capture process to be performed by those who had working knowledge of the documents. Smaller, desktop class hardware could be used, and most capture companies made batch scanning and upload to the centralized repository simple to accomplish.
Decentralized Pros
- Scan operators are well versed in the documents they scan
- Documents are available almost immediately
- No shipping or transfer costs for documents
- Branch control of the whole scanning process
Decentralized Cons
- Standardization can be an issue
- No centralized control or reporting
- WAN Bandwidth consumption can be high
- Licensing costs can be high depending on software utilized
Distributed
The advance of network-based scanning devices and the lowering of bandwidth pricing led to the newest model, the Distributed Model. Distributed Scanning allows for just about anyone in the organization to walk up to a network scanning device/scanning copier/fax machine and send documents to a repository. The devices are typically multi-faceted, and along with repository integration, can provide scan to network folder, FTP and email. Collaborative back-end systems, like Microsoft SharePoint, lend themselves nicely to this model, as they allow anyone to participate in a Document Workspace.
Distributed Pros
- Put scanning in the hands of everyone in the organization
- Provides a great launching pad for collaborative solutions
- Simple, easy to use interfaces allow for minimal training and quick adoption
- Capture and indexing is now in the hands of the true document owner
- One-to-many solution provides a single device to service many users
Distributed Cons
- Lack of standardization without software addition
- Security and document control can be major issues
- Bandwidth from smaller branches can be a problem with larger scans
- Lack of hardware integrations with back-end systems
So, most organizations today are combining the above models to create a Hybrid Scanning and Capture solution, and leveraging all the strengths together to minimize the weaknesses of any one model. Another strategy is to tie scanning models to specific business processes, as most lend themselves nicely to specific scanning and capture workflows.
Hardware and Choosing Your Scanning Model
Most organizations will choose their model to leverage their existing hardware investment, but this can be lead to decisions that seem good at the time, but if deeper examination occurs, it can make sense to realign hardware with the best model. Take for example, a company that instantly leans toward a distributed model, and attempts to leverage their copier fleet that is currently under lease. If you examine the part of this guide that covers scanning hardware, copiers will not always fit for the type of scanning you need to perform. Take for example a branch accounting department that is looking to scan receipts or check stubs. Will the copier perform well with mixed original sizes? Just a word of caution to examine the paper, workflow, and document types to get the best feel and adapt the best model.
Capturing Non-image and Office Documents into SharePoint
So, there have been a few clients lately that have been asking intently on how to capture non-scanned/non-image documents. There seem to be a ton of apps for scanning on the market, but not many to process Office Docs and others. Quite a few people are not aware of the built in features that you can utilize with Office 2010 and Sharepoint 2010. First off, in most cases you can use WebDAV to share SharePoint content, and it will behave just like a network folder. You can navigate sites, libraries and folders, and save documents into them just through drag and drop. I have this setup on our SP server, and routinely add volumes of documents with a simple drag or copy.
Secondly, in Office 2010, you also have the ability to present document properties, which will show all your SharePoint metadata fields. This is a huge time saver, and requires no 3rd party app to save and add metadata. Save yourself some big money and check it out before you spend money on an app that just does what Office 2010 gives you natively. Just some thoughts.
