Document Imaging: Asking the Right Questions?

Before attempting to implement a new or improved document imaging system, it is a good idea to ask yourself--and your organization--some key questions. Here are a few of our favorite:

Do these documents need to be shared with the whole company, or only certain individuals?

Do the documents need to be secured, so that no one who is not authorized to access them will be able to?

How long do the documents need to be stored?

If documents are frequently transferred from one employee to another, how can the system be set up to take this into account?

If a disaster takes place, are the documents backed up in a secure location?

According to what criteria will the documents be "tagged"?

What do the employees think of the document imaging system? Do they find it easy to use?

Asking these questions, even if they can't all be answered at once, is a great start towards building or improving an effective document imaging system. When working with an outside contractor, ask the outside contractor to answer these questions--and then ask more.

A document imaging system is something that, if set up properly initially, really helps an organization. But if not, the system itself can become useless.