Electronic Record Keeping

Retention classes enable you to define by document type how long a document is maintained. Setting document retention ensures that even when users have access, important files are kept for designated periods. Because Document Management systems employ sophisticated security and auditing controls, you can safely store a shared document in its native format and let the security of the system control it – for review, revision, or locked for long-term storage – rather than rely on the format of the document to make control decisions. This enables you to extend the use of your Document Management solution beyond the fixed, final form of “only when we are done with it” to a dynamic solution that encompasses all electronic document formats in use.

SEARCHABLE

Searching documents within CNG is easy and user-friendly. A search performed on metadata terms that are stored with the file – such as customer number, invoice number, and date – is known as a "structured search." Some systems also index the information contained within the document itself, so you can extend your search to the actual content of the document. Performing a search on indexed information is known as an "unstructured search."

CNG-SuperSearch - a mini desktop application or gadget (for Vista/Windows 7) that allows users to quickly locate information in CNG-SAFE by simply entering a word or number into the search field.

REDUCE COST

Office Document Statistics (from a Cooper’s and Lybrand study)

  • Documents comprise greater than 80% of corporate memory (contracts, memos, project plans, …)
  • 90% of documents that are handled in an office are merely passed along or shuffled through

Cost

  • $20 to file a document
  • $120 to find a misplaced document
  • $220 to replace a lost document

Percentages

  • 7.5% of all documents get lost
  • A sample office that generates 200 documents a week will lose 15 of them, costing the company $3300
  • A sample office generating 200 documents a week will misfile 6 of them, costing the company $720
  • 50% of a professional’s time is spent looking for information. Only 5‐15% is used in reading the information
  • There are over 4,000,000,000,000 (4 trillion) paper documents in the U.S. alone. They are growing at the rate of 22% a year or roughly 880 billion a year.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Physical Costs

  • How many filing cabinets do you have – a standard four drawer filing cabinet requires at least 12 sq ft of office space. How many cabinets do you have?
  • Do you rent an offsite storage facility – What is the monthly cost?
  • Number of copies made of incoming documents – For instance if an order comes in, how many copies of it are made and where do they go? More than likely all of these copies are placed in cabinets in separate departments.
  • How much do you spend on filing supplies per month?

Labor Costs

  • How long does it take to retrieve a paper document?
  • How many people handle each document?
  • How much time does it require to file a paper document?

COMPLIANCE

Security and privacy go hand in hand, and many businesses are required by regulations (HIPAA, SEC, SOX, ISO, etc.) to ensure the privacy of customers’ and employees’ personal information. Compliance is of primary concern to financial service, healthcare, and government organizations. Maintaining compliance is a crucial task in most organizations. When done correctly, the burden of maintaining compliance can also deliver substantial benefits to the organization such as: applying best practices, improving efficiency, and lowering costs. An Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) is a necessary tool for maintaining compliance in a cost effective and business enhancing manner. Managing compliance in a paper-based environment is no longer practical, and in many cases impossible. Fortunately, applying a good EDMS can be an efficient, secure, and affordable approach to maintaining compliance within your organization. A good EDMS also simplifies implementing back-up and disaster recovery strategies while maintaining user activity logs for audit and other reporting requirements.