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Remembering the basics of document management will help you advance to the next level.

This week marks the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Brothers. Admittedly, you’re probably thinking it’s a stretch to compare a video game to document management. (We just couldn’t resist mentioning this novel game in one of our emails…but we promise it will make sense when you reach the end.)

If you‘ve ever played Super Mario Brothers, you’ll remember the challenge of working through all the levels. As things got increasingly difficult, the smartest strategy to defeat Bowser’s forces was to remember the fundamentals. It didn’t really matter if you were underground, in the sky, or on land; the challenges along the way were similar. The important things to remember were how to jump over obstacles on the ground, duck under things that flew at you, break bricks to uncover hidden secrets, leap from one space to the next, and collect coins along the way. If you recalled all of the basic elements, you would survive.

An effective document management strategy isn’t much different. Whether you’re starting on ground level with simple scanning and indexing or have progressed to incorporating business process management and advanced system integrations, you’ll succeed if you remember some basic principles.

The article Document Management 2.0: Revisiting the Fundamentals explains that sometimes we need “to take a step back so that we can all take a giant leap forward”. Some tips:

• Understand which business processes work well and which could be improved.
• Conduct an inventory of the documents that drive your business processes.
• Don’t scan your documents without indexing them thoroughly for subsequent retrieval.
• Decide how to handle archived/stored paper documents.
• Optimize incoming documents for efficiency.
• Consider the repercussions of your outgoing communications.

In Super Mario Brothers, if you repeatedly lost a life trying to hurdle a certain obstacle, you probably needed to revisit the way you handled the whole process. So it is with document management. Sometimes it makes the most sense to retreat a few steps, evaluate exactly what is giving you difficulties, and fine-tune your strategy so you can ultimately reach your goal.

If you would benefit from reviewing more fundamentals, check out the article Basics of Successful Document Management. (It’s not new, but the suggestions are still relevant.)

Bottom line:

As with video games, to be successful with your document management project sometimes you need to take a step back and re-examine the basics. Since the principles don’t change, you need to make sure you get them right--no matter if you’re doing simple scanning or progressing into more complex business process automation.

Talk with us:

Whether you’re just getting started or have been involved with document management for years, contact us today. We would love to discuss the fundamentals with you and have the opportunity to help you to succeed.

For more information or to schedule a demonstration, please Contact DocFinity now.