Evaluating “Best Practices” for Electronic Document Management: Tips for Ensuring Successful Implementations the First Time

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It’s a pretty safe bet to say that most people who are worth their salt want to do things right the first time. In a field such as electronic document management (EDM), which has advanced significantly in the past two decades, discovering true best practices that lead you onward toward success can feel like chasing a moving target with your eyes closed. Although there is no shortage of opinions, it has been historically challenging to find agreement on what constitutes best practices. Ensuring that your vendor meets expectations is difficult if standards are unclear or not clearly communicated.

This article gives an overview of best practices, and practical considerations as you consider purchasing and implementing an EDM solution. It provides a synopsis of typical components in an EDM suite and useful tips for choosing solid solutions that deliver what they promise. It also outlines challenges and recommendations for evaluating vendor “best practices” and cites several reliable sources for information about industry-wide best practices in EDM. The goal of this article is to help EDM photo of a person at a computer project champions and managers evaluate technology providers with open eyes and make the right decisions the first time so they can experience maximum payoff and satisfaction from their investment.

Defining best practices

Best practices in EDM involve stating the guidelines, or methodologies, that are needed in order to ensure that the best solution is chosen for a specific business challenge and that the implementation is delivered in the wisest manner possible. Typically, true best practices are defined by a respected, independent authority or industry association as a result of commonly stated challenges, experiences, and lessons learned from successes and failures. They help to encourage frequent repeats of success and avoidance of disappointment and failure.

In order to engage in and deploy best practices, a company has to take a holistic approach to the business challenges and the goals of the stated project. Otherwise, the solution will never rise beyond the implementation of multiple narrow, departmental solutions. Best practices for EDM involve choosing the best technology that is available to solve a specific business challenge and meet clearly defined project goals. Ideally, these guidelines help companies to set clear and realistic expectations for EDM, as well as detailing project deliverables and spelling out how any project-related issues will be resolved. Best practices help companies to make decisions that lead to successful implementations the first time.

Typical components in a standard EDM solution and practical tips to consider

1. Capture

The foundation of any EDM solution is the effective capture of all of your corporate information, regardless of its source. Information enters a company in multiple ways, from paper documents to online forms, bar codes, copiers with basic scanning capabilities, emails, faxes, electronic signatures, and more. Capturing all of the data and storing it in a central repository is the foundation to organizational efficiency. Before you select a vendor, make sure you understand all of the sources of information collected by your organization and the volume that is received from each source. Examine the type of technology that you need, and make sure it can accommodate all types of input.

Can your vendor key in necessary data from an image? Is the company able to ensure that the images are secure, so that keying can be done remotely or overseas and still preserve its integrity? Is your vendor able to capture all formats and present high-quality definition and readability, including documents created in Microsoft Word, Corel Perfect Office, email, drawing packages, Web pages, and others? Do you have an off-site backup facility or alternative to ensure that your mission-critical data will be available in the event of negative unforeseen circumstances?

2. Taxonomy

After information has been captured, it needs to be indexed and stored for easy and secure retrieval when it is needed. A company with multiple departments or types of users may need to consider a thorough and hierarchical taxonomy in order to index information in diverse ways so that multiple people can find what they need. Mr. John Doe’s personnel file may have data that is pertinent to the HR department, other information that is needed by the payroll department, and facts that are needed by the marketing department. His company needs to see that the right people can access what they need…no more, and no less. Does your vendor’s EDM package allow you to index information as thoroughly as you need in order to make the information easy to find for everyone who needs it? Does it also guarantee security?

3. Document Management and Security

As data is entered into the system, rules governing privacy and sensitive information need to be followed. The client needs to determine and communicate to the IT administrator who is allowed to view which information, taking government regulations, industry standards, and corporate policies into consideration. Does your vendor provide a solution that lets you designate who can view which information, down to the individual user and at the page level? Does the software allow the client to set up user authentication? Can documents be made to be inalterable? Does the system provide a clear record of access that is auditable?

4. Business Process Management/Workflow

There are many best practices to consider with regard to BPM and workflow. One common requirement that is addressed by such guidelines—but otherwise frequently overlooked—is the need to establish and communicate clearly who is responsible for making the business rules that govern automated processes. A client is responsible for communicating a clear hierarchy of responsibility and decision-making for every process, but who at the site specifically has the final say for choosing and communicating the business rules?

Does the software you have selected have the ability to create a clear hierarchy for decisionmaking, including authorization not only at the department level, but at the individual level? Does it allow you to designate how exceptions will be handled? Are each of the transactions within processes that are “on the move” fully searchable and instantly auditable when immediate answers are required?

5. Records Management

A document becomes a record when it has completed its active lifecycle, is no longer likely to be needed on a regular basis, and is ready to be stored for the long-term. Companies need to do more than take into consideration the regulations and policies governing document retention, although this is a vital first step. Creating a clear and consistent file plan for organizing records, similar to a taxonomy computer-generated photo of a magnifying glass and computer screen for indexing information in the active life of a document, is essential to finding a record when and if it is needed in the future.

Who is authorized to establish and communicate the rules about automatic purging of records from the document management system, or their migration to long-term storage? Does the vendor’s software enable the client to request email notification or other alerts prior to purging data? Will the client require alternative long-term storage media for records in addition to electronic storage? If so, does the EDM vendor’s software export data effectively to the chosen media? If data needs to be destroyed ultimately, does the vendor have the capability to dispose information and hardware properly, or a strong partner that the company can recommend for this service and with which their products can integrate?

6. General rules for successful technology deployment

Although the best course of action will vary from one type of deployment and technology to the next, there are some practical strategies that are wise for all technology deployments:

choose a vendor whose software is truly based on open architecture so that they can integrate with applications you have now and software you might purchase in the future;
establish a clear, written communication of expectations from the client to the vendor;
require equally clear, written communication from the vendor of expectations the client must meet prior to technology deployment;
generate a schedule of regularly planned status reports from the vendor and client, and make sure they are delivered in a timely manner;
create a list of project milestones with estimated dates for completion of each, and scheduled communication as each milestone is met; and
document the vendor’s suggestions and client’s plan for maintaining the technology (upgrades, etc.) after the deployment is complete.

7. Practical tips for broadening the scope of a technology deployment

Similar to a home renovation, a technology deployment can easily become endangered by the discovery of additional wishes and needs that are beyond the scope of the initial project plan. Project managers and vendors need to be careful only to add whatever is crucial to reaching the project’s stated goals. Although it is easy to insert freshly discovered dream lists after the project plan is in place, costs can spiral out of control because of the impact that additions beyond the scope of a project can have on hardware, software, upgrades, staffing needs, and more. Only add what is crucial to reaching the current project’s goals. Other items can be added, but only as separate projects with their own stated deliverables, timelines, and budgets.

Challenges and solutions for evaluating “best practices” from vendors

Until fairly recently, “best practices for EDM” have primarily been created by vendors, with recommendations that were more closely related to what each vendor anticipated being able to deliver rather than what was truly needed and expected by the client. As a result, some companies that are considering EDM solutions (or that already have one and are not fully satisfied) look with suspicion at vendor “best practices”. In the early years of EDM, many vendors promised to provide solutions that would finally address commonly faced business challenges, and then failed to deliver on their promises.

Three areas in which many vendors fell far short of expectations were the promised delivery of centralized information management; a global repository of services; and intelligent process infrastructures. Companies too frequently made major investments that ran into millions of dollars, yet the resulting solutions often remained proprietary or had inherent restrictions that limited the ability to provide the true global information and intelligence they were seeking. As a result, many companies ended up with multiple, isolated solutions that served the needs of diverse departments, rather than a solution that integrated all of their corporate information and provided the global intelligence that managers were seeking. “Buyers, beware” became an unspoken mantra.

Sources for information about industry-wide best practices in EDM

In recent years, organizations such as AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management – www.aiim.org), NARA (National Archives and Records Administration - http://www.archives.gov/), and ARMA (Association of Records) have worked hard to create, document, and publish industry standards for document management and its sister component in the document lifecycle, records management. These organizations have published numerous best practices articles, and offer links to valuable sources of information about document and records management, integrated document and records management, and technologies that are built on an EDM foundation such as digital workflow. In addition, they offer certifications such as CDIA+ (certified document imaging architect) as well as fundamental and advanced document and records management classes, business process management seminars, and other coursework.

Although the vendors you evaluate should be able to provide you with valuable information to help your project be successful, the industry associations provide a broad and unbiased perspective that may help you develop objective, clear, and realistic expectations for the technologies you choose and for each project. Understand the industry standards that are being set by these organizations. Add the vendor’s guidelines to your knowledge base. Evaluate how closely your chosen vendors’ products and guidelines meet industry standards. Choose wisely and plan carefully by evaluating best practices for EDM the first time. If you do all of this, you are bound to reach your goals.