How A Document Management System Can Benefit The Education Industry

August 30, 2021 | 3:30 pm
Written by: Brandon Harris

Educational institutions might be at the top of the list regarding the number of documents they have to manage. Keeping track of the countless aspects of running a college or school takes a lot of effort, and having a thorough database of records is the only way to keep track.

However, paper documents pose many challenges that can not only increase overhead costs but also result in various issues that could put the entire institution in jeopardy. And when there are so many accessible document management solutions for schools, it’s no longer optional to stick with an old approach when there are much better opportunities available.

But how exactly could a document management system benefit your educational institution or the entire industry? Let’s explore below.

More Time for Students

The primary purpose of any educational facility is to provide a valuable and practical learning experience to its students. However, paperwork and tasks that relate to it have a way of forcing teachers and faculty to spend a big part of their time on tasks that don’t directly impact the students in any positive way.

But suppose you implement the right electronic document management system and forego paper records. In that case, everyone on staff can input and retrieve information much faster, which means that all the time saved can be put forth to give more attention to students and put them in the best position possible to succeed.

Reduced Storage Needs

Another key reason a document management system can be so valuable for educational facilities is that it can result in budget savings. Schools are forced to allocate many resources to physical storage for documents, which also have to be protected since they often contain sensitive student and teacher information.

Meanwhile, with electronic document management for schools, everything can be securely stored on the cloud, which means the savings can be passed on into more productive areas that help the school achieve tangible improvements.

It’s Environmentally Conscious

Educational institutions are supposed to embody the progress and higher morals that humanity strives for. And with the growing concerns about the impact of deforestation on climate change, most progressive organizations are moving away from paper records because of just how much waste it can create.

And since switching to an electronic document management system is so convenient, it makes even more sense to do it when it can also help the environment and position the educational institution as someone who cares about the future.

Today’s students and their parents often consider social responsibility when choosing a school they want to go to. As the movement for reducing the impact of climate change keeps growing, this will only become a more pressing matter for educational institutions worldwide.

More Security

One of the worst things that could happen to a school is having its data stolen or lost. The reputational damage alone can be a tough challenge to recover from. Then there’s the prospect of legal liability in case sensitive information about the students or staff falls into the wrong hands or gets leaked.

But unfortunately, no matter how much you invest in your paper records security, there will always be a human error factor that’s impossible to account for entirely. There isn’t a system that could completely guarantee the safety of sensitive documents.

And while a document management system is possible to breach, the advancing cybersecurity and cloud technologies make it less likely each year. Suppose the staff is adequately trained and knows what security practices to follow. In that case, you can rest assured that the documents will be protected from unauthorized access and the repercussions of a breach.

Simplify Processes

One of the best ways to provide an instant boost to an entire organization is to look for ways to streamline and simplify various processes continually. And an electronic document management system offers many ways to reduce the time it takes to fill out documents for students, teachers, and everyone else.

For instance, an electronic records system can significantly reduce the complexity of the admissions process, allowing students to submit all of the paperwork in one place without having to print and send each document individually. That can even make the educational institution more appealing, as it shows that the school embraces progress and is in line with today’s technology.

At the same time, teachers and faculty will have a much easier time sorting through applications, gaining more insights about each student, and having a more objective way to compare and contrast different applicants.

While implementing a document management system can take time and effort, you can partner up with a provider like Smooth Solutions, who can guide you through the entire process, share insights about the best approaches, and help you implement the right solution in your situation.

4 Tips to Improve Pharmaceutical Document Management: A Step-by-Step Guide

March 16, 2021 | 6:47 am
Written by: Brandon Harris

Effective document management practices are essential for any company. But for pharmaceutical companies, where the security and accuracy of documents are crucial, this holds even more true.

That’s why companies in the pharma industry are always striving to improve their processes and keep in line with the most recent development in document management technology.

Whether it’s for saving time, helping employees become more efficient, reducing expenses, or increasing security, the benefits that a sound system can offer are hard to underestimate. 

With that in mind, let’s look at some of the most important tips you should consider when implementing better document management practices in your pharmaceutical organization. 

Digitize Your Documents

The only way to ensure that your document management practices are up to the standards of the pharmaceutical industry is to switch to a digital document management system. 

Using paper documents might have been acceptable a decade or two ago, but today, with specialized document management solutions more available than ever before, it is simply not a feasible solution any longer. 

The good news is that it’s now also easier than ever to digitize your paper documents and transfer them to a digital format. You can find a document scanning solution ideally suited for pharma companies, which will take over the entire process and will make the transition as smooth and frictionless as possible.

Having a digital document management system not only makes sense from a storage standpoint. It will also help with security, access, and budgeting.

Consider Your Access Strategy

One of the biggest concerns regarding is the need to ensure that only authorized personnel can access sensitive documents and data. But at the same time, the modern workplace environment dictates that access must be possible from anywhere in the world, not just the company’s headquarters.

That’s why one of the most important considerations you should think about is the way you want to handle access control. 

One of the most popular approaches is to use a Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) document management system, which can limit the number of files that can be accessed based on the person’s authorization level. 

With the help of this approach, you should be able to set specific rules about who can access the files and avoid having to grant access manually.

Prioritize Searchability

One of the biggest challenges your employees likely face is finding specific documents or even certain information within documents.

In these situations, having advanced document searchability is essential. Look for a solution that can provide accurate search results, offer numerous filters to sort documents by, and help search for documents in various formats. 

Ease of Use

Finally, you must look for a solution that is easy to use and manage. You want the staff to implement it without resistance, and thus it should have a simple-to-use interface that’s intuitive and clear. 

After all, even the most advanced pharmaceutical document management system is only as effective as it is used. When you opt for complex features, make sure you communicate them to your team clearly so that they know how to make the most out of what the solution has to offer.

Large Document Scanning – Benefits and Process

October 03, 2018 | 2:34 am
Written by: Michael Harris

If you work in the architecture, engineering, utility, or city planning industries; then you’ve most likely had to draw up a fair share of engineering drawings or blueprints. Private contractors and those in real estate also usually have to create floor plans and map out their properties. All of this work is crucial to the professions they fall under and need to be stored for future additions or simply for public record.

Unfortunately these paper drawings and blueprints tend to deteriorate over time and are difficult to store. If only there was another way…there is! Scanning and digitizing the documents. Once your large format document archives are in digital format, you’ll realize how great the benefits are.

Benefits of Large Document Scanning

For starters digital documents don’t crumple, fade, and rip like traditional paper documents do. Digital documents will stay pristine for more than a lifetime, picture perfect whenever you need them. This becomes increasingly more important as time goes on, especially if you aim to add or change anything on the original designs. Double checking faded plans, trying to discern if that line is a pipe or a power line, yikes.

Utility companies often have to perform maintenance on their water or power lines; but since they’re underground you need to look up the original engineering drawings to figure out where to go. If those documents were digital you could look at them with perfect clarity on a handheld device and make sure that no catastrophic mistakes occur, only good proper planning. If your company is fortunate enough to be hired to build something large, like a bridge that requires constant maintenance, you’ll want those plans preserved in top quality and easily accessible.

Having access to digital documents in the field makes technicians jobs easier. Scanning engineering drawings and other oversized documents will also reduce your storage costs and save you space. Millions of drawings and plans can be saved to a single compact hard drive instead of a room or two filled with file cabinets for storage. Freeing up that valuable real estate for more important functions alone could see a major return on investment. Furthermore, you could opt for cloud hosting the files, then they wouldn’t take up any space at all.

Document Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting the files comes with its own string of benefits, like insurance and peace of mind. If your facility had a fire today, then all of your documents could be lost, but if they were hosted on the cloud you could still have copies backed up and ready to print. Even with digital documents there is still the chance of server failure and corrupted disks, leading to a loss of files. So be sure to always keep multiple back-ups in case tragedy strikes, and consider cloud hosting for another layer of security.

Another benefit of cloud hosting is the access that it gives you. Let’s say you’re meeting with a client or someone calls you while you’re away from the office and they’re looking for a specific document or information. You can simply pull up the document or post on your phone and continue the conversation uninterrupted. Normally you’d have to go back to the office, message them later, or have someone from the office retrieve the document for you.

The time you’ll save and the professionalism you’ll show will propel your organization to new heights of efficiency. And just think of the shipping/travel costs when you need to send/show someone a document. Mailing large documents undamaged can be difficult and very pricey, but with digital you can just attach it to an email and you’re done. Easy, simple, FREE.

Large Format Document Scanning Process

Wide format documents will not fit in regular scanners, so special equipment must be used. Specifically flat feed scanners. These scanners have the document pulled through and picked up on the other side so there is no bending or damaging the original. The scanner is long but short, like an office light, only scanning a few lines of the document at any one time. This makes it a lengthy process but delivers great results with no damage to the originals in case you still want to hold onto them.

Large format documents are typically scanned in color or greyscale at 300 DPI and saved as TIFF Group IV files. From there, the images undergo some mild auto-adjustments to improve the contrast and color, and it’s saved to the computer. After that, the images may be cropped, de-skewed and indexed by specific fields of information so that they can be searched for and retrieved within a database.  

It’s all that simple and will provide you and your business with countless benefits and endless amounts of saved time. Join the modern era and digitize your documents today.