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Executive Summary
THE NEED TO MANAGE AND CONTROL DOCUMENTS
Electronic documents are, for many information workers, the primary “product” that they
manufacture. In many business situations, information workers follow predefined document
workflows and manage documents within a central repository; others choose to assemble, revise,
and verify information using nothing more than their email and word processing applications.
Information workers generate the majority of their documents using several different Microsoft
productivity applications, including Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. It is not uncommon for
users within the same organization to use multiple versions of the same application. These
documents are then routinely sent via email to communicate and share document drafts with
other team members.
In today’s organizations, documents are created, revised and reviewed on desktop computers, on
the go with laptops, or mobile devices such as BlackBerry’s. As part of the review cycle these
documents are shared with others, who then make modifications and forward them to additional
interested parties, who further revise them and circulate them again to even more people. These
teams not only review and share documents but attach new versions to messages as they are
distributed to co-workers, colleagues, partners, and customers for input.
Documents are commonly stored in a variety of document management systems and formats,
some of which cannot be edited by the people who need access to them. Many of these
documents contain metadata or confidential information and can expose potentially sensitive
content to those who are not authorized to see it.
The end result is a mish-mash of document management practices, version control problems, lost
productivity, and higher costs – all of which will become more pronounced as documents and
document types proliferate, and as economic pressures force companies to do more work with
fewer people and tighter budgets.
However, the consequences can be much more severe and costly than just productivity. For
example, there have been a number of legal cases in which metadata has been mistakenly
exposed or not presented as required. An organization’s inability to track this information or its
failure to produce it in a timely way can lead to enormous legal judgments or sanctions.
However, many collaborative tools today lack a variety of important features that are necessary to
ensure a seamless document creation and modification process:
Version control
Arguably one of the most critical challenges in any collaborative document process is version
control. The issue is exacerbated by the use of email as a file transport mechanism, as well
as by the sometimes large number of users that often participate in the document editing
process. While the “track changes” feature available in virtually all word processors is of
some help, it does little to solve the underlying version control issue with which most users
must contend. For example, sending documents for review via email cannot ensure that
reviewers will use “Track Changes” or make edits to the latest version of a document,
resulting in frequent modification of old versions and extra work in reconciling multiple, edited
versions.
Ease of use
If a system is not easy to use, employees simply will not use it. Consequently, the difficulty
inherent in using many content control solutions will keep employees from utilizing them,
negating much of the value the organization had hoped to realize by deploying the system.
Solutions that are easy to use and leverage your existing software tools and infrastructure
investments will increase adoption and limit training costs.
While the protection of the specific content generated and managed by users is important in and
of itself, the information about this data – or metadata – is also important to maintain. In many
cases, the metadata associated with electronic content is just as proprietary as the data itself,
and so must be managed and secured along with the content. Without proactive metadata
management, companies are subject to increased risks. Being able to remove, preserve and
manage metadata is critical for a variety of purposes, not least of which are statutory and legal
requirements.
With lawmakers passing legislation that mandates stringent controls on information such as
customer data, health records, transaction records, and non-public company data the cost of non-
compliance can be severe. An organization’s inability to track content, remove it as necessary or
its failure to produce it in a timely way can lead to enormous legal judgments, sanctions, public
embarrassment and lost customers.
LOST PRODUCTIVITY
One of the key issues associated with poor document management and collaborative practices is
the lost productivity that ensues. This is, for many organizations, the worst problem they face
because the problem is repeated over thousands of users in some cases. As noted earlier, just
five minutes of wasted time per employee each day can equate to $625,000 in lost productivity
every year per 1,000 employees.
COST
While the problems discussed above can sap employee productivity and create a variety of other
challenges, none of them will be solved if the solutions to address them are too expensive or
provide a return-on-investment that is too low to justify their deployment.
To put the vendors whose solutions are evaluated on a level playing field instead of relying
on statements of individual vendors’ varying features, functions and specifications.
We have assembled a list of questions that companies should ask of their prospective vendors.
Comment management
Comments are a vital part of the document review process because they allow reviewers to
ask questions, request clarification from authors, point out potential violations of company
policy, and so forth. Any solution must be able to manage comments in meaningful ways,
such as using tracking comments for each individual reviewer, allowing comments to be
hidden, filtering comments by individual reviewers, and so forth.
PDF capabilities
Any solution should support both the creation and manipulation of the Adobe Portable
Document Format (PDF) given the ubiquity of this format across multiple platforms.
Individual reviewers should be able to create PDF documents, compare PDFs to other PDFs
or Word documents, make changes to them, assemble multiple PDF documents into a single
document, etc.
Ease of use
Ease of use is a critical consideration for any solution, since a system that is cumbersome,
time-consuming or difficult simply will not be used.
Client/server capabilities.
Support for leading server operating systems and desktop operating systems, including the
growing penetration of 64-bit operating systems.
Support for a variety of other systems, including Microsoft Active Directory, Citrix, Microsoft
Outlook, Lotus Notes, Microsoft Internet Explorer and various mobile platforms.
Dramatically reduce staff time having to deal with processing, reviewing and distributing
documents
Eliminate user confusion over document versions and the master file
Allow you to include clients in the review process
When considering costs it is also important to identify and ask about other expenses such as
implementation and training. If one solution requires a lot of IT support or many hours of end-user
training that may no longer be the cheapest solution for your company. Also, be sure to evaluate
the time savings a solution may create. Some of the key questions to consider include:
If one solution requires many hours of end-user training or has a greater impact on user
productivity that may no longer be the best solution for your organization.
Summary
Managing documents effectively is critical for every information worker. Today’s organizations
produce and manage contracts, legal agreements, documentation, corporate policy manuals and
more. A failure to adequately manage these documents and control their content can lead to a
variety of consequences, including loss of employee productivity, legal judgments, and
customers.
Technology that provides document capabilities that will permit individuals to manage documents
efficiently and securely, and at the lowest possible cost in terms of both direct expenses and
personal productivity are requirements in today’s companies. As organizations evaluate the
many solutions available to them, they should ask a series of detailed and probing questions to
ensure that the solution they choose best matches their current and expected requirements.
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