4 Tips for Implementing Electronic Document & Record Management Systems

46 percent of employees say finding the documents they need is time-consuming and challenging. Those same employees waste 2.5 hours per day searching for the proper documents. Converging modern digital needs with relic paper documents creates an uncomfortable collision course a time-sapping document limbo. What can you do?

You can’t get rid of paper. Customers still want it, business workflows are still glued to it, and many departments aren’t set up to function without it. There’s a reason that McKinsey admits that “fully paperless processes have yet to materialize in most businesses.” Like it or not, paper hasn’t finished having its day. But do we all have to suffer the headaches of our mixed-tech modernity?

Nope! There’s an easy way out.

Electronic Document and Record Management Systems (EDRMS) digitize those paper documents wholesale or in scheduled bunches. This opens your tech stack to a world of new data and chips away at the avalanche of paper on your work floor. But how does that happen?

What Are Electronic Document and Record Management Systems?

An EDRMS is a digital filing cabinet that stores, secures, governs, and retrieves digital files. It can also be called an Electronic Document Management System (EDMS). For many organizations, EDRMS/EDMS systems represent an easy and pain-free way to begin the digitization journey. EDRMS aren’t as comprehensive and far-reaching as Enterprise Content Management systems (ECM), but they’re easier to adopt in the short term.

According to McKinsey, 30% of “digital transformations” succeed. This could be because the process can often be complex. Marketing and sales departments often put pressure on companies to jump head-first into a web of SaaS and on-premise solutions.

Unsurprisingly, this results in many headaches, lost investments, and failure. But EDRMS is an easy way to begin digitization. It’s cost-effective, requires few integrations between platforms, and doesn’t overly rely on complex AI.

The core components of EDRMS software are:

• Document storage
• Document version control
• Editing controls (i.e., Check-in/Check-out)
• Security and governance
• Search and retrieval
• Indexing
• Audit trails

It is essential to carefully evaluate your provider before purchasing, as various options are available for each of these crucial components. Implementing an EDRMS isn’t always a straightforward process, and many things must be considered.

So, let’s look at some tips you can use to vet your EDRMS.

Contact us to have a consultation about your document management needs.

4 Tips For Implementing an EDMS

Tip #1: Focus on Security

This is the most critical information management tip. Chances are, most of you will work with vendors to deploy an EDRMS. Ensure that your vendor is aware of current security requirements.

According to business leaders, cybersecurity risks are increasing. Despite this, businesses secure only 5% of their document folders on average. When you store your digital documents in a single “source of truth,” it must be secure.

Cloud security is generally more affordable than providing security on-premise. The cost-effective security enabled by private vendor clouds surpasses expensive on-premise solutions. This is especially true when considering the need for disaster recovery. The ongoing “on-premise vs. public cloud vs. private cloud” debate should put security front and center. Otherwise, you may be looking at a $4.3 million bill.

Tip #2: Understand Policy, Law, and Governance

The tremendous amount of laws, regulations, and local data protection policies are proving too much for many companies. There are over 117 individual data privacy bills, with thousands more from local governing bodies. In today’s interconnected world, most businesses must manage their operations across national boundaries.

Of course, in today’s hyper-connected and highly-globalized landscape, virtually every business operates on a cross-border business model. So you must follow them all.

Develop a strategy for effectively implementing a governance system to meet data privacy regulations. Consult with your vendor and IT team to create a plan of action that addresses compliance in your document system before and during implementation.

Tip #3: DIRKS

According to McKinsey, “clarity of digital themes” boosts the success rate of digital endeavors by 25%. For that, remember DIRKS: Developing and Implementing a Recordkeeping System.

DIRKS is an eight-step process for implementing recordkeeping systems invented for the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HREOC) in Sydney. And, because DIRKS is included in ISO 15489 and AS 4390-1996, it continues to inform policy.

1. Preliminary Investigation: Why do you need a digital recordkeeping system? On the surface, this question is simple. Employees spend 50% of their time creating and searching for documents, and documentation frictions cause a 21% overall drop in productivity for non-digitized businesses. But you have to dig a little deeper. What do you do? How will you facilitate digitization? What unique compliance or security requirements does your business have? Think of this stage as a deep dive into your business and how it functions.
2. Analyze Business Activity: Which business activities require digital recordkeeping? The typical document landscape is a web of interconnected business processes and workflows. You need to unravel it. Knowing when and where you need document management software can help you appropriately deploy and utilize your EDRMS. Don’t invest before you know how to deploy and where you will see your highest ROI. Chances are, you have stakeholders to please. Failure to draw up early needs can result in failed implementations when stakeholders don’t see that initial surge of productivity and value.
3. Identify Requirements: This is all about governance. What are your legal and logistical concerns regarding policy control, safety, security, and storage? What do you need to save, how long do you need to save it, and how heavily do you need to secure it?
4. Assess Existing Systems: What are your existing digitization solutions? What are your current physical document requirements? Determine where you need recordkeeping and how it will intersect your existing solutions.
5. Identify Recordkeeping Strategies: To develop a recordkeeping strategy, lean into culture requirements and existing business models. You don’t have to upend traditional processes. Instead, try to facilitate their success with recordkeeping. Often, we see organizations take these massive plunges into digitization that involve upending all their existing workflows. EDRMS is ECM-light. You can work around your current processes. Leverage your vendors’ insight to help you build a solution that works for your exact situation.
6. Design: You may or may not do this part. Designing a recordkeeping system based on those requirements can be costly. Since this is a mature market, this is an area where it may make more sense to lean into vendor-driven solutions. Otherwise, expect to spend some capital developing your own system.
7. Implementation: From roll-out to change management and training, this will be the longest stage. Work closely with your provider if possible.
8. Post-implementation Review: Gather metrics, prove value, and adjust any flaws in your system. This is the most critical stage. If you can demonstrate value, you’re golden. If you can’t, you need to fix something.

Tip #4: Consider Indexing Requirements

The primary way to take advantage of full document organization is by utilizing indexing. There are many different tools and techniques that you can use to do this. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) can help you create metadata against text documents, and Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) can help you go the extra mile by recognizing handwriting.

There are also indexing engines. For example, the Mercury ECM can use auto-indexing features based on intelligent recognition. The indexing of documents is of utmost importance as it is a critical factor in determining how easily they can be searched and stored correctly in the system. This feature requires attention to detail when designing it. You don’t want to overspend for obvious reasons, but you don’t want an underperforming system.

How Daida Can Help

Implementing an EDRMS isn’t an easy task. There are plenty of tripwires littering the path to success.

At Daida, we build world-class document management platforms. From EDRMS and ECM to scanning services and intelligent capture programs, we help businesses walk away from the paper dystopia.

We help digitize your data in your preferred file format. Then, we transfer it to a secure cloud storage option. This helps promote file sharing between your team, whether at home or in the office.

Are you ready to build a more efficient and profitable business? Contact us.