In times when automation is a common way to make your work easier, you need tools to make it happen. An electronic document archive comes with help and allows you to easily collect, store, and edit documents. However, these are not the only possibilities that the electronic archive offers us. Let’s see how the NAVIGATOR system performs as a solution for companies.
Advantages of using an electronic document archive
The fact that an electronic archive of documents has many advantages is beyond discussion. Let’s highlight the most important ones. First of all, an electronic archive allows storing documents in a digital form, which significantly reduces the space consumption in comparison to the standard paper archive (it is also worth mentioning that the paper form is more expensive to maintain). Secondly, it allows access to documents at any place and time. Finally, there is an issue that is difficult to ensure for paper documents. This is security. Again, we have an advantage, because the electronic document archive allows precise management of modification/viewing/editing permissions, and at the same time guarantees the security of passwords because they are encrypted properly.
What documents should be stored in an electronic archive?
The answer to the question is that it depends on the company. Essentially, there are no restrictions as to the types of documents that should be stored in an electronic archive. Therefore, the only indicator is the company’s individual approach. Depending on the industry, these will be mostly invoices, contracts, orders, offers, bills, applications, orders, etc. The archive allows for the flexibility of document types to be uploaded to the archive.
The most important archive functionalities
Some functions will make your work with the archive easier and more efficient. Starting from scratch, such as copying a document, and ending with features such as automatic document filling in using the OCR engine, each of them is designed to simplify and speed up work. Let’s take a closer look at several functions available in the electronic archive in NAVIGATOR.
Tools for work optimization
One of the tools that optimize the work is the possibility of connecting the scanner to the archive, which will automatically upload the scanned documents to the archive. The same solution can be applied to attachments to e-mails that will be read without our involvement, allowing us to save a lot of time. A substantial simplification is also the possibility to read data directly from an Excel file. The spreadsheet is added to the files, and then with a single click on the button, you can retrieve the data to the appropriate fields However, the most important functionality in our opinion is the simple and fast document workflow. There is one version of the document in the NAVIGATOR system passed on inside the company, which allows avoiding the need to physically search for the document and transfer it from hand to hand.
The possibility of monitoring the document storage period
The archive also helps when it comes to the mandatory document maintenance, thanks to the proper document indexing, so document management from the relevant period is pleasant and really easy. Moreover, it is worth mentioning the possibility of setting up reminders, sent to an e-mail address when the document’s storage time expires. Using such a solution, no important deadlines will be missed.
Customized functionalities
However, what about the demanding customer, whose needs to cover much more complicated, often unusual, functionality? The good news is that the flexible systems are designed for the possibility of such a situation and enable easy implementation of tools that improve archive maintenance and document processing. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that the greater the number of extensions, the greater the role of their organization plays. That is why the modular structure and division into functionally coherent categories make managing the system much easier and reduce the time needed to implement new tools.
Perfect electronic archive organization
A similar (or even greater) importance is the proper archive organization. The criteria for document grouping are based, among other things, on their type and have one goal, first and foremost, to maximize the efficiency of finding documents or data related to them. A hierarchical category structure with a user-friendly interface is a basic requirement for an organized archive. Furthermore, providing tools for document searching based on a small set of data, often incomplete or only a fragment of the content within the searched document, is necessary.
Substantive structure: the content and type of documents
The aforementioned hierarchy of document organization is usually based on their type. You can find out how to set the document type in NAVIGATOR in our technical documentation. This way, all the documents of the same type are stored in one place, which makes it easier for employees to work within the relevant set. As the hierarchy tree grows, it may appear that the structure of documents based not only on their content but also on their type is becoming more and more practical. Hence, invoices from a particular vendor are in the same place, and letters regarding a particular case are in another.
Organizational structure: company departments
Another important factor determining document classification is the company structure. Document organization based on their type can simultaneously group them according to the authorized departments. Storing contracts in one folder enable easy management of permissions, e.g. for the HR department employees. However, there is no rule for such similarities. Under these circumstances, it is necessary to consider which criteria of classification are the most important for the company and will enable proper access to the archive data.
Summary
Nowadays, when digitalization continues, the implementation of an electronic document archive seems to be a necessary requirement for the smooth work of an enterprise. The above-mentioned benefits of this solution, such as secure storage of information, a reduced time-to-reach to needed data, the ability to find it from anywhere online, a variety of tools improving effective work, flexibility in creating your own personalized functionalities, and unified role-based access control, allow understanding the reasons why a growing number of companies choose to have their own electronic archive.
Computational Engineering graduate and master’s student majoring in Computer Science and Econometrics at AGH University of Science and Technology. In the company, she combines the work of a junior Workflow systems specialist with the role of programmer. She is responsible for implementing NAVIGATOR for, among others, a Latvian client. Programming has become her passion, and so she constantly expands her knowledge in programming language C#. If she isn’t working or programming, she plays basketball.
Graduate of Applied Informatics at AGH University of Science and Technology and a Master in Chemistry from Jagiellonian University. Graduate of Business Intelligence Development module at WSEI Programming School. At Archman acts as an implementer of Workflow systems, helping clients in, among others, creating complicated budgets. With his desire for expanding knowledge, he proves that a chemist can also make his way in the IT world.
