Squeeze more efficiency and ROI from your Content Management System – High-speed viewing can help

Note: This article first appeared in FST Magazine, April 2008. You can view the original here.

Here’s what you need to know about viewing options to maximize your ECM investment

If your company has invested (or is in the process of investing) a lot of time and money implementing an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system, including Records Management or Document Management, your goal is likely to make your organization more POTENT (Productive, Organized, Timely, Efficient, Nimble, Traceable). Enabling users to access the documents they need regardless of location or platform – whether across the building, state, country or globe – should increase productivity.

Yet, even the most detailed and well-planned implementations often result in frustration, disappointing results, and an elusive ROI. Why is this – and what can you do to prevent or resolve this issue at your company?

The answer lies in how you look at the problem (and your documents).

First, get a clear view of the problem
During selection and implementation of an ECM solution companies tend to focus on installation or enhancement of complex back-end systems such as document imaging and capture, content management and workflow automation. Typically how the end-user will access and process their documents on the workstation is an afterthought that crops up only when the system is being rolled out. Then some of these common issues quickly become apparent:

• Running multiple programs simultaneously on the desktop can slow opening, viewing and processing speed since the creator software (i.e. Adobe, Microsoft Office) must first be launched to view a file

• Allowing users to open files within the creator application can disable document security and possibly jeopardize regulatory compliance

• User must wait for entire document to download before it is viewable, even if only one or a few pages are needed, which kills productivity

• Inability to simultaneously view thumbnails of multiple documents

• Unable to manipulate (cut, paste, reorder, copy) pages to create new or modify existing documents

• Inability to annotate any document or image format other than PDF

• Must re-scan documents for proper order

• Complex, time-consuming steps must be developed for users to access, view and process each document, decreasing productivity and increasing errors

• User training must be developed, implemented and managed

• You end up using different viewers to access multiple repositories, especially if companies have merged or been acquired and have different backend systems (i.e., EMC Documentum and IBM FileNet)

All of these issues can inhibit your productivity, and increase errors and expenses. But your company can avoid – or quickly remediate – this situation by integrating a Universal Viewing Solution (UVS). This single tool can tie all of your back-end repositories together, regardless of platform, to simplify the viewing process and give your end users the productivity tools they need to do far more than just look at content.

A UVS that has both a client and server component is the optimal configuration to provide the best performance. This combination allows pages within large documents to be manipulated and broken up on the server. The pages are then able to be quickly delivered to the client as needed or only when required, providing more front-end productivity features to your users.

There are a wide range of viewing solutions available. A UVS can add substantial capabilities to help your organization operate more efficiently:

• Support Expansive Range of Formats – View virtually any document or image format to ensure long-term functionality and scalability. Especially important if you have a repository of files in a format no longer supported, or that may be discontinued (i.e., IBM discontinued support for its AFP-formatted ImagePlus system, posing challenges for companies still needing to view AFP documents).

• Unified Viewing – Facilitates file viewing across multiple, disparate back end repositories. Important when organizations adopt new technologies, expand, merge and other unforeseen needs.

• Page on Demand Delivery – Provides immediate access to only the desired page(s) within a document (regardless of size) without waiting for the entire document to load. Enables users to process documents far easier, faster and less expensively.

• Page Manipulation – Enables pages from one or multiple documents to be moved and grouped, added or deleted, and allows changed documents to be saved as new versions. Annotations and bookmarks can be saved and included when moving or copying pages, maximizing the ability to quickly access, process, collaborate and repurpose valuable content.

• Annotations – Gives users a set of common document mark-up functions, regardless of the document type, including rubberstamps, highlighting, “sticky note” comments and block redaction, which can be especially important in managing compliance. Adds productivity by decreasing processing time for documents requiring multiple touch points, and helps reduce miscommunication.

• Bookmarks – Provides a quick way for users to navigate to important pages within documents. Saves time and adds efficiency for individuals or multiple users by quickly retrieving frequently-used pages or blocks of data across the enterprise to facilitate processing, reference, review, customer service and compliance operations.

• Text Searching – Helps users quickly find needed content within a document using a simple word or phrase search and reduces document load-time by retrieving only relevant pages. This simple and efficient “needle in a haystack” search tool can serve as a secondary document navigation tool and provides exceptional time savings when searching within large documents.

• Keyboard shortcuts – Enables users to utilize time and error-saving keyboard shortcuts for important viewer functions for multiple document formats, facilitating high-volume document processing, reducing errors and saving considerable time, effort, and frustration for end users.

Not all viewing solutions are created equal
Evaluate your viewing needs now and into the future. Select a viewing solution that can scale as your enterprise environment evolves. Know that not all viewers are created equal in functionality, scalability and compatibility. Carefully evaluate the features and benefits of each to ensure that your viewer delivers the best possible long-term ROI. Although many viewers enable users to retrieve documents from the repository, the most efficient long-term investment is a universal viewer designed to support virtually any file format and scale with your needs.

Individual file format viewers require that multiple programs be installed and running on each end user’s desktop. This inserts an additional expense of software licenses, upgrades and maintenance, and user training, as well as increasing security and network bandwidth issues. To retrieve a document using such a viewer, users must open the application that was used to create the file. Opening the file from the creator application requires it to be downloaded from the computer which can introduce both security and bandwidth issues. For example, users retrieving Word documents would need the Microsoft Office Word application installed to open these files.

In some cases a viewer may not support your required format(s), requiring an additional file conversion step. For example, not all viewers support IBM’s AFP format, requiring a service bureau’s expensive conversion to a more common format such as PDF or TIFF. Your organization could avoid this expense by selecting a viewer that supports all of the file formats you need to view (and may need to view in the future).

Rapid technological advancements in software and the wide adoption of the Internet as a core business asset has opened the door to, and in many cases forced, new and improved processes for managing and viewing documents. Combining the power of viewing technology with the benefits of the Web delivers revolutionary results and streamlined workflow.

See your way clear to the best viewing solution for your needs

How can your organization determine which solution will operate most efficiently with your content management system?

Thoroughly evaluate viewing solutions to ensure the best feature-to-benefit match that will deliver long-term efficiency and add ROI to your content management system. Use the following checklist to evaluate your options to determine the best overall viewing solution for your needs:

• Understand which document types (and file formats) you need to support
• Determine the functionality required by in-house and external business units
• Talk with your enterprise IT department to determine installation requirements and potential issues (i.e., how many users must be updated, are new software licenses and training required).
• Determine how many users will need viewing capabilities now and how that user base may grow in the future.
• Will various departments/divisions have different requirements, and will you be including outside stake holders such as agents, brokers, partners or end customers
• Determine which annotation capabilities may be required to support your workflow
• Talk to users to confirm other potential issues/needs unique to your organization

The right viewer for your company
The right viewing solution will make your organization more POTENT. It can greatly enhance your ECM system and add overall efficiency and profitability to your operation.

As you consider the variety of viewing options available, it is critical to first understand your current viewing requirements across your enterprise environment. Then look to the future: compliance, mergers and acquisitions, expansion, right-sizing, downsizing and off-shoring can crucially impact your enterprise workflow and how your organization will need to access, use, store and retrieve its content. Finally, and most importantly, work together with your integrator and/or vendor to communicate openly and test your implementation early.

Identifying your requirements and workflow on paper is one major hurdle, but putting it to the test in a live setting is your final hurdle before rolling out your implementation.

The old adage definitely applies: Proper planning prevents poor performance.
Understanding your overall requirements and adequately preparing for the future will help you successfully select and integrate the right viewer with your ECM system to increase user satisfaction and productivity, and your overall efficiency and profitability – giving your company a clear view to the bottom line.

Learn how you can make your organization more POTENT by combining viewing technology with your ECM system, by visiting www.snowbound.com/view.