Scan/Document Management Solution

[SamHeald]

I'm currently in the process of looking for a scan/document management solution. At the moment the scanning done by staff is a long and daunting process and I'm actively looking for a way to quicken the process of filing etc to be more productive.

I've started looking for a possible software solution to aid, possibly with smart algorithms that would scan a document for keywords and then file away the resource automatically without human intervention. A software solution that integrates with google drive would be even better.

Has anyone got any good recommendations in regards to approach or software that would be worth investigation? There must be solutions in place within other schools that do a large amount of scanning.

[rogerdnixon]

We just have scan to email setup on our Sharp copiers. Simple and works fine - use then just hits the save to Drive button in Gmail and organises as they please.

[CAWJames]

We use a software called Therefore marketed by Canon, a complete document/information management system. Everything is scanned via photocopiers to email or on personal desk scanners and then uploaded by category to the system for retrieval by anyone who needs it and has permission to view. It has workflows, web access and lots of funky stuff like OCR and barcode recognition on the scans.

 

This is a commercial product and as such has quite a high price tag, but we have been using it whole business/college since it was called ADOS in the 2000's. For example we have a Student category where we can basically view any documents pertaining to a student by a global search, from application forms to change of circumstance or anything uploaded by admin or lecturers. As an IT person, I can access any invoices, warranties, correspondence for any of my suppliers going back to year dot.

 

We also archive all pertinent emails into it too, for a complete student contact trail(again in the student category).

 

Workflows are good too, for new user, you upload a doc or make a form, then send it to the workflow and it automatically at the alloted time, sends the IT team an email to create the user, then admin to create a student record, then once that's done, it emails to say badge needed and VLE access given. Each step of the workflow is claimed by a staff member then completed and processed before it moves on to the next workflow step. We also have similar workflows for approving invoices, expenses and anything else where we can remove an admin job to organise whatever the workflow is doing.

 

Not for the faint of heart, but integrated into a "paperless"* office, amazing!

 

James

 

* by paperless, I mean paperfull of course, being an educational establishment.