Choosing the Right Capture Methodology
You may understand that best practices dictate that instead of storing paper in files cabinets, they should be scanned and archived electronically for simple tracking, storage and access when needed. This can help to an extent but processing these documents still would remain manual and paper-based, which slows business and welcomes risk of losing critical information. In order to take advantage of process automation, case management and content management technologies, it might be time to consider capturing content at the front-end of every process.
The ability to capture business content and make its information available is an essential element of any enterprise. In many ways, capture is the fulcrum to certain technologies and strategic paradigms providing the foundation to business organisations. Therefore, it is vital that the way organisations approach capture enhances business processes, rather than obstructs or impedes their function.
Capture to Archive
Many organisations simply use scanning to archive documents electronically. This usually occurs after the documents have been review and acted upon and the data on those documents have been manually entered into relevant systems. The problem is documents in paper form come with risk of loss and the longer they are kept in that form, the more that risk is present.
Capture to Process
Then there are organisations that have found benefit from capturing the minute those documents are received, whether received in paper form or electronically. This front-loaded capture then reduces risk and simplifies processing as there are technologies that can then be leveraged to automate data entry and document processing.
When considering taking on a capture-to-process methodology the following are important factors to consider:
- Match the access, process, security and compliance needs of your organisation to your capture process.
- Map business critical processes in the enterprise to investigate places where content can be captured earlier and transmitted directly to important processes.
- Audit your inbound content and the way that content is handled, and review how classification or automated capture tools can feed downstream processes in order to improve productivity and speed up response.
- Review the performance of your existing capture technology and methodology, and analyse whether a new model or new technology is needed to increase efficiency and ROI.
This focus article, published by AIIM, provides you with an overview of these different capture methodologies and the benefits of each, to help you choose which may be best for your organisation.