Consequences of Lack of Organization

A poorly managed company is more at threat from itself than competition or external factors. Some of the major consequences of lack of organization are high operating costs, low productivity, increased chances of fraud, low morale among employees, risk of non-compliance with regulations and inability to sustain business during economic or regulatory changes. However, all these can change if companies take measures to remedy the situation. Some of the areas where companies should focus on are people or human resource, customers and data or company knowledgebase.

Areas to Improve:

Lucrative business needs more than sharp top management; it needs to operate optimally from top to bottom. Let’s see how companies can improve internal organization in the following areas:

• Human Resource

People are the most important asset of any company. A company may invest in the most innovative machinery but if its people are not the right fit, chances of success are very slim. Apart from hiring the right people, managers need to make sure people are working efficiently and they are motivated. This helps them retain employees for long term and the business can run smoothly. In order for people to work efficiently, they need certain tools and technology. Whether it is the accounts or the sales department, all of them need the latest technology to maximize their output.

• Customer Service

Customer is the king and businesses need to keep their customers satisfiedto succeed. If a company takes a lot of time to respond to customer queries, fails to provide correct information or does not follow up on regular services, customers are bound to go to the competitor. Your after-sales or customer service department needs to be equipped with innovative technological tools if you want to keep your customers happy.

• Data or Company Knowledgebase

Company’s knowledgebase is its backbone. If a company loses its important documents because of some natural calamity or theft, the whole business can come to a standstill. It is very important for companies to strive constantly to safeguard their knowledgebase and make it suitably accessible, if they want to run their business without a hitch.

How Can Document Management Software Help?

Document management system is one of the most useful software that can help companies build smooth processes, increase staff productivity and secure data. Let’s see how Docsvault, our electronic document management software, can help businesses improve in all these areas.

• Human Resource

Document management software is an excellent tool to improve efficiency of employees. It allows for smooth collaboration and co-ordination between employees with the help of features like document notes, simple workflow and email integration.

• Customer Service

Features such as alerts and notifications, document notes, task reminders and a single repository ensures that your customer service department has access to all important information and tools to provide better customer service.

• Data or knowledgebase management

How many times have you found files like Presentation_v1, Presentation-v1.1, Presentation-Final, Presentation _final edited, Presentation_final _copy and so on?

Ad-hoc document management policies often lead to such problems. People are lax in naming files and even more lax when naming file versions.

Docsvault document management software offers version control feature so you can have all your versions neatly organized. You don’t have to save different copies of same files; Docsvault creates a new version automatically once you check in a document without creating multiple copies. You don’t have to remember which is the latest version as what you see is the latest version.

One of the best practices when it comes to controlling document versions in Docsvault is entering brief version notes. These notes can be about the changes made, stage of approval, etc.

Thus, when you check the version history, you see the version notes, date, version owner as well as version numbers and get a lot of information in one glance about the various versions and changes made.

Have you ever scribbled something like this on a notepad and wondered later what you meant by that note?

Most people have the habit of sticking hasty notes or making entries in diary planners about things to do. These notes are often unintelligible and they have a way to appear only after the deadline is long gone.

This is where Docsvault’s Personal Task feature can help you. Your reminders can be as personal or as formal as you want, for e.g. follow up with so and so client about payment, check up on a trainee’s progress or order cake for son’s birthday. You can also set due date, reminders, priority and task recurrence pattern so that you can follow up on a task or chase a client effectively.

Docsvault’s Personal Task

Now let’s see how you can use Docsvault’s personal task feature effectively.

-          Check on the reminder option; this way you can get a reminder at a specific hour. Also this way you will receive reminder even in your email.

-          Always mention proper details in the task properties. Don’t fill incomplete details like – Call client. So also, mention why you need to call the client, client’s name, his contact details and the purpose of calling.

-          Docsvault also allows you to attach documents to the personal task and reminder. It’s best to attach reference documents while assigning a task, so that when you call the client or do whatever task is at hand, you have all the details handy.

-          Make sure you select the repeat task option if it is an ongoing project. For instance if you want to check on a trainee’s progress every week or month, set that pattern in Task Recurrence Pattern. This will save you from setting a fresh reminder every week or month.

Remember, it is better to spend a couple of minutes to set a well-defined task than to miss the deadline or struggle with an unintelligible note.

Most of the time, users enter slapdash indexes while importing or saving a file to Docsvault. This leads to loss of time when searching for documents and at times, even loss of documents. However, this problem can be averted with little care during the initial stage of implementing document management system in your organization.

While training your employees to use document management software, you must also lay out certain rules and guidelines. One of them is implementing a standard policy of indexing or profiling documents.

Let’s say you want profile values such as client name, date, document type, department and key points to be entered for each file in Docsvault. Then you must decide:

• How you want the client name to be entered?

First Name: Joe

Last Name: Briggs

First and Last Name: Joe Briggs

Full Name and Client No.: Joe Briggs 067831

• What date format should be followed?

MMDDYYYY

DDMMYYYY

MMDDYY

Apart from this you must also lay out which date is to be entered: the date of importing the file in Docsvault, the date when the project began, the date of approval, etc.

• What are the points of key importance and how they should be presented?

You can enter key points pertaining to the project, transaction or the document itself. This is a field where most users are confused what to do. This is why it is advised to set a guideline for all users pertaining to indexing. This way all your files are neatly organized in a systematic order and it becomes easier for you to search files in future.

A bad filing structure means your employees have to spend a lot of time reaching the right documents and if a standard practice is not followed, the result is ad-hoc document storage which leads to confusion, wasted time and loss of important documents.

If your files go several layers deep like this:

Database\Internal\HR\Employees\Current\Accounts\Salary\Electronic Slips\2012\Bob Smith

There are chances your employees will have to click and search a lot before they stumble on the right file.

Docsvault, our document management software, offers Folder Sections feature, so that your files are only 2 or 3 layers deep. All employee records such as personnel file (attendance, performance, memo, JD, applications, etc), medical/benefits file (insurance, drug test, medical checkup, etc), payroll file (timecards, payslips, etc), I-9 file and other documents can be stored in one single folder. This folder includes multiple logical sections. These sections help your employees to access documents easily in a couple of clicks.

Folder Section

Many people do not make complete use of folder sections and still use the traditional method of file storage. All companies must train their employees to use folder sections feature effectively, so that all your documents can be easily accessed.

Do you have a hard time searching for files in Docsvault? Do you use dates or numbers in file names? Do you remember these numbers and dates after a couple of months?

We thought so.

One of the most frustrating and time-consuming part of a job is finding documents. Though document management software helps people to find files instantly, there are people who have a hard time searching for files. This mostly happens due to incorrect file naming policies within the company.

Let’s say you want to create an electronic pay slip for your employee.

A bad name example is: Joesalaryslip.1

Though the file name is self-explanatory, when you search for the file using keywords like Joe salary slip, you will get many results such as Joesalaryslip.1, Joesalaryslip.2, Joesalaryslip.3, etc. Finding the right file amongst all these search results can be quite a daunting task.

An okay name example is: 152-SUT103-409E-01-12

These numbers may be the employee number, employee id, invoice number, the date and month, etc. Though well organized, this complex naming procedure may confuse you and your employees and make it difficult for everyone to remember and search the file.

A good name example is: Joe-Brown-SUT103-sslip-jan12.

So if you want to search Joe’s salary slips for the month of January, you may logically enter specific keywords like ‘Joe slip Jan 12’ and you will find the right file in no time.

Some of the other tips for naming files are:

• Don’t use special characters in a file name. \ / : * ? “ < > | [ ] &  , . $. This is because all these characters have a specific task, for instance, forward slash is used to identify folder levels in Microsoft, periods are used to denote file formats (image.jpeg) and colon is used in Mac systems to denote folder levels. Using these characters in name may result errors in search
• Always use underscore instead of periods or spaces. Periods are often read as %20 in web environment
• Try to restrict the name to 25 characters
• If you must include dates in the file name, make sure to follow the same date format (MMDDYY, MMDDYYYY, etc.)

One of their employees was claiming to put people in jobs that didn’t exist. Auditors also found proof of such documents during internal audit. Margaret Hodge MP, chair of the public accounts committee, said: “This appears to be devastating evidence of systemic fraud within A4e. A4e failed to act and to inform DWP.”

This news should act as a revelation for firms all over the world. It is clear that management is accountable for all activities within a firm, whether done by an employee or the whole firm. Companies should be vigilant of all activities going on under their nose and act immediately.

At Docsvault, we take security very seriously. Your repository acts as your fort for documents, and no documents can be created, deleted or exported without your knowledge. Read further to find out how Docsvault can help you avoid a situation like A4e.

3 Tools to Avert Frauds & Emergencies

What’s the first step to avoid emergencies and control damage? It is ensuring you are in total control of activities happening in your repository and taking full responsibility of all actions. Docsvault has many tools to help you do that.

•             User-based Rights

As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. If your employees have access to only certain documents, the risk of document leakage can be greatly reduced. If you are in control of how much and what your users can see or do, you can avert frauds related to document leakage or forgery.

•             Email Notifications & Alerts

Receive alerts for all activities like creating, editing, deleting, exporting on particular files or folders and stay on your toes. It is an excellent tool to thwart emergencies because the minute you suspect some shady activities are happening in your repository, you can take action and minimize risks.

•             Audit Trail

If your employees know that all their activities are being monitored and recorded in a log, the chances of frauds reduce. In addition, audit trail is a must-have tool for all companies in order to ensure regulatory compliance.

Are you making full use of these Docsvault tools? To find out how these features will help you to avert risks and emergencies, read our detailed feature pages and ensure 100% security of your documents.

1)            According to the statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency, a typical employee uses 10,000 sheets of paper annually. Now if you multiply the total number of paper sheets with the average cost of paper, you will realize that your employee spends $1000 on paper alone. Even if you are a small business firm with 50 employees, you spend $50,000 every year on paper. Don’t forget the fact that out of all the stationary and office supplies, companies spend the most on paper.

2)            And paper is not the only cost you bear; you also have to bear costs such as printing ink, storage space for paper files, paper shredder, printer maintenance and other such overhead expenses. If you calculate all these expenses, you get returns on your investment in paperless office within a year.

3)            The savings don’t end there. You also save shipping costs and other transfer expenses by adopting a paperless office.

Note: Before we move on to other benefits of paperless office, let’s briefly get an idea on how to create it. The first step towards it is getting document management software. This can help you to create digitized files and convert to a completely clutter-free office. You can store, manage and secure your documents without occupying extra storage space, making you more productive and efficient, but more on this later.

4)            An employee spends considerable time in filing paper documents and retrieving them when needed. Our document management software, Docsvault, takes out the need of manually filing paper documents and replaces it with a simple auto-filing method. In addition, the repository comes with advanced search functions, which means all your documents are instantly searchable. Whether you remember the date you created the file, the name of the author or some text in the document, you can search the documents within seconds. This can improve the productivity of your employees by almost double as the get access to information quickly instead on poring through large files and folders.

5)            You don’t have to worry about losing another document again. You can trust our document management software for safekeeping all your documents.

6)            You don’t have to worry about data leakage as the safe repository of Docsvault acts as an electronic vault. Our document management software comes with powerful security features that prevent unauthorized export, data theft and leakage.

7)            You can create a back up of all your documents and keep it in an external location or a bank safe and your data will be safe from natural calamities such as fire, flood and earthquakes.

8)            Files created digitally are easier to create, edit, share and manage than paper documents, making your employees work smarter, not harder.

9)            Small businesses have more pressure of cost cutting than large companies and every dime matters to them. Our software provides enormous cost and labor savings.

10)          And last but not the least, going green does make you feel good about yourself.

Docsvault offers two main benefits through MS Outlook integration. Firstly, users can send documents stored in the repository as email attachments and secondly they can save all Outlook emails and/or attachments to Docsvault. Let’s learn about these benefits in detail, so that you can effectively use this feature.

• Send documents from within Docsvault

It is tedious and time-consuming to export document from repository and then send it as attachment from the email client you are using. So also, there is a risk of misuse of sensitive company information. An average employee needs to send 30-40 documents in a day and has to spend 50-60 minutes daily on such a mundane task. However, with Outlook integration, users can save this valuable time. Docsvault allows sending documents from within the repository via Outlook with the help of just a few clicks.

What’s more, they have the advantage of viewing all related documents in the bottom panel, so in case they need to send certain reference documents, they can do so quickly without having to spend time searching for them. One more benefit of Docsvault is that only authorized users can export documents. Also, you can set alerts and notifications in Docsvault server, so that if a user tries to export, let’s say, more than 10 documents, you will receive notifications in your mail box. This allows you to take heed of the actionimmediately.

• Save attachments and emails in Docsvault

An average employee receives up to 74 emails a day, which means spending at least a couple of hours sifting, saving and replying to all these emails. Docsvault allows saving important emails and attachments to the repository with the help of ‘Save to Docsvault’ button. You can also save notes and calendar items from Microsoft Outlook directly to Docsvault in .msg format.

These emails, notes and attachments can be shared with authorized users and searched via full-text search and other search features, so that less time is spent on sharing and looking for documents.

In Brief, Outlook integration is an excellent timesaving tool for Docsvault users. With its proper use, your employees can save a lot of productive hours and invest their resources in other lucrative pursuits of your company.

Docsvault performs quite like Windows Explorer and its looks and functionalities are very similar to that of Windows Explorer. It features simple drag &drop and copy & paste functionality for copying, moving and importing files and folders that all Windows users are quite familiar with. Integration with Windows Explorer Save & Open dialogs allows user to open or save files directly from any application’s “Save as” and “Open” dialogs. Even the keyboard shortcuts for Docsvault Explorer are similar to that of Windows Explorer.

 What it means to you?

• Windows Explorer ‘Open’ and ‘Save As’ dialogs for quick access to Docsvault repository
• Presents a hierarchical structure of cabinets, folders, and files
• Well-thought out right click menu allows you to access often-used functions more easily
• Familiar tree and folder structure makes it very easy for users to incorporate Docsvault in their daily work with minimal or no training