Workflow Automation Software

Millennia Group Blog

As necessary

Via Flickr  - US ArmyThere are plenty of companies and individuals making decisions over the past few weeks and for the coming few months that are based on a get-it-done strategy.  This is completely understandable as we all face unprecedented business and personal circumstances.  Looking on the bright side of things, some of these “as necessary” reactions and solutions may just be the spark that helps a company be a little more productive, a little more efficient or a little less stuck.

So what parts of the business world is grabbing attention that otherwise gets very little?  The mail room for sure.  Filing cabinets and the documents stuck in them, absolutely.  Virtual video conferencing backgrounds so nobody sees your bedroom, I mean home office.  The quality of the mobile phone carrier and the quality of headphones will definitely get a look.  There will be plenty of stories from people forced to work remotely or otherwise change their work habits.

Make sure to ask the questions and to listen to the stories.  These will be the big opportunities for the future and will help to make little improvements right now.  These improvements will include not only technology, but also physical elements too.  For instance, how far apart should workstations or machines be?  Should any door not have auto-open or hands-free operation? 

But even the wildest imagination won’t pick up on all of it.  There will always be issues that you just have to deal with and do what’s necessary.  If you have to, stagger the workforce hours to make sure your occupancy ratio doesn’t exceed 50% of the total employees, then do it.  If scanning mail and emailing it to employees is what is needed, then do it.  But keep an open mind and see what works or could work with the “As Necessary” process that could become a version of the eventual standard.

So you think your data is clean

Via Flickr - Elizabeth

Having clean data is important for running any business.  Clean data being defined as accurate, suitable for its use, organized and complete.  Clean data means revenue is maximized, the IRS stays at bay and your strategy sessions are effective.  However, what once seemed clean can end up looking very dirty when that data is exposed through a different lens. 

What worked as good data in the old accounting system may fall short in a new system.  A well-organized network drive full of supporting files can look like a spaghetti bowl when trying to migrate the files into a document management system.  No big deal if the data isn’t perfectly clean, it’s worked so far.  That may be true, but what are you missing out on?

True, the old data might have seemed like it worked just fine.  But there is some reason that a new system was chosen, maybe that was part of a merger or the old system was inadequate in other ways like reporting or analysis capabilities.  And don’t forget, that data might look clean to a user that has been with the company for 10 years, but a new employee might think otherwise.

Trying to get data clean can be a difficult and costly task.  Assigning new codes to data or modifying existing flags to meet new requirements takes time and effort.  Be prepared to spend serious time taking a deep dive into your existing data to understand how it may relate to the new solution.  Don’t forget that there should be a benefit from this analysis, like creating a better view of customer demand or finding errors that have caused higher costs or lower revenue.

Generally speaking, more granularity in the data is better, but getting there costs more.  For instance, maybe your client contracts contain a renewal notice date, but that date was never recorded in your tracking database.  The solution is to open each contract, find the data and enter it in the new system.  Or possibly all documents that were inherited as part of an acquisition were scanned as one big client PDF and now you want the contract separate from the correspondence and statements.  All of this takes time, but it will pay off.

Look at the needs of the company.  Look at what additional information and uses can come from better, cleaner data.  Understand how your existing or new solutions can utilize this new data.  Then make some assumptions about the costs and you will be able to determine if the effort is worth it.  Just remember, at some point, a change will most likely be necessary, so start to chip away at what looks like clean data but maybe is not.

Millennia Group provides workflow and document management solutions including data clean up and migration services.  For more information go to www.mgdocs.com or contact us at info@mgdocs.com.

Go old school in 2020

Way back in the 1970’s, according to Wikipedia, the information age began.  This was a period after the industrial revolution where computers started to be part of the daily business landscape.  Vast amounts of “information” were now created, stored and transmitted by these computers.  A good long run considering it is still going on.

Along comes a time, not exactly sure when, where the computer revolution became all about “data” and “tech”.   These are fine things, but what are they?  Data is data until someone turns it into information that is useful.  Tech is certainly cool on my wrist, but isn’t it being informed of an upcoming meeting the important part?  We’re still in the information age, but why doesn’t it feel like it?

First off, its not very sexy to sell information tools.  Take document management for an example.  Document management is there to make sure users get the information they need to make decisions, close deals, prevent errors and function at a high level.  But the organization, storage and delivery of information is just not a very sexy topic. 

There are lots of sexy ways to deliver information.  You can get answers from Alexa or Siri.  Endless amounts of notifications and flashing icons on your phone or watch will let you know important information has arrived.  Very soon little robots or flying drones will track you down and blurt out information that is surely important to you.  All very sexy.

Now for the reality check.  Information is defined as; 1) facts provided or learned about something or someone, 2) knowledge obtained from investigation, study, or instruction and so on.  In order for data or tech to be helpful in the information age, it needs to be factual, studied, learned, supported.  Here’s where document management comes in.  Documents contain the facts, can be studied and learned and will definitely support the decisions when document management is done well.

Document management needs to be organized, trusted and available and it’s just data or tech.  Integrate your EDM with your line of business applications.  Use document management for workflow so data and supporting documents are a package to help decision makers.  Go old school in 2020 and get your document management in order to support your data and make your tech investments pay off. 

Millennia Group provides workflow and document management services and solutions.  To get a document management checkup, contact us at www.mgdocs.com or info@mgdocs.com.

Open for Business

Via Flickr - Brian HawkinsAs a provider of a workflow and document management system we hear first-hand the number of applications that companies use to support their business.  There is always a discussion of how data and documents are being captured, created, shared and the flow within the organization.  We have never interacted with a customer or prospect that is on a single solution for all business functions.  Like Sasquatch, the killer app doesn’t really exist.

The reality is that many different applications are used throughout the organization.  Departments tend to fight hard to get the application most suited to their needs so they can carry out their mandates with effectiveness and efficiency.  That leaves the IT department scrambling to ensure that each department’s key solution can interact with all the others.  Every solution provider strives to be an open platform to accommodate this effort, but what does that mean?

Applications need to be built to handle data exchanges with other applications.  Usually this falls into one of two approaches.  There is the API or application programming interface, that gives an external source access to the internal functions to push or pull data.  Another approach is to have one application push data out to a text or csv file to a secure spot where another application can pick it up to process it.  This is generally just a scheduled data interchange approach known as EDI or electronic data interchange.  Very effective and reliable. 

Whichever method is used, the purpose is the same, common data exists that needs to be shared in order to arrive at the most effective and efficient process.  With document management, there is data exchange that needs to happen in order to create documents with pre-populated information like the customer name or account number.  Document management systems can also feed a list of documents to the ERP as supporting information for transactions, customers or vendors. 

A piece of this puzzle that can go unnoticed is the concept that the document or information about the document is in fact data.  It is that data association that allows the right document or set of documents to be accessed immediately when the customer or order number is referenced.  Without a document being stored and associated with the data, a document is just a static piece of information that is hidden away.  

Folder based systems can fall short in this area because sharing or accessing that data in a folder name or file name is impossible or very complex.  If the organization is going to be effective and efficient in its processes, then the document management system needs to be open for business and contain separate meta data that allows all systems to be tied together.

Since 1996 Millennia Group has been providing workflow and document management solutions that are based on meta data and an open architecture.  For more information contact us at info@mgdocs.com or www.mgdocs.com.

A little can go a long way

via Flickr - JJ MereloGiven that we are coming up to the end of the year, we thought it would be helpful again this year to provide some ideas on how to use your time wisely, if and when projects and meetings slow down at year end.  In order to have this supposed time available does presume that you are working.  However, even some simple changes or small efforts can produce a tangible and noticeable effect across the company.    

Change can be difficult but also extremely rewarding.  Reach out to your co-workers, talk to others in your industry or even just friends and family about new things they are doing at work (that make their lives easier).  Best of all, talk to existing vendors that you trust and like to work with to see what more they can do to help you.  You can even reach out to other vendors to see what other opportunities might exist.  Call it R&D.  Call it whatever you want and here are some ideas to get you started.

Look at the tasks you and your associates undertake on a daily basis and identify those that are repetitive and have some email or document component.  For instance, does your company have an email-based approval process for journal entries, loan approvals, etc?  Sending around emails with attachments does not provide any prioritization, visibility or planning for these processes.  A workflow solution can simplify these processes and pay many other dividends.  Workflows don’t need to be complicated technology solutions, they can be two or three step digital approvals and you will still get positive ROI.

Spend the time to clearly match the file folders on your shared drive or the paper folders in your file cabinets to the source system for tracking those folders.  Here is what we mean by this.  If you have file folders for each client on your shared drive, add the Client Number from the accounting system to the folder name.  For instance, instead of “Smith Products, LLC”, rename that folder to “Smith Products, LLC-999888” where 999888 is the client number in the accounting system.  Some day you will merge your accounting system and those digital files into one document enabled ERP and you will really appreciate the perfect match.  And by the way, the process of doing this will result in locating some missing files.

Check your digital copier settings for scanning or the setting on your desk top scanners.  The default settings should be 200 dots per inch and black and white.  Those settings will satisfy 95% of your scanning needs and produce excellent quality scans for viewing or printing (not that you should print).  You can always use custom settings for those rare situations where you need to capture color pages.  This will provide faster viewing of files for users, take up less space on your servers or in the cloud and make the scanning effort faster too.  These are all going to make users more efficient.

These are just some simple steps that you can take.  There are plenty more opportunities and larger efforts in the document management area that will have a positive ROI, but these are simple changes that you can tackle now.  Just start simple and build up to the really big bang opportunities.

Millennia Group has been providing workflow and document management solutions since 1996.  Contact us at www.mgdocs.com or info@mgdocs.com

Just like people, Bots are diverse

Via Flicker - Peyri HerreraWe have been researching the idea of creating a Bot as an enhancement to our workflow and document management solution.  The struggle is defining what this Bot is going to do.  There is no single definition of what a Bot is or how it can be used, but we generally think of it as a process automation tool.

Despite “Bot” sounding like it could be a piece of equipment, ie. RoBOTic Process Automation, it is generally a software solution that could be mimicking human thought process or even keystrokes.  There are a lot of thought processes and physical processes that could be automated.  Is there an ideal use of such a diverse and powerful tool?

There is probably a Bot being developed that collects the mail delivered to the office, opens it, scans it, auto-classifies the contents and routes the mail electronically to the right person.  That’s a pretty powerful Bot that is a mixture of physical tool plus software via AI and machine learning.  Without diving into all the little details about how it knows what to scan and forward, or how it would open FedEx boxes, it could have value in some circumstances where paper documents are still prevalent.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Bot could be extremely simple and merely pop up as you go to save a file and ask if you want assistance deciding where to save it.  That would be a software solution involving AI and machine learning.  The Bot knows from the content of the file being saved to suggest – “that looks like a budget, would you like me to save that to the accounting directory under 2019 budgets?”.  Could be helpful, maybe annoying, some degree big brotherish.

What if the Bot kept tabs on your daily activity and once a day asked you to sign off on how to handle new documents that it found in your email or in your network folder?  What if the Bot reminded you that two months ago you had put a hold on dealing with that budget file and wondered if you are ready to file it away now?  Is that too much Bot involvement?  Is more needed? Is there an ideal use case?

There’s a million little technology and usability details that would have to be worked out in all of the scenarios mentioned above.  However, one of those scenarios or something like it, would probably be helpful to many users.  So you might need a very flexible Bot or a diverse set of Bots to meet the needs of your users or business circumstances.

Millennia Group created FileStar, a workflow and document management solution in 2004 and has been providing document management solutions since 1996.  To contact us please visit www.mgdocs.com or send an email to info@mgdocs.com.

The pendulum is back in the middle

Via flickr - Rob Young

Ten to 15 years ago, the document management world started to feel an itch.  The major DM players couldn’t quite figure out where it was coming from at the time.  But then corporate users started to talk about how they were just dropping files into this online folder system and how easy it was.  Box, DropBox, ShareFile and others have since created very successful businesses with simple online storage.

The expectation for how a document management system should work took on a whole new meaning from the perspective of the users.  This is true not only of document management but of most corporate software platforms.  This great new experience arrives and the expectation pendulum swings way over to one side.  Then reality starts to set in.

Unfortunately, this ease of use perspective didn’t exactly fit the overall corporate goals or requirements for document management.  But it did force all DM players and software providers to tweak their products and learn how to manage the expectations of users.  The bottom line is that there’s more to DM than drag and drop. 

The obvious problem comes to light quickly in folder based systems. With an open structure for users to be able to create folders on the fly, it gets messy quickly.  That is why most companies of size quickly move away from using a folder system because there is no consistency and then users really can’t find information.  A traditional DM will have structure and requirements for meta data that will keep information organized.

For companies with more than 100 users, there is typically a need for more complex security on the files.  Security administration is very difficult and time consuming to be managed on a folder level basis.  Unless the folders are initially set up in a tightly controlled hierarchy, applying security to a new user or making changes to existing users or groups is forced to use a highest level access model.  Give the users rights to the highest level of folder because there is no known structure to the folders below that. 

We should all be thankful when an industry is disrupted, and the envelope gets pushed out or the pendulum swings way out to one side.  But, in the software and tech worlds, very frequently there is a bit of hype in all things new and shiny and the pendulum swings back.  The good news is that users benefit from the disruption when the focus is intensified on the issues.  It does require that user expectations need to be managed because the pendulum will swing back to the middle at some point.

Millennia Group provides workflow and document management solutions that focus on good mix of flexibility and control.  For more information visit our website at www.mgdocs.com or send us an email at info@mgdocs.com.

Piece of Cake

  Not many companies have the resources to operate on a global basis.  It can take a large team of lawyers, experienced financial professionals and local facilities or representatives.  To go global for a product or service also requires understanding the local custom so you don’t accidently insult the community. Operating a business, locally or globally, will involve customer contracts, vendor contracts, financial reports, etc.  The business processes and document content might be vastly different from Bavaria to Bali and Caracas to Quebec.  However, we see four key characteristics of document management on a global basis and if you focus on getting these four correct, it will be a piece of cake.

The four universal document management requirements are:  The files must be organized in a logical way, the files must be accessible to users that need the information, there must be an easy way to maintain the document collection (add and delete) and there must be security on the information. Virtually all document management systems are going to have the ability to keep documents organized.  It is essentially up to the enterprise to determine what organizational structure works for it.  Some solutions will be folder based and some will be database oriented, the preferred method.  Either way, a hierarchy or data taxonomy is essential.  There might be a need to have an application that can translate because “Add” in German is “Hinzufügen”. Access for users is a complicated issue.  For cloud based systems, browser capabilities may vary country by country.  Users will need a viewer that works with the file formats that are used locally.  Data privacy rules might dictate where data is stored and therefore, impact how users can retrieve it.  This isn’t an access rights issue, it is just the basic ability to use the system.  Do your homework here. To maintain a system is to keep a system relevant.  The more ways a user can contribute content to the system the better.  Different work habits and hardware/software technology across the globe will require a flexible solution.  As long as users have the ability to contribute content, the usefulness of the system will prevail.  A solution should support email in, fax, scan, batch upload, drag and drop and as many methods as possible. Lastly, security will be a significant issue.  With a far-flung operation, understanding the users and their need for access will be challenging.  Having a solution with the ability to localize user administration is a plus, especially if there are some controls on that administrative access.  There could also be local customs at work here as some locations will expect greater autonomy than others.  Therefore, a flexible, granular security model is important. We did gloss over the language issue, but Google Translate can work miracles with any browser based system.  As for English based solutions, it is a bit easier as a good percentage of international business is conducted in English.  Aside from these little hurdles and growing data privacy requirements, don’t let document management slow down your global expansion, it’s a piece of Gâteau (French) or Ciasto (Polish) or Kaka (Icelandic). Millennia Group has been providing workflow and document management solutions since 1996.  If you would like to learn more about how your organization can benefit from our experience, please contact us at info@mgdocs.com, www.mgdocs.com or (630) 279-0577.    

Going to the grocery store is a teaching moment

We have all encountered the situation on our way into the grocery store where a young girl in uniform is selling cookies.  Or maybe it’s someone dressed as Santa ringing a bell.  In both cases, the story doesn’t end there because you have a second encounter when you exit the store.  So the issue is, which do you prefer, addressing the situation on the way in or dealing with it on the way out? This post is not really about the Girl Scouts or the Salvation Army of course.  This is an analogy for how your company deals with its critical business information.  Either your company has a well-defined process and structure to identify information as it enters or it relies on advanced search capabilities to find information where-ever it may hide.  Or, oh no, it’s a free-for-all at your company.
There is obvious business value when the right information gets into the right users hands at the right time.  And conversely it is a detriment to have users wasting time trying to find information or worse, finding the wrong information.  Therefore, it is highly recommended to have a strategy to make sure information is accurately tagged and easily accessible to your users.  There are different ways to try to accomplish this. First, you can implement a document management system and create some policies and procedures that users are supposed to follow for putting documents into the system.  The system will naturally need to have a structure to it that makes sense to the users and the classification process will need to be as easy as possible.  For instance, keep meta data tags to no more than six in number.  There is no doubt that the risk here is user apathy. A second method would be to use AI and smart search engine capabilities to programmatically classify and return search results to users.  This search engine would do all the work so that users can “throw” files into the system with little to no meta data.  In fact, it could be a version of federated search where the engine finds documents located in multiple repositories.  This is simple for users, but the risk is unstructured or inaccurate search results. We have mentioned it before, but we generally see a mixture of methods.  Working files tend to be on a shared network drive with control based on department and users browsing or searching in hopes of finding what they need.  No meta tagging at all.  Archival or record type files tend to be in a document management system with some meta data requirements as files are added. The use of AI can help simplify the identification and classification process and make it better than it is today for both working files and record files.  Ideally this should be part of the front end of the process.  There is no need to take the risk of the search finding the information you need when the solution makes the process friendly and easy on the way in.  Improving your approach on the front end will make the back end result that much better. Millennia Group has been providing workflow and document management solutions since 1996 and continues to develop better ways to make information easy to find.  Contact us at info@mgdocs.com or visit our website at www.mgdocs.com to find out more about the latest AI centered solutions we are working on.

On the surface it may look simple

Autonomous vehicles will make driving simple.  Get in, tell the car where to go, sit back and relax.  Artificial intelligence is going to read our minds and do our work for us.  The same goes for robots.  High speed data via 5G wireless will transform our lives by making these and other advancements possible. There are hundreds of steps and parts just to make a simple pencil. The fact of the matter is that behind the scenes lots of hard work is happening to make something seem simple for the end users.  For example, what if artificial intelligence changes its mind or futuristic fabrics confuse the autonomous vehicle system so it doesn’t recognize a person in the street?  To keep it simple requires ongoing work by the engineers and tech teams.

It isn’t really that AI will change its mind so much as the data that is fed into the engine may pose a completely different point of view.  Just like the autonomous vehicle system will need to be retrained as our physical environment changes, so too will the AI system.  These are just some of the issues that will require ongoing effort to keep the appearance of simplicity for the end user.  After all, if its not simple, then it likely won’t survive as a solution. As an example of a situation that will require re-training of the AI system, consider a corporate merger.  Company A has always classified its legal contracts in three ways, short term, long term and specialty.  Based on the contents of those three contract templates the AI engine can auto-classify them.  However, Company B uses different classification schemes; standard, custom and master.  After the merger, someone will need to reclassify the old documents so the system can re-learn. It’s also possible that normal business transformation will take place altering document classification schemes.  As new applications are created and sources of information expand, the knowledge base of the AI engine will need to be modified.  This is evident already today with the newest document storage silos that hold corporate information, such as in chat bots and instant messaging systems.  Soon documents will be in a blockchain database or replaced altogether by data.  AI engines will not only need to get smart but will need to have access to all these systems. As we plan for the introduction of AI into document management systems there are several things to focus on.  First, it has to make the whole process of document management simpler for the user, that is goal number 1.  Second, it also needs to have flexible architecture given the inevitable environmental changes that will occur.  Lastly, plan for regular audits of the data.  It will take an ongoing commitment to keep the information accurate – finding the right information easily and quickly is the business goal. Millennia Group has been providing document management solutions since 1996.  For more information, contact us at www.mgdocs.com, info@mgdocs.com or (630) 279-0577.

Blockchain vs AI vs Bob

Regardless of the industry, at every trade show, in every webinar and at every lunch and learn the use of artificial intelligence or blockchain has been a topic.  It’s been stated and debated about how these technologies are going to revolutionize industries and change our lives.  That can be a bit unnerving. However, there is hope for us, AKA Bob.  Blockchain might give us smart contracts built from nothing but data points.  No need to also enter the data into another system, the contract is the system.  AI will take the document (Word, PDF, etc) and it will interpret the information and populate the system automatically.  Poor Bob, who previously found, interpreted and entered the data, gets left out of the process.  But wait….
Blockchain will have some utility in some specific industries or processes as will AI.  However, Bob will always be needed in some capacity.  Unless each clause in a contract can be written in specifics and absolutes understood and agreed to by both sides, Bob becomes critical.  Imagine the amount of front-end time that will be necessary to create contracts or transactions with zero unspecified factors. For AI to work well, the documents cannot have ambiguity and if the documents originate as paper, the documents cannot have any imperfections when scanning.  AI may not be able to get over the ambiguity hurdle even with the most robust machine learning or text analytics.  Many documents will never become paper thanks to digital signatures, so that helps.  However, the same issue exists regarding ambiguity in the language and mis-interpretation by the machine. What does this all mean?  In the context of document management and workflow, there will always need to be an intervening step to review the captured or interpreted information when the confidence level falls outside some parameter, like 99% confidence.  Even when Bob is the sole source of adding content to systems, this review step should be implemented.  Afterall, we are all human or human-infused. Millennia Group simplifies workflow and document management for its clients and that simplifies our clients lives.  For more information, www.mgdocs.com, info@mgdocs.com, 630-279-0577

Where isn’t that file?

First, please take note that we used the word “file” and not “document” in this blog title.  It’s true that less orders, correspondence, contracts, etc. are being memorialized on paper or a “document”.  However, there is still a “file” being created that looks just like the paper document only its PDF or JPG.  That PDF receipt is a document and is the buyer’s proof of the transaction so they want it. The receipt gets emailed to you (system #1) but then you forward it to an accounts payable system for processing (system #2).  Later, that same file is sent to a co-worker who had a question about it.  Maybe that was sent as an attachment in an instant messenger system like Slack (system #3).  Or that file was pushed out to Box as part of a special project (system #4).  You get the point, that file is everywhere now.  Where isn’t that file is more appropriate today.  But why should that be a concern?
According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median tenure of a worker age 25-34 is only 2.8 years.  That means you will have a completely unfamiliar worker trying to find a contract or its supporting documents on a customer that has been in place for only three years.  On a five or ten-year old relationship you could have 3 or 4 different workers, or more if your turnover is higher, wasting time trying to find the right file. There is no simple solution to this problem but there are three places that you can get started.  First, have a designated document management system of record.  This is the organized and secure system where the final version gets stored.  Second, connect this system of record to as many of your line of business applications as possible so that the file is easily accessible by users from within the system they use every day.  Your key line of business applications will be your CRM or ERP, but it could also be an in-house portal like SharePoint. Third, spend some time on user training to show users how they can send a link to the document from the system of record and not actually create another copy of it that resides in yet another silo. Train users how to make sure the final version goes into the system of record.  Here is where you also want to make sure that your system of record makes it as easy as possible to capture the final versions and ensure the final version is tagged properly for later retrieval.  That will be addressed in another blog post. There are other reasons why you don’t want duplicate copies of files floating around your company such as privacy and litigation.  However, the most important reason that you want to have a system of record is so that decisions are made based on the right information.  Delayed or incorrect decisions will be more costly than the time wasted on searching.  Technology has made it easy to have many copies of a file floating around.  Spend some time to get that technology to work a little smarter. Millennia Group has been providing workflow and document management solutions since 1996.  Contact us at info@mgdocs.com, www.mgdocs.com or (630_279-0577.

Optimism sends a good message

We recently sponsored and exhibited at two technology focused trade shows.  As most companies participating in these shows know, it’s a good way to see existing clients and to meet new prospects.  But its also a good way to stay informed about industry advancements and news, however optimistic.  There can be lots of very optimistic talk and presentations in the tech community. Here’s the thing, however optimistic some people or companies might be, some of those plans and ideas probably make good sense and will someday become the standard.  Of the current crop of hot technology topics, such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, bots and robots, we are optimistic about…
Yes, we are optimistic about some of these technologies, namely AI and bots.  A bot is essentially a digital assistant.  You’ve probably come across one that pops up on a web site with a face or name and it’s asking to help you.  Bots are forms that have been automated and use some form of AI most likely.  Whereas you used to just fill in and submit the form.  Now the form is alive and asking you questions. You can probably guess which two we think will become standards in the near term.  Yes, bots and AI.  Robots, a physical form of a bot, are already in use in factories.  We are still waiting to see a good office use for a robot.  We don’t see it in the near term for document management, but we know they exist and have seen some examples.  Maybe optimistic for an office robot to be the document scanning or copier assistant. Blockchain has some promise and will have uses.   Like crypto currency, a use of blockchain, document management using blockchain for real estate transfers, for instance, requires significant investment and change management at the government level.  That will not be easy to accomplish on a local or national level in the near term.  Blockchain for lease documents – too optimistic.  Blockchain for certificates of insurance – maybe. Optimistic people have a way of motivating others.  We’re optimistic about the use of artificial intelligence in workflow and document management.  AI is a tool that will help Millennia Group’s optimistic plan of simplifying document management.  Bots may also help simplify workflow and document management and if nothing else, make it a bit more interactive and less intimidating.  That’s not too optimistic or too much to ask.  We think it’s a good message. Millennia Group simplifies workflow and document management with our SaaS solution, FileStar.  Contact us at info@mgdocs.com, www.mgdocs.com or (630) 279-0577.

Don’t forget to lock the front door

Information security continues to be an important topic even if there haven’t been any newsworthy breaches recently.  That could be due to the nature of proper security, which involves continual effort and therefore top of mind.  Annual penetration tests, monthly vulnerability scans, scheduled password resets and authentication of new devices are a few recommended policies to stay secure. Security was much easier when the ability to share was more difficult and the potential for inadvertent release was much lower.  Back when paper documents ruled the world, locked file cabinets or a managed file room with in/out tracking satisfied the requirements.  With digital documents, your systems need to be hardened and so do your users.  Data can leak through the back door or the front door.
System hardening, as mentioned above, involves policies and procedures that help protect the information.  Additional best practices include encrypting the files at rest, which essentially means your document management system encrypts the files on the server on upload.  But meta data associated with the files also needs to be encrypted, such as names, addresses, account numbers and social security numbers.  These efforts help protect your data in case a bad actor gets in through the backdoor. Don’t forget that systems have a front door too.  Security needs to be part of the user awareness as well because with digital documents, the ability to move volumes of information is much easier than moving a wall of file cabinets.  Users with the ability to share large volumes of documents need to have training on how to configure security properly and only certain users should have that “share” capability.  Users should also have limits on how many documents can be emailed out of the system at one time. Admin users need to monitor data flows via the system logs.  They also need to manage new user setup logs to ensure only approved users gain access.  Security settings need to be easily reviewed across all users and groups to audit existing configurations on a periodic basis.  Appoint an Admin to have security responsibilities for the document management system with quarterly reporting of activity. It’s easier now to move large volumes of digital documents, containing valuable corporation information, so it is important to make sure security is tight at both the system and user level.  Free, folder based file sharing sites are useful, but the ease of use factor can be counter to your security objectives.  A network drive is even more difficult to manage.  Find a system that has both application level and user centric security covered and your documents will be safer. Millennia Group has been providing workflow and document management solutions since 1996.  For more information visit our website at www.mgdocs.com or send us a note at info@mgdocs.com.

Tag and push is not a playground game

Companies, large and small, have procedures or rules that employees are supposed to follow to complete certain tasks.  Each company determines the most efficient methods or methods that meet regulatory or compliance requirements.  These rules can be written in a manual, part of a checklist or built into software applications. Rules incorporated into the code of software applications are relatively easy to build and highly effective.  One of the most difficult procedures to successfully implement, however, is document archiving.  When is a document the final final version and where should it be archived?  Making this decision and process easy should be every companies goal, but where to begin?
The first step is to make sure you simplify and standardize the archive hierarchy.  Consolidate the silos of documents into one, organized repository.  This should be separate and distinct from your active working directories or silos.  For instance, users are going to keep active spreadsheets or Word files on their local drive, in the shared drive or out in a collaboration tool.  Let those silos be for now.  Get the archive repository set and organized. Next, make sure that where possible, collaboration tools can push content directly into the archive.  This might require apps or using APIs to facilitate the transfer and to guide users to select the right archive location.   Ideally the app and machine learning can help with this task by using the current file location to give clues to the proper archive location.  If possible, the transfer of the file can start a workflow that accomplishes tasks and has the benefit of archiving any attached documents upon completion. Active files stored on a shared network drive or in one of the cloud storage solutions is a bit more of a challenge.  The files most likely already exist in some file folder structure.  When the user is done, its just assumed the file is complete – job over.  But the reality is that users could use a gentle reminder every week or so that files have been untouched for say 60 days and therefore, might be final final.  That reminder should make it easy to migrate the document to the correct location. There is a lot of effort being spent on making the collaboration on work easy.  A similar level of effort should be spent on making the transition of the results of that collaboration into an archive system easy also.  Soon enough, tag and push will be as common place as drag and drop. Millennia Group has simplified document management through FileStar, a robust yet easy to use SaaS model workflow and document management system.  For more information, www.mgdocs.com, info@mgdocs.com or (630) 279-0577.
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