What is Paperless Filing?
The Paperless Filing portion of the program allows the user to add, and tag individual PDF documents in a similar manner to the traditional filing cabinets used in the past.
While each document would be similar to traditional paper documents, the similarities to the traditional, cabinet-drawer-folder method of filing are vague at most.
In a traditional filing system, a document exists one time, and is filed in a specific location under specific guidelines. If these guidelines are not followed, then the document becomes difficult, or impossible to find. This is one of the biggest drawbacks to a traditional filing system, and is one of the reasons why so much time is lost when document retrieval is necessary.
In a true Tag based computer filing system, the document is still only stored once, however, because the document exits in electronic form in a database, it can be "located" from a multitude of different ways.
Take for example a simple purchase order from a wholesale customer to a manufacturer the agency represents.
In a traditional filing system, this would be filed in a particular place, and from this location, would be the only way to retrieve it.
In a Tag based electronic system, the document would be stored in the database, and the following tags could be applied: Product Line, Document Type, Document Number (PO Number), Date, Company (Wholesale customer), Description.
After all tags are applied, the document can then also be linked to various companies and people as desired. A document can be linked to single company or person, or to multiple companies or people as necessary for easier information retrieval.
With the use of these tags within the InDepthRep program, this allows a multitude of possible search venues.
Product Lines Module - Filters immediately for results only pertaining to the selected Product Line. The user would select the Product Line, and then could continue the filtering process by only looking for a Document Type of [Purchase Order], and then continue to refine the search by filtering on a specific [Date], and so on.
Paperless Office Module - The find window allows the user to simply type in the information for the following fields, similar to all of the Find Windows throughout the program:
- Number (PO Number) - This is the default search field.
- MFG (Product Line)
- Description
- Document Type
- Quote Number (used in conjunction with the Job Files portion of the Paperless Office).
Company Module - Filters immediately for results only pertaining to the selected Company. The user selects the desired starting Company from the Find Window, and the selects the Paperless Office tab. The user can then continue the filtering process using either the built in filter and sorting options, or manually filter as necessary.
People Module - Filters immediately for results only pertaining to the selected Person. The user selects the desired starting person from the Find Window, and the selects the Paperless Office tab. The user can then continue the filtering process using either the built in filter and sorting options, or manually filter as necessary.
As you can see, the online document storage process offers many more options for document retrieval than a traditional paper based filing system, while at the same time, not requiring significantly more time to accomplish the basic filing functions.
In today’s business world, the ability to quickly, efficiently, and correctly retrieve information, at any time, allows agencies to more effectively serve the needs of their customers. And those agencies, which can most effectively server the needs of their customers, will continue to grow and prosper while competitors may not.
