Changing the way your office handles documents can feel intimidating. Employees already have routines that work for them, and nobody wants to disrupt the entire office just to introduce new software.

Paperless is optional

Organizations do not need to become paperless overnight, or completely paperless at all. Employees may continue using physical records where appropriate, while other users take advantage of digital retrieval, indexing, sharing, and document-management capabilities. Think of this as a flexible transition rather than an all-or-nothing conversion.

The good news is that you do not have to go paperless overnight.

A gradual approach

A manageable rollout starts with one useful category of documents and grows from there. Here is a practical path many offices follow:

1. 1

   Choose one useful category

   Pick a single type of document that people search for often. Frequently retrieved documents and mission-critical records important to a particular department or the organization, such as customer invoices or purchase orders, are good candidates.

2. 2

   Decide how it should be organized

   Review representative documents and identify the recurring information you would want to search by, such as invoice number, account number, document date, or document type. Those become your index fields.

3. 3

   Begin scanning into IMS

   Add scanning to your normal filing process so new documents are captured as they arrive.

4. 4

   Keep the originals where they belong

   Continue placing original documents in their existing filing cabinets when appropriate. Paper does not have to disappear.

5. 5

   Reach for the electronic copy

   Encourage employees to retrieve and view the electronic version in IMS for routine reference instead of hunting for paper.

6. 6

   Expand when comfortable

   Once the office is used to the new routine, gradually add more document categories and departments.

Barcode-assisted indexing

Some scanning workflows can use barcodes to identify documents or populate certain index information automatically. This can reduce repetitive manual entry and potentially improve consistency, especially when the same type of document arrives again and again. Barcode assistance is an optional configured workflow, not a mandatory first step or a universal automatic feature. Whether it is available depends on the IMS edition, the scanner, and the configuration in use.

If paper records change

If a paper record is later updated or annotated, your office should establish a procedure to update the corresponding electronic record in IMS as well. Keeping the two in step is what makes the system trustworthy over time.

Working with digital documents

Many familiar paper-handling activities have digital equivalents. Supported IMS tools can help users append, insert, reorganize, or otherwise work with pages and documents, subject to the available IMS modules and permissions. The point is that you are not limited to just viewing a static image; you can work with the record the way you would work with paper. Not every paper process is replicated identically, and not every document format supports every operation, but the everyday tasks of adding a page, reordering, or combining records are part of working with documents electronically.

Retention and disposal

Retention and disposal of original paper documents must follow your organization's applicable requirements and policies. IMS can help you organize and retrieve records, but the rules around how long to keep and when to destroy paper originals belong to your business and its obligations.

The takeaway

Curious how this looks in practice?

Watch the two-minute Office Problems video for a quick look at common filing frustrations, or watch the IMS overview to see how documents are captured and retrieved.