Workflow

All too often, we hear and even use terms assuming others know exactly what we mean. One term used in the document industry is workflow- but what does it mean?

According to Wikipedia

A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations...

The flow being described often refers to a document that is being transferred from one step to another.

A workflow is a model to represent real work for further assessment, e.g., for describing a reliably repeatable sequence of operations. More abstractly, a workflow is a pattern of activity enabled by a systematic organization of resources, defined roles and mass, energy and information flows, into a work process that can be documented and learned. Workflows are designed to achieve processing intents of some sort, such as physical transformation, service provision, or information processing. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workflow ) continue reading...

Everyone knows how bad the economy was this past year and this downturn caused many companies to put their IT strategies on hold. Others however, saw this as an opportunity to be proactive and begin implementing automation and moving forward with new ways of getting the job done. As we head into the New Year, look at these strategies to think about re-organizing and working smarter. continue reading...

1. Be proactive! While companies need to react quickly to industry trends and changing economic and world environments, they also need to formulate strategies for the future. Think about creating a team who will think ahead and make sure the company will get where it wants to go in the next few years.
2. Follow a business strategy roadmap. Don’t just jump blindly expecting the technology to magically work for you. Build a business strategy that will clarify and outline the issues you’re trying to solve. Be sure that your company is starting with a good foundation for their infrastructure that can be further built upon.
3. You don’t have to implement everything at once. In fact, it is much more practical automate your business according to a strategic plan—focus on what needs attention first. Look at your industry specific government regulations to see how they expect a company to handle information management.
4. Don’t wait to “play it safe” and have other companies experiment with new technology. If you stand back and wait for another company to make the first step and prove automation as a valuable investment, the next generation of technology will already have hit the business world. Your company will remain one step behind other innovating companies and will lose competitive edge.
5. Think about your return on investment (ROI). If you’re worried about staffing and hiring issues, realize that once automation is implemented, people used to working manually with documents can be re-deployed to other valuable tasks. While automation still needs staff to run it, the amount of personnel can be greatly reduced. This feeds right into the ROI. Create a flowchart and see how much faster your product can hit the market with new technology. That’s savings.

Today there are millions of MFPs populating workplaces in every industry. Organizations find MFP scanning appealing because they can combine scanning, copying and printing all on one device. These all-in-one devices allow companies to save money by getting rid of unnecessary technology, increase productivity because of higher page per minute output, and provide a way to add hardcopy documents into their electronic workflows.

With the growth of MFP scanning come questions about how best to utilize and how to take advantage of all the qualities a MFP can provide. Here are a few pointers to take the stress out of implementing an MFP into your document workflow.

· MFPs are not restricted to small-size documents! The MFP document feeder may restrict you to 50 or so pages, but by hitting the “scan more” button you can continue scanning for any number of pages.

· Scanned images from MFPs will not be larger file sizes than images from scanners. MFP scanning software includes image compression so even color pages can be reduced to as little as 200 KB per pages while retaining sharp text and good image quality.

· You can create searchable PDFs with MFP scanning. MFP scanning software allows you to create and save PDFs that are then available for text searches within documents and network folders. continue reading...

Does your business offer large-format printing services? Here are some key tips and tricks that will help you remain productive when undertaking a large format scanning production and process.

Prep Your Documents. Large-format drawings can require a lot of repair and preparation. Always check for staples and notes—some of which may be attached to the middle of the document—and tape torn edges. If a large document has been rolled up and stored, it may need to be reverse rolled or flattened out for at least 48 hours. Dust can damage a scanner’s glass, so be sure to vacuum stored drawings. Don’t be scared to get out an iron and ironing board to get  drawings flat enough to scan.

Sorting Methods. Determine whether your project’s drawings should be sorted by size and/or by quality. This minimizes the time spent changing settings during the scanning process. Remember that PDF and JPG formats have limitations—up to 100 inches—to scanning.

Drawings-by-Numbers. Consider applying a unique ID number based on project and drawing. Labeled stickers instead of stamps or ink, which bleeds on Mylar, will help identify that the drawing has been scanned. ID numbers also help with quality assurance and avoid duplicating work. continue reading...

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) has made great progress in the fight for paperless offices. It’s become a staple component in just about any document management software.

So what is OCR? Wikipedia offers this definition: “…the mechanical or electronic translation of images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text (usually captured by a scanner) into machine-editable text.” (2008)

Fundamentally, a computer reads the document and creates a library of searchable information. This type of application allows an EDM solution the opportunity to build a database of text, making the search for usable information within and across documents much easier.

While many argue the accuracy levels for OCR engines can reach 98 or 99 percent, small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) may find this hard to achieve with most commercially-available software. Many variables can affect the accuracy levels of output, ranging from document condition to readability.

Where problems can begin to occur is when OCR is not applied to the text contained within the scanned document, but used to lift index values themselves (e.g. customer name, number, etc.). This becomes dangerous if there are no quality assurances or stop-loss measures in place. If that is the case, it becomes likely a document will be misplaced due to a character being off here or there. continue reading...

Distributed capture has evolved with today’s business processes to incorporate paper-based information into digital workflows. Document imaging technology gives businesses the advantage to increase the amount and quality of information included in critical business systems. The integration of multifunction peripherals (MFP) have made document scanning available for the average office worker.

Whether a business wants to utilize a new distributed capture system or making improvements to its existing system, there are four key ways to ensure scanning processes are optimized to meet business needs.

Work with Your Existing Office Infrastructure.
With today’s emphasis on reducing environmental impact and cutting economic costs, it has never been more important to utilize existing IT investments in new ways. Businesses can significantly increase the value of existing systems by eliminating the need for paper-based workflows and file cabinet document storage. continue reading...

When one thinks about threats to organizational security, the words hackers and computer viruses come to mind. In this world of network attacks, printers, copiers and fax machines are easy to overlook. These systems can store trade secrets, financial and medical information, and valuable information like customer lists or pricing schedules. Loss of this information could be devastating.

The good news is that there are practical steps you can take to improve the security of your printers and copiers.

1. Track Printing Access

Output tracking technologies can keep a record of which documents are printed. You can access the printing logs to see what documents an employee has printed. Your staff will know that the company is monitoring information security thus creating an environment where employees are hesitant to steal information through the printer.

2. Encrypt Hard Drives on Multifunction Systems

When you scan a document on a multifunction system the scanned image is stored on the device’s hard drive before it is sent off to an email address or network folder location. New security technologies can encrypt documents on the multifunction system’s hard drive and make sure files are erased after they have been transmitted. continue reading...

Are you looking for ways to improve and streamline your business processes? A great place to start is to evaluate your current business practices.

A business process is a structured series of steps that produces a repeated outcome. Accounts receivable—what happens from the time you generate an invoice until you get paid—is the most common business process. These paper and digital documents are the vehicles by which information flows through your business regardless of what industry you are in.

Technology will improve your business and streamline the flow of information to: continue reading...

• Increase Profits
• Enhance Competitive Advantage
• Improve Customer Service
• Ensure Regulatory Compliance

Who doesn't want to save time and money nowadays?  Well Marimon sees this as another opportunity to meet our customers' needs.  We offer Paperless Invoicing, which streamlines the invoicing process and reduces paper waste!

If you're interested in learning more or would like to sign up for Paperless Invoicing with Marimon, please contact our Account Coordinator Team Lead at 713-856-2046 or gogreen@marimoninc.com

For over thirty years we’ve been moving towards the lofty goal of the paperless office. But as the volume of computer data grows, so too does our paper usage.

Fortunately there seems to be a valid movement toward cutting back on our paper usage with Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS). This system allows you to scan all your paper documents to create a searchable and secure filing system.

There are several trends that are driving the rapid adoption of this technology:

· Low Costs of Electronic Storage. It is now possible to store 10 filing cabinets full of paper in one gigabyte of electronic storage.

· Familiarity with Computer Applications. Today, everyone is trained to be familiar with common computer applications. This means adoption time and training for new applications is minimal.

· High Speed Scanners and Multifunction Copiers. Documents can be scanned quickly and conveniently with sheet-fed scanners, available on most new digital office copiers. continue reading...