A brief history of document management.
A document management system is a computer based software and hardware application that is used to store, track and retrieve electronic information which originated, in most cases, as a paper based document. Available now for nearly three decades the origination and originator(s) of electronic document management is the subject of much speculation. In order for someone to create something entirely new there generally has to be a identifiable and justifiable 'need' . In the case of document management the 'need' for electronic storage and retrieval of documents and images was first identified back in the 1970's. The dawn of time as far as computer technology is concerned!
Regular trips to the filing cabinets or archived storage areas of a busy office were both time consuming and as inefficient back then as they are today. Efficiency equalled speed of both storage and retrieval which in turn meant more productivity. The 'need' for something faster than the labour intensive walk to the filing cabinets was born.
Several software design studios and hardware vendors claim to have created document management but the truth is that it evolved through a number of applications from many different companies. The first recognised true document management appeared in the 1980's when it was possible to purchase document management systems that catered for the electronic storage and retrieval of paper based documents, photos and prints etc.
These were in the main stored on local user file systems so were not that flexible for multi users in multiple locations. They were collectively known as document imaging systems mainly due to the main capabilities which were the storage, indexing, capture and eventual retrieval of image file formats.
The industry software standard for document management these days is either PDF or TIFF format (Portable document format & Tagged image file format). TIFF was invented in the mid 1980’s by the Aldus Corporation to create a standard file format for storage of scanned images. Now controlled by Adobe there have been no major updates since 1992. PDF was invented by Adobe in 1993 for the purpose of facilitating portable document exchange between systems and applications. It’s been developed and updated over the years and there are now three types:
1. NORMAL The most common form of PDF and usually created from a document such as Microsoft Word. It exhibits the full range of text from the original page with coding to define specifics such as font sizes etc.
2. IMAGE ONLY This is a PDF that has been created from one or more images – usually by scanning a document either directly to PDF or by converting a scanned TIFF image to PDF.
3. SEARCHABLE This is an “image only” PDF that contains a hidden layer of text generated by an OCR program (Optical character recognition) . This enables the file to be searched in the same way you would search a normal PDF and text can be copied and pasted.
The Present Day:
Demands from business are already “pushing the envelope” for document management and the advent of cheap cloud storage and relatively inexpensive internal and web applications now mean that document management is affordable for even the smallest business user. OCR for example is already playing a very large part in the future of document management as the demand for digital formatting increases. Many health records, financial statements and legal documents are already being handled and accessed digitally. Current innovation in ebooks for example are producing a strong demand for digital formats together with digital publishing and downloaded distribution. However we are still a long, long way off a truly paper less business environment.
The Future:
The ultimate goal has to be 'paperless'. Statistics say that it takes two dozen large trees to make one tonne of paper. Stack that paper on a conventional pallet and you have about a ton in weight. Imagine now how many trees are felled each day, even allowing for recycling, to supply this planet with the paper that we currently all use in our daily business lives. For this reason alone electronic document management as a total solution will be a major contributor in replacing conventional paper formats in the future. We will eventually run out of trees, its that simple.
Experts predict that eventually everyone will carry an extremely light and cheap document reader that will allow us all to synchronise, update and distribute documents to colleagues or customers. (The advent of the ipad is a step in this direction and after just a few months Apple have already sold in excess of 2 million worldwide.)This will change the way we handle a lot of what we currently take for granted and without consciously thinking of the impact we are having on the planet. For example, instead of large corporations spending millions of pounds producing coupons and advertisements that are mailed to customers, we will be able to receive them on demand via digital processing and publishing networks or email. This currently is underway but is still in its infancy.
Businesses in the future will become more de-centralised with off-site workers communicating not through trips to the filing cabinet but via online document management access and advances and improvements in on-line security will make it easier for all of us to conduct our own scanning, retrieval and storage of documents electronically. Banks already offer paper less statements as an aid to improving efficiency and cutting costs. Other sectors of business will surely follow in time. A unique key access protocol will provide the vehicle to enable this massive sea change to become a reality. We already utilise pin numbers for bank cash machines. In the not so distant future accessing statements, reports, health records, legal documents and even theatre or travel tickets will all be electronically motivated in the future. The world of document management is about to get a whole lot more interesting with the added benefits of improving the one commodity we all only have a finite amount of - TIME!