SHOULD AN ORGANIZATION DECLINE ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

While most organizations are considering Electronic Document Management System, some decisions makers still reject the need to convert their paper documents to digital copies. Consider the following fact in the UK.

Up to £15 billion wasted every year in the UK looking for 'lost' documents at work.
A survey of over 1,000 office workers in the UK has found that over two thirds of desk-based employees spend up to an hour a day looking for 'lost' documents. This wasted time is costing British businesses up to a staggering £15 billion (£15,388,652,760) every year, according to research from infoMENTUM, carried out by independent research agency Censuswide. The research found that employees are getting increasingly frustrated at not being able to locate the documents they need; nearly 20% of respondents had to waste additional time recreating documents from scratch, as a result.

Over 93% of UK office workers believe that access to the files and documentation they need is important and helps them to do their job more efficiently and effectively.

ISO GUIDELINES AND DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Integral to an organization’s content environment, document management involves the acquisition, storage and recovery of information pertinent to operations.
A well-functioning document management system (DMS) generates agile document-modification while improving records' retention, security, auditing and summarization.
Regulations and quality standards developed by professional agencies for maintaining operational/performance criterion across a wide range of enterprise/business processes motivate DMS-integrity.

ISO Guidelines
The International Organization for Standardization generates ISO-guidelines to provide best-practice principles/procedures for quality assurance, environmental management and information security. Several ISO pertinent standards are:

• ISO-9001 Quality Standard regulates workflows producing goods and services. The benchmark for quality enterprise management, it fulfills the rigours of independent, external audits. ISO9001 applies to similar products/services of the same relative class/function, globally controlling these processes to guarantee consumer needs and expectations are satisfied.

• ISO-14001 offers worldwide standards for appropriate and safe control of enterprise processes that may negatively affect the environment through wasteful/dangerous acquisition of natural resources or excessive energy consumption. Internal audits maintain 14001-certification, ensuring these standards are upheld.

• ISO-27001 standardizes practices for security of organizational information. Systematic evaluation of security risks identifies administrative priorities for managing threats to information security. The objective is assure confidentiality, integrity, and safe-access to information. The three guidelines generate enterprise cost savings through improved efficiency, productivity, and market-expansion, caused by reliable measures of quality-assurance, environmental-protection and data-security.

Julius Macaulay is the Principal Consultant at TECRES Consult (www.tecres.com.ng) providing ICT training and document management consultancy services for organizations. He holds a masters degree in Information Technology with special interest in "the paperless office".
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THE TOP 10 MISTAKES COMPANIES MAKE WHEN DEPLOYING A DOCUMENT SCANNING SOLUTION

Recent studies have shown that document scanning remains one of the top technology priorities of organizations, regardless of their size or their vertical market. Little wonder: when properly deployed, document scanning solutions deliver a tremendous payback – in terms of cost savings, faster turnaround, better quality, streamlined compliance and more. But mistakes during system implementation can undermine even the strongest business case for a document scanning solution. To help keep your document scanning project on the right track, here are the 10 most common mistakes that organizations make when deploying the technology – and how to avoid them.

1. Not buying enough scanning capacity
Too often, organizations use their average document processing volumes when determining scanning capacity. But organizations must also consider variables such as peak daily volume, required or contracted deadlines for completing work, and the effective throughput (not the advertised speeds) of the scanners that they are considering buying.

2. Not including all stakeholders both business and IT in the requirements definition
In some cases, the IT department will unilaterally choose the organization’s scanners, in turn, saddling operations with scanners that don’t meet their requirements or are not easy for operators to use. In other cases, an operations team will select scanners without the IT department’s involvement only to discover that the organization’s legacy systems and/or infrastructure can’t support the scanners.

3. Buying a solution without conducting a proof of concept
Organizations should never purchase a scanner without first seeing how it processes their documents. Too many organizations buy document scanning technology based on what they read in a brochure or see on a trade show. They need to test whether the scanner fits their business requirements and processing environment. Organizations also want to have some of their operators run the scanner to test usability.

4. Making decisions on front-end and back-end systems separately
An organization’s front-end scanning and capture solution must work in concert with its back-end workflow technology. For instance, organizations must ensure that their document scanning and capture solution can output images and data in the format required for back-end systems, whether it’s flat files, XML files, Excel spreadsheets or database output. In one case, a BPO purchased a scanning and capture solution that could only output images and data in one format. This resulted in the BPO spending a lot of time and money reconfiguring the output to the various formats that its customers required. Organizations also need to ensure that their back-end systems are fast enough to keep up with their front-end solutions otherwise they will experience bottlenecks in the “hand-off” of images and data. We’ve seen delays as much as 35 to 40 percent between front-end and back-end systems.

5. Not coordinating software and hardware vendors during system deployment
No one wins in this scenario. A lack of coordination typically results in wasted effort, finger pointing and delayed implementations. We have seen many cases where front-end and back-end solutions providers get their systems up and running at a customer site, but there is no integration because the vendors and the customer never discussed critical issues such as: what data needs to be passed from one system to another, the image formats required for back-end systems, and how data should be routed.

6. Not using a phased implementation approach
In their drive for fast results, too many organizations bite off more than they can chew when implementing a scanning solution. Trying to deploy an entire system at once can overwhelm internal resources, and draw out the deployment, in turn, putting the entire project at risk of getting shut down. Instead, organizations should determine where they can have the biggest impact on their operations with the least amount of change; they shouldn’t break a process that isn’t broken. With an initial success under their belts, users should similarly prioritize the next phases of their implementation based on their potential benefits.

7. Letting fear of change take over
Too many organizations are close minded when it comes to re-engineering their processes, falling back on the way they’ve done things for the past five or 10 years. For instance, some organizations manually count every document that they scan, and write a number on the first page of each batch. This process was necessitated by older technology that was prone to double-feeds or didn’t have automatic document counters. However, there is no need to do this with today’s scanning technology, and continuing to do so, creates needless, not to mention costly, work. The best strategy for helping your staff overcome their fear of change is to let them see the technology run firsthand. Once they see that the scanner detects double-feeds and counts documents, as examples, they’ll recognize the impact it will have on document preparation.

8. Not thinking LEAN
Organizations should always be looking for ways to do more with less. For instance, organizations shouldn’t automatically purchase more of their legacy scanners as their volume grows; there may be other scanners available that enable them to consolidate hardware. Similarly, most organizations can do a more efficient job of document preparation; there’s no need to tape small documents to 8 ½ x 11-inch paper, or to use multiple separator sheets for scanning.

9. Not cutting the paper cord
Many organizations use unique transaction separator sheets for each type of work that they process, creating an enormous breadth and volume of paper. Today’s document scanning solutions are an opportunity for organizations to rid themselves of this paper, automatically separating transactions based on documents (e.g. checks or envelopes) within a batch. The technology also allows organizations to insert generic separator sheets that can be re-used; one company has re-used its generic separator sheets for the past five years, saving significant money.

10. Not sharing as in shared services
With the economy still struggling, and capital budgets tight, organizations should look to consolidate multiple scanning functions on a single platform.

Properly deployed, document scanning solutions deliver tremendous results. But mistakes during implementation can undermine even the strongest business case for the technology. Avoiding the 10 mistakes described above will help ensure the success of your organization’s scanning project.

Excerpt from www.ibml.com

THE TOP TEN STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY TRENDS FOR 2014. Vol IV

9. Smart Machines Through 2020, the smart machine era will blossom with a proliferation of contextually aware, intelligent personal assistants, smart advisors (such as IBM Watson), advanced global industrial systems and public availability of early examples of autonomous vehicles. The smart machine era will be the most disruptive in the history of IT. New systems that begin to fulfill some of the earliest visions for what information technologies might accomplish — doing what we thought only people could do and machines could not —are now finally emerging. Gartner expects individuals will invest in, control and use their own smart machines to become more successful. Enterprises will similarly invest in smart machines. Consumerization versus central control tensions will not abate in the era of smart-machine-driven disruption. If anything, smart machines will strengthen the forces of consumerization after the first surge of enterprise buying commences.

10. 3-D Printing Worldwide shipments of 3D printers are expected to grow 75 percent in 2014 followed by a near doubling of unit shipments in 2015. While very expensive “additive manufacturing” devices have been around for 20 years, the market for devices ranging from $50,000 to $500, and with commensurate material and build capabilities, is nascent yet growing rapidly. The consumer market hype has made organizations aware of the fact 3D printing is a real, viable and cost-effective means to reduce costs through improved designs, streamlined prototyping and short-run manufacturing.

About Gartner Symposium/ITxpo
Gartner Symposium/ITxpo is the world's most important gathering of CIOs and senior IT executives. This event delivers independent and objective content with the authority and weight of the world's leading IT research and advisory organization, and provides access to the latest solutions from key technology providers.

Julius Macaulay is the Principal Consultant at TECRES Consult - www.tecres.com.ng providing ICT Training and document management consultancy services for schools and organizations. He holds a Masters degree in Information Technology with special interest in the paperless office.

THE TOP TEN STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY TRENDS FOR 2014. Vol III

5. Cloud/Client Architecture
Cloud/client computing models are shifting. In the cloud/client architecture, the client is a rich application running on an Internet-connected device, and the server is a set of application services hosted in an increasingly elastically scalable cloud computing platform. The cloud is the control point and system or record and applications can span multiple client devices. The client environment may be a native application or browser-based; the increasing power of the browser is available to many client devices, mobile and desktop alike. Robust capabilities in many mobile devices, the increased demand on networks, the cost of networks and the need to manage bandwidth use creates incentives, in some cases, to minimize the cloud application computing and storage footprint, and to exploit the intelligence and storage of the client device. However, the increasingly complex demands of mobile users will drive apps to demand increasing amounts of server-side computing and storage capacity.

6. The Era of Personal Cloud
The personal cloud era will mark a power shift away from devices toward services. In this new world, the specifics of devices will become less important for the organization to worry about, although the devices will still be necessary. Users will use a collection of devices, with the PC remaining one of many options, but no one device will be the primary hub. Rather, the personal cloud will take on that role. Access to the cloud and the content stored or shared from the cloud will be managed and secured, rather than solely focusing on the device itself.

7. Software Defined Anything
Software-defined anything (SDx) is a collective term that encapsulates the growing market momentum for improved standards for infrastructure programmability and data center inter-operability driven by automation inherent to cloud computing, DevOps and fast infrastructure provisioning. As a collective, SDx also incorporates various initiatives like OpenStack, OpenFlow, the Open Compute Project and Open Rack, which share similar visions. As individual SDx technology silos evolve and consortiums arise, look for emerging standards and bridging capabilities to benefit portfolios, but challenge individual technology suppliers to demonstrate their commitment to true inter-operability standards within their specific domains. While openness will always be a claimed vendor objective, different interpretations of SDx definitions may be anything but open. Vendors of SDN (network), SDDC (data center), SDS (storage), and SDI (infrastructure) technologies are all trying to maintain leadership in their respective domains, while deploying SDx initiatives to aid market adjacency plays. So vendors who dominate a sector of the infrastructure may only reluctantly want to abide by standards that have the potential to lower margins and open broader competitive opportunities, even when the consumer will benefit by simplicity, cost reduction and consolidation efficiency.

THE TOP TEN STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY TRENDS FOR 2014. Vol II

3. The Internet of Everything The Internet is expanding beyond PCs and mobile devices into enterprise assets such as field equipment, and consumer items such as cars and televisions. The problem is that most enterprises and technology vendors have yet to explore the possibilities of an expanded internet and are not operationally or organizationally ready. Imagine digitizing the most important products, services and assets. The combination of data streams and services created by digitizing everything creates four basic usage models – Manage; Monetize; Operate; Extend. These four basic models can be applied to any of the four "internets” (people, things, information and places). Enterprises should not limit themselves to thinking that only the Internet of Things (i.e., assets and machines) has the potential to leverage these four models. Enterprises from all industries (heavy, mixed, and weightless) can leverage these four models.

4. Hybrid Cloud and IT as Service Broker Bringing together personal clouds and external private cloud services is an imperative. Enterprises should design private cloud services with a hybrid future in mind and make sure future integration/interoperability is possible. Hybrid cloud services can be composed in many ways, varying from relatively static to very dynamic. Managing this composition will often be the responsibility of something filling the role of cloud service broker (CSB), which handles aggregation, integration and customization of services. Enterprises that are expanding into hybrid cloud computing from private cloud services are taking on the CSB role. Terms like "overdrafting" and "cloudbursting" are often used to describe what hybrid cloud computing will make possible. However, the vast majority of hybrid cloud services will initially be much less dynamic than that. Early hybrid cloud services will likely be more static, engineered compositions (such as integration between an internal private cloud and a public cloud service for certain functionality or data). More deployment compositions will emerge as CSBs evolve (for example, private infrastructure as a service [IaaS] offerings that can leverage external service providers based on policy and utilization).

THE TOP TEN STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY TRENDS FOR 2014. Vol I

Gartner, Inc. highlighted the top ten technologies and trends that will be strategic for most organizations in 2014 and companies should factor into their strategic planning processes,” said David Cearley.
Mr. Cearley said that the Nexus of Forces, the convergence of four powerful forces: social, mobile, cloud and information, continues to drive change and create new opportunities, creating demand for advanced programmable infrastructure that can execute at web-scale.

On this blog, we will highlight these trends.

1. Mobile Device Diversity and Management Through 2018, the growing variety of devices, computing styles, user contexts and interaction paradigms will make "everything everywhere" strategies unachievable. The unexpected consequence of bring your own device (BYOD) programs is a doubling or even tripling of the size of the mobile workforce. This is placing tremendous strain on IT and Finance organizations. Enterprise policies on employee-owned hardware usage need to be thoroughly reviewed and, where necessary, updated and extended. Most companies only have policies for employees accessing their networks through devices that the enterprise owns and manages. Set policies to define clear expectations around what they can and can't do. Balance flexibility with confidentiality and privacy requirements

2. Mobile Apps and Applications Gartner predicts that through 2014, improved JavaScript performance will begin to push HTML5 and the browser as a mainstream enterprise application development environment. Gartner recommends that developers focus on creating expanded user interface models including richer voice and video that can connect people in new and different ways. Apps will continue to grow while applications will begin to shrink. Apps are smaller, and more targeted, while a larger application is more comprehensive. Devlopers should look for ways to snap together apps to create larger applications. Building application user interfaces that span a variety of devices require an understanding of fragmented building blocks and an adaptable programming structure that assembles them into optimized content for each device. The market for tools to create consumer and enterprise facing apps is complex with well over 100 potential tools vendors. For the next few years no single tool will be optimal for all types of mobile application so expect to employ several. The next evolution in user experience will be to leverage intent, inferred from emotion and actions, to motivate changes in end-user behavior.

TIPS FOR TAKING JAMB UTME COMPUTER BASED TESTING (CBT) PART IV

As JAMB CBT examinations draws closer, TECRES Consult wishes all students the best in their academic pursuit. Below is the concluding part of the jamb cbt steps series.

JAMB CBT EXAMINATION STEPS
When you enter the CBT exam center, you see a Welcome page on the allocated computer.

1. Please type your jamb registration number and click submit to Login in to your exam area.
2. Please read the following instructions carefully.
3. Click the start button to retrieve questions.
4. The timer will start immediately.
5. Your UTME registered subjects are provided for you on the top of the screen.
6. Select any of them and take your exam
7. You can move from one subject to the other on the same page
8. Choose your answer by clicking a, b, c, d and click next
9. You have three buttons - back button, omit button, next button
• Back button - to go back to the previous question
• Omit button - to take you to the next question if you don't want to answer
• Next button - move you to the next question after you have answered
• You can go back to previous subject and start where you stopped
10. You can click the page shortcut to move from question 1, 2 ,3 up to the last question and each question you answer will be highlighted to show that it has been answered
11. Click logout upon completion
12. Congratulations, you have finished your exam.

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