From Dusty Archives… to the Document Server

Must any and all documents that have reached a respectable age, still be relegated to the forgotten confines of the archives room ?

The effective archive and retrieval of documents has many times proven to be the Achilles heel of some much vaunted document management systems because the adoption of new technologies has fallen behind. Archiving is often perceived as the less glamorous sibling of other phases such as document capture, workflow, content and knowledge management. To sum it up, archiving is considered at best as a necessary evil, at worst as an unavoidable burden. And yet, a solution exists: the document server. The concept is not a new one but in the past has been limited by architecture and vision. Today, it is all about a change of philosophy…

Archives are indispensable

From a legal standpoint, companies are required to maintain, over the long term, not only their own legal documents, but sometimes those of their clients. In addition, irrespective of any legal context, companies are frequently bound, by internal policies, to keep a sustainable trace of their activity.

Archives have a bad image

As most enterprise transactions normally generate an archive operation, archiving is often perceived as an inescapable and often significant expense. Not surprisingly therefore, the issue of document archiving carries with it poor user perception, bringing to mind images of an old-fashioned, dusty activity monopolizing precious office space, of obscure basements, of hours spent searching for needles in a haystack.

Microfiche offers some improvement

Microfiche at its inception signaled the first real progress, notably through a reduction in storage costs. However, mediocre reproduction quality, total centralization and above all, slow retrieval of documents have limited this media to the role of a dormant archive. Nevertheless microfiche remains present in most organizations and still constitutes the favored medium for legal archives.

Moving into the 21st century

The 21st century solution is a document server which integrates the archive/retrieval function within the document management cycle.

Faced with the enormity of the task involved in adopting newer technologies and the use of alternative media, many decision-makers are tempted to drag their feet.

Information lifecycle

The lifecycle of each document produced or received by the company consists of three phases, whose duration varies considerably from one type to another:

• The active document, required, and thus always available, for current business operations.
• The active archive when needed, can be referred to after quick restoration.
• The dormant archive, maintained essentially for legal or historical reasons. Since the document is no longer implicated in current matters, immediate access to it becomes less relevant.

Many companies make little or no distinction between the second and third phases, which they all too often simply lump together under "Archive".

The document server

Today, it is possible to approach the problem of document access from another perspective by integrating the document, from the moment of its conception, into a database where it will remain available throughout the three phases of its lifecycle. Archiving then, simply becomes an extension-over-time function of the document server.

Such a vision presents undeniable advantages in terms of access and optimization of the information. Its implementation permits the capture and indexing of all essential enterprise information, flexibility to match storage media and archival format, the freedom to run on many platforms and the ability to access data centrally. However, it requires a methodology.

Filing and organization

The relevance and efficiency of search criteria and the response time for document access depend on the filing method.

The simplest and most effective concept is that of the folder that contains documents or information relating to a given customer, an account, a business transaction, or a supplier relationship. In the case of a customer for example, this notion of the folder can be extended as needed through sub-files or dynamic links with parent folders. This organization allows global follow-up of a business relationship throughout its evolution. It also provides logical and coherent access to information for the staff, for the clients themselves ("e-business" type operations), and for custom software applications.

However, customer or relationship based filing reaches its limits when the information stored is more of the "back office" type. This category of data deals less with an individual relationship, than with intra-enterprise data transfer.

The retrieval of any information requires the extensive indexing of documents combined with powerful search tools. A document server that integrates this functionality permits the easy document retrieval based on criteria including client number, telephone number, transaction type, invoice date, etc.

Scanning and indexing

Volumes of documents are produced automatically by data processing centers (account statements, etc). Referred to as "structured", they lend themselves naturally to automated filing and a computerized lifecycle.

Other information requires specific indexing prior to insertion into an electronic archival system. Accordingly, they are termed as "unstructured", and are generally produced by PC software (word processing, spreadsheets, e-mail, multi-media tools…).

In the case of paper-based documents (manuscripts or otherwise), indexing must be preceded by a scanning procedure, i.e., conversion into digital data.

Archival format

The choice of the archival format is directly related to the viewing or restoration priorities of a document. These priorities can be classified as follows:

• Priority for carbon-copy conformity of the document to the original version. This option requires both appropriate viewing software on each workstation, as well as assurance of the document's technological longevity, in view of the rapid evolution of formats.
• Priority for printing. This choice assumes a real-time conversion tool for each request.
• Priority for viewing. This solution reduces the online access time, but imposes technical constraints for a print request.

Except in the case of large volumes, for which the option of choice tends to be "priority for printing", the trend towards making documents available on the Web argues for the third solution.

Storage media

Storage media, disks or cartridges, magnetic or optical, are obsolete within an average period of five years because of the exponential evolution of their recording capacity. Therefore, it is not the storage media that should influence the archival method, but rather the archival objectives and above all, accessibility of the data.

As an example, for a commercial bank*, the majority of document viewing involves documents less than four months "old". In fact, 80% of document viewing takes place within the first two years of the document lifecycle. The media used at the beginning of the lifecycle must therefore permit quick access. When the viewing frequency tapers off significantly, the document may be transferred onto a slower, and consequently less expensive, media.

Portability

Who can predict the future evolution of computer systems over the next ten years? Fending off the perils of incompatibility between new systems and those that they replace is a constant challenge for any decision-maker.

To manage these risks, certainly the best tactic is to favor IT solutions that are compatible with all the prevalent technical platforms (today, these are: NT, UNIX, OS/390 and Linux). Accordingly, suppliers of such solutions must make it their business to keep the evolution of their products closely aligned with technological advances of currently supported and emerging platforms.

Decentralized servers with single access

Let's not confuse compatibility with centralization! Multiple document servers in the same company must be able to reside on heterogeneous systems, that is, on different platforms, or in distinctly different geographical locations.

On the other hand, it is imperative to be able to tap into a single access point and a "global view". Whatever the geographic location or platform type, the viewing of a customer file must produce a single and unified image of the entire business relationship.

A document server for the entire company

The proliferation of different applications ("back office", accounting…) within the organization does not facilitate the sharing of information. If the data produced by these applications remains stored on the system where it was generated, the risk exists that it will not be available for the rest of the organization.

However, it is important that the flow of information is controlled by the standards of security and confidentiality in force throughout the organization. These functions must be integrated into systems respecting IT standards and any new security methods.

At the start of the third millennium, the document server is the only satisfactory solution for supplying instantly - and in total security - any company document, independent of origin and format, to any entity needing it. A document server worthy of its name can only result from the implementation of a powerful software package.

Let's keep in mind that a document and the information that it contains must belong to the company, perhaps to the customer, but never simply to the system that produced it!

Objectives of a document server

Independent of the requirements of a specific organization, a certain number of criteria should be taken into account when choosing a document management solution:

• Capture and storage capabilities for all the documents produced or received, regardless of their format or origin.
• No constraints on evolution (type, site, or technology) of server platforms or storage media.
• Freedom of filing method offering the possibility accessing all documents related to a project or relationship, or finding specific documents based on a particular search.
• Open access permitting each application to store and extract the necessary documents.
• Selective functionality for document security and confidentiality.

 

For more information, please visit our Web site at www.rsd.com or e-mail us at info@rsd.com.

*Source : RSD study among the commercial banks making up its clientele
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