Paperless office

A Paperless office is a term used to describe an office system where: Documents and information are stored in digital files and databases.

Advantages include:

i. Space saving. (Note a system must be in place so that appropriate persons are aquainted with the digital locations and how to access the information, especially where protected by passwords and encryption)

ii. Mobility of information. (Note a system must be in place to avoid this offering a breach in security)

iii. Security of storage in multiple locations (Note a system must be in place to keep all up to date)

iv. Efficiencies to access, organise, copy, edit cleanly and send by electronic mail. (Note a system must be in place to ensure procedures are maintained, especially where there are multiple users, and more so if there is possibility of a single file which could be altered simultaneously.)

v. Saving of paper and ink/toner.

The following is an implementation by experience by Alan Cooper Cabinetmaker Ltd in a small business environment:

a. As much mail as possible is received by email or information can be accessed through the internet.

b. Some information still comes through the post. While this is not ideal, some product catalogues are still easier to handle in physical form, and it is not efficient to digitise many pages which may turn out to be superfluous to requirement, especially if new catalogue updates are frequent, so a small area probably needs to be maintained to keep these. In addition to this, some documents are required to be in physical form for legal requirements. For this reason, as yet, a truely paperless office is normally impractical, but we can get close to the ideal. There may also be occasions where fabric or paper thickness real physical samples may be included in a catalogue or physical file.

c. All in-house documents are digitally produced and in most cases can also be sent digitally, not requiring printing onto paper. It is important to have a firewall and updated antivirus protection in place for security, especially when connected to the internet.

d. Where paper documentation from others is received, providing the size will fit, a digital scanner can be used like the Fujitsu Scansnap, which will duplex scan (scan both sides) quickly and produce digital copies, assembling them into PDF files through Adobe Standardfor example, (included with some Scansnap models) making them ready to store in a computer storage location of choice or 'cloud' based on an internet based service like Google Apps. Some documents need to be kept secure and an effective way of keeping the information safe from unauthorised viewing is to use Axantum Software's free AxCrypt program which can also be used in conjunction with a USB stick or SD card containing a password in a text file if preferred rather than typing in a password. All files are then accessible just as if they had not been protected, until the end of the session.

e. Careful thought needs to be made when scanning as to the routine for file-naming conventions, and folders to contain various kinds of file. If files are named to begin with YearMonthDayTime this will enable all files to keep in historical order. There are also systems available at cost like Mangofile to make dates of scanning official, recognised by some official organisations. It is possible for filename lists in a folder to be copied and pasted by using, for example, Karens Directory Printer. Double entry can be avoided by naming a file so that it has a hyphen or underscore at any place in the file name where if they are pasted into a spreadsheet, like MS Works, Open Office or MS Excel , they may be used as a command to start a new column in the spreadsheet, having first used notepad [in Windows] to find all hyphens [or underscores] and change all to commas or tabs ready for the spreadsheet. Spreadsheet settings may need to be edited to recognise comma or tab delimiting. This can be very useful for book keeping after scanning receipts and invoices from companies, as the filenames can later be used to generate lists of invoices and receipts, by the method mentioned above, and so save the effort of double-entry. If you change your mind about the naming convention, ReNamer can be a very useful tool for batch renaming of files.

Always remember to:

Backup and keep files in another location, or use an online service. Some Firewall and Antivirus software providers like for example, Bullguard include secure backup services with their package.

Protect files using password protected encryption.