DOCUMENT RETRIEVAL

A list of all documents containing that word will immediately be displayed, together with a selection of text to help you identify the document you want. If you prefer, only a list of document names can be displayed.

The speed of retrieval is due to an indexing system that runs automatically overnight. No manual indexing of selected words is required. All significant words in all the documents are indexed.

All normal search facilities are available, like searching for phrases or combinations of words in AND/OR relationships. You can even search for numerical strings like credit card numbers.

Storing documents is simply a matter of saving them on the main document server instead of the PC or Mac as you would normally. That way they become available to the entire organization.

You can save them all in a single folder if you want, but we recommend having five or six main folders to distinguish between different categories of information e.g. Technical, Legal, Projects, Correspondence, Accounts, IT etc. or you can have individual folders for each member of staff. It all depends on how you want to organize your information.

This makes it easier to search a specific folder rather than the entire archive, allowing the exclusion of other folders and so reducing the number of unwanted hits.

You don’t have to change any existing document folder layout. Any number of sub-folders can be accommodated.

While it is normally possible to find a document clearly associated with a specific project in a well-managed system, our Document Retrieval comes into its own with a large archive of files that are of general interest but are difficult to categorize.

You will find yourself storing many documents that you would not normally have considered archiving in the past, since their retrieval would have been difficult.

Examples are:

Standard QA letters and forms

Manufacturers data

Rules of thumb and Design Guides

Useful articles scanned from magazines or downloaded from the Internet

Details of previous projects (including diagrams)

An image archive

But the benefits of a good document retrieval system don’t just stop at saving time. A significant consideration is the development of a Knowledge Management system that makes available all the expertise every company accumulates over time.

Standard letters, for instance, can represent the result of experience gained in the field, avoiding pitfalls that have been encountered in the past.

But if there is any effort involved with locating standard letters our experience is that staff are inevitably reluctant to make use of them. By making it easier to use a standard letter than to start from scratch you can safely bet on which option will be chosen!

Furthermore, reports that have been written by senior staff can be made freely available to all, not just at the time of distribution when it may be filed and forgotten, but also at any time in the future. Without knowing if a report exists, just by entering a search on the subject matter will instantly bring up all associated documents.

You can’t make the passing on of information much easier than that! And when staff leave the company you don’t lose the knowledge they gained during their time spent with you.

As a result of the document retrieval capability, this system will become a fundamental resource of your business. The time saved in searching for essential documents alone will ensure this system pays for itself.