Document Management - What it is and why?

It has been my experience that oftentimes, many companies do a better job managing and securing their office supplies than they do their business-critical documents.

The electronic documents that are essential and critical for today's business are all too often taken totally for granted. Very few businesses take the time to consider the expenses that they might incur because of:

* Time and effort wasted in locating documents. Recent research indicates that nearly 10% of an average office worker’s day is spent trying to locate existing information and documents.
* Redundant effort expended because it’s often easier to recreate something than it is to try to find it.
* Time and effort involved in figuring out who has the latest version of a document, and recovering it when various revisions overwrite each other.
* Unnecessary and inefficient usage of network storage devices and network bandwidth, because the documents are dispersed everywhere across the businesses' storage devices, rather than in a centralized, indexed, location.

Likewise, few businesses take the time to consider the considerable risks that they expose themselves to on a daily basis because:

* Security is applied haphazardly at best, which potentially exposes important information to inspection by inappropriate people, like your competitors.
* Critical documents are stored -- often exclusively -- on laptop computers that could be lost, stolen, or damaged at any time.
* Documents that are stored centrally on Windows network drives, once deleted, do not go into a recycle bin as commonly believed. They simply disappear, and must be restored from backup (if you’re smart enough to have one).
* No record exists of precisely who has viewed and/or edited a document. It’s therefore impossible to audit a business process to uncover mistakes or inefficiencies.

In rather stuffy terms, a Document Management System (DMS) can control the life cycle of documents in your organization — how they are created, reviewed, and published, and how they are ultimately disposed of or retained.

We at Mousley Consulting, Inc. believe that properly designed and used Document Management System can rapidly pay for itself. Furthermore, we do not believe that there is a one-size, fits (or suits) all software application. The range of solutions goes from inexpensive, open-source systems based on Unix-based servers to robust, hosted Microsoft SharePoint applications customized to seamlessly support proprietary workflows - what are your business requirements?

Dr. Kirk Mousley

What is this Unix stuff?

Unix is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs.

Unix and Unix-like operating systems are widely used in both servers and workstations today. The Unix environment and the client-server program model were essential elements in the development of the Internet and the reshaping of computing as centered in networks rather than in individual computers.

Under a 1956 consent decree in settlement of an antitrust case, AT&T (the parent organization of Bell Labs) was forbidden from entering the computer business. Unix could not, therefore, be turned into a commercial product under the terms of the consent decree, Bell Labs was required to license its nontelephone technology to anyone who asked for it.

In 1983, the U.S. Department of Justice settled its second antitrust case against AT&T and broke up the Bell System. This relieved AT&T from the 1956 consent decree that had prevented them from turning Unix into a product. AT&T promptly rushed to commercialize the Unix System V, a move that ironically very nearly killed Unix.

In 1991 Linus Torvalds released a version of Unix named "Linux" as free software. Linux distributions, comprising Linux and large collections of compatible software have become popular both with individual users and in business. Popular distributions, some with rather esoteric names, include Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fedora, SUSE Linux Enterprise, openSUSE, Debian GNU/Linux, Ubuntu, Mandriva Linux, Slackware Linux and Gentoo.

Mac OS X is also a Unix system developed by Apple Inc.

Linux and BSD are now rapidly occupying much of the market traditionally occupied by proprietary Unix operating systems, as well as expanding into new markets such as the consumer desktop and mobile and embedded devices.

We at Mousley Consulting, Inc. are not only closely watching the "Open Source" software initiative, but are dabbling in it as well, having set up a server running the Ubuntu operating system with OpenDocMan and OpenClinica web applications. Furthermore, we have set up a laptop running Ubuntu to serve as our test bed client.

The allure? The software is free, the source is readily available and customizable, and it is supported by hundreds (if not thousands) of developers/experts.

Stay tuned! We will continue to explore "alternates" to the perceived high cost of Microsoft software and discuss our findings in this space.

Have you used Unix and/or Open Source software? If so, what do you think?

Working Together

I think the word "collaboration" is too fancy and is poorly understood by many in any event. I prefer to say "working together."

The best way to for people to work together is for them to be physically together.

When you are in the same room as your co-workers, you can easily interact, share ideas, asks questions, and accomplish things. Many people work better in a social environment where conversations fosters understanding, spark ideas and provide enthusiasm.

Of course, one can get carried away with talking to another and end up shooting the breeze all day and not accomplish anything. However, being alone in a quiet workplace, one can daydream all day and not accomplish anything just as easily as one can do significant, uninterrupted work.

One of the downsides to being together is the need to travel to a common gathering place, such as the office. Many companies have geographically dispersed workforces and more and more companies allow telecommuting so workers don’t have to spend as much time on the road.

For telecommuters, perhaps the next best thing to being physically together is to be virtually together. Software tools such as IBM LotusLive Engage, DRE Business Collaboration Network and Microsoft SharePoint can put everyone in the same “room” electronically.

Microsoft SharePoint uses a web server that provides Team Sites which allow sharing of information, calendars, tasks, ideas (wiki), and documents. The only missing component to virtual "working together" is the verbal/visual communication aspect. Perhaps SharePoint combined with video conferencing is the way to be productive, social, and working physically apart? What do you think?

Dr. Kirk Mousley