When dealing with local government offices, customers are always alarmed at the overwhelming amount of paperwork associated with even the simplest of processes. While these documents – and the checks and balances surrounding them – are there for a reason, government offices are starting to wonder: Is there a better way to handle documents in the digital age?
Improving productivity with digital workflows is easier than ever through electronic document management.
Gaining Control Of Documents For Greater Workflow Productivity
Today’s businesses – government-run or otherwise – are challenged to do more with less. Usually, the drive to eliminate and streamline processes points to gaining control over paper-based workflows.
There are three major benefits to using technology as a catalyst for changing paper-based processes:
- Easier and faster management of information by centralizing and storing documents in a database
- Greater security by assigning user access credentials
- Simplified compliance through a digital audit trail of documents accessed, edited, emailed and printed
Assessing Current Government Document Management Processes
Before making the transition from paper to digital workflows, you need to have an understanding of where you want your institution to go. What should be the final outcome of this digital evolution?
After you prioritize the efficiency benefits to be achieved through the creation of digital workflows, you have to look at the data that drives document processing and decisions. Where does this data come from? Essentially, you are trying to understand what systems your chosen document management solution will need to integrate with.
Next, look at the people who require access to each document at each point in the workflow. What does each person contribute to each document, and what would an automated version of this process look like? In this phase, you will likely uncover ways to streamline the flow of information by eliminating inconsistencies before even implementing the software.
Ultimately, the ease of information retrieval leads to faster and more efficient response times to requests inside and outside the organization.
Achieving Better Compliance Standards With Digital Workflows
Government institutions initially tend to shy away from paperless workflows because of a fear of tampering with stringent compliance policies. Yet, paper-based workflows require a lot of time, effort and money to manually enforce and audit compliance regulations.
The benefit of digital workflows through document management software is that compliance standards are enforced automatically, and a digital audit trail is created for each document.
Below are general electronic document storage compliance requirements that can be addressed with the right document management solution:
- There must be written and enforceable document retention policies
- Data must be stored on indelible, non-rewritable media
- There must be a searchable index of stored data
- Documents must be readily retrievable and viewable
- A backup of documents and data must be stored offsite
Government Workflow Management: Efficiency, Productivity And Security
In local government institutions, the need to eliminate paper has never been greater.
For these government-run businesses, document management software is a viable solution for addressing challenges related to manual, paper-based processes.
Through the creation of digital workflows, municipal enterprises experience the benefits of:
- Faster response time to both internal and external requests for information
- Increased employee engagement through a smarter and more efficient way to work
- Cost savings through a reduction in physical storage space
With document management software, government offices run more efficiently, more productively and with greater security standards in place than before.
