Document Management - Questions to Ask Yourself

Incoming Correspondence

• Does your firm scan all incoming correspondence so that it can be electronically and centrally filed for ease of retrieval?
• Is this document scanning process quick and easy?
• Can documents that are received via email or downloaded via the web be easily filed into your electronic filing system? Is this filing simply a matter of a drag-and-drop or a few clicks through a wizard?

Documents Created

• Are all documents created in your organisation created within one central document management system?
• When documents are first created—whether from a template or from scratch—does your system automatically prompt your staff to file these documents into the correct location and prevent further progress until this is done correctly?
• Or is mis-filing (or non-filing!) of documents common? Does your system allow the usual Windows®/Microsoft® Office filing of documents that is a manual 'browse to folder' process which is therefore inherently error-prone?
• Does your system make it very easy to manage and track your entire organisation's document workflow through the various stages of Draft, Review, Approved and Final?
• Can you quickly and easily see a list of all work-in-progress (draft) documents in the organisation?
• With one click can you see a list of all documents created in the firm today?
• Can you quickly and easily filter that firm-wide list of documents down to those documents that are still in draft stage?
• With one click can you see a list of all documents modified in the firm today?
• With one click can you see a list of all documents finalised and sent to clients today?
• Can you quickly and easily filter that list down to those that are awaiting review?
• Can you quickly and easily filter this list of documents based on who prepared the documents, or who the signatory is to be, or who the manager is?
• Can you generate within a few seconds a list of work-in-progress documents for any particular client or contact?
• Can you generate within a few seconds a list of finished documents for any particular client or contact?
• When merge documents are first created and the client or contact name and address details are instantly inserted into the documents, does your document management system simultaneously and automatically file the documents into the correct folders on your server?
• Does your system include flexible letter and document templates that cater for a degree of variation (e.g. optional paragraphs or sections) but control those variations within defined limits?
• When your administration or marketing support staff create batches of merge letters, does your current method create one very large Microsoft® Word document that makes it very difficult to individually electronically file the individual letters into the client folders on your server? For example, does doing a mail merge of 300 one-page letters result in the creation of one 300-page Word document?

Documents Sent to Clients

• When your organisation has a batch of letters to send out, does your system have an easy one step 'Email or Print' option where a document is either emailed if the recipient has an email address in your database, or is sent to the printer if there is not an email address for that contact in your database?
• Does your system have an option to merge directly to PDF?
• When finalising letters, checklists, workpapers or any documents created for or on behalf of clients, is it one-click-simple to convert those Word and Excel documents into PDF format?
• Does your document management system selectively hide documents from view based on the logged-in team member's role in your organisation?
• Does your document management system allow sensitive documents to be encrypted so that they can only be opened through the document management system so as to prevent access via Windows® Explorer?

Document Retrieval

• Can your staff retrieve any document or email within seconds?
• Do your staff need to know where a document is stored in order to be able to quickly retrieve it? In other words, do they need to know which drive, which folder, which subfolder within subfolder and so on, before they can find a particular document?
• Or can they simply keyword search and use simple filters?
• When a client telephones your firm and asks to be re-sent a document, can your staff retrieve that document immediately and then email it to the client within two clicks so that the query can be answered on the spot?
• Or do such queries result in "I'll have to track it down and get back to you" scenarios that waste staff time and adversely affect your clients' perception of your firm's service levels?

HowNow® solves all these document management issues for your organisation.

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