LaserVault DMS
Capture, Indexing, Retrieval and Distribution
Capture: how information is brought into your document management system
Traditional paper-based document management entails printing the information and storing it in either file cabinets or boxes. With digital document management, paper documents are scanned in and converted to digital files, and computer reports are transferred automatically to the document management system.
LaserVault Reports captures information directly from the host system through an FTP or LPR report download process. Users can download reports from two or three different servers running different operating systems into the same LaserVault server. The host computer and the LaserVault server do not have to be at the same location, as document transfer is done over the Internet.
LaserVault DMS captures information through our Windows scanning client that scans, ocrs, and dsqs documents. LaserVault DMS can also accept documents that are faxed in, emailed in, or that are transferred through FTP into a particular folder. LaserVault Imaging can also accept documents by API.
Indexing: how documents are stored for easy retrieval
Traditional paper-based document management would require that the documents be manually stored in boxes or filing cabinets. Digital document management automatically indexes documents when they are stored in the system.
LaserVault Reports indexes information using four different index structures:
1. The first index structure is within a document, where you set up keys within the report to be indexed. You can have up to nine different possible keys per report. This pre-built index structure means that looking up information in a 400 page report can be done instantly.
2. The second index structure is called key cross-reference and is built within the report keys. This enables you to search by key without having to open the document first – simply enter the key value that you are looking for, and the report will then be opened to that exact data entry in the report.
3. The third index structure, global cross reference, is a key across multiple reports and even multiple archives. Using global cross reference, you can find a key value without knowing what particular type of report it is stored in.
4. The fourth index structure is full-text indexing. Full text indexing creates a key on every word and numeric value that is in your report, including PDFs, so that you can search for a value that you might only know approximately.
LaserVault DMS indexes data by the data fields that you describe. When you create a folder in LaserVault DMS, you create a custom database of the items that are in the folder. When you define the folder structure, the columns you define are each an index key.
Retrieval: how documents are found in a document management system
Using paper-based technology, you would have to physically search through boxes and filing cabinets to find the needed document. Using digital technology, users can retrieve relevant documents quickly and efficiently from the document management system.
LaserVault Reports users can do searches by key, by key cross-reference, by global key, and using full-text indexing. Direct lookup using the index keys means that information retrieval is fast because there is no need to hand-search for documents. Full-text indexing exists to provide a wider search capability for information which may or may not be keyed, or when accurate key information is not available.
Using LaserVault DMS you can search by several different data fields at once using Boolean searches. You can search up to six different fields at once.
NeXtract converts data from one format to another. When reports were first designed, they were designed as “dead-end” technology; in other words, you were taking information, adding it up, sorting it in a particular order, and producing totals, and all together it was a frozen snapshot of your information at a particular time.
NeXtract takes the information that is in the output only format of a report and turns it back into live data by converting it into spreadsheet format. NeXtract can also filter and sort the report data into new configurations. One of the things that is nice about having NeXtract built into the LaserVault system is that it can do data extraction and conversion over a time period, so that you can perform data mining.
Distribution: how documents are delivered to the people who need them
In a traditional paper-based document management system, documents must be physically delivered either by hand or by mail. This costs money in both delivery time and postage costs. Using digital technology, documents can be delivered by email or posted to the web instantly and virtually for free.
Content Express is designed as a general purpose electronic bursting program. What Content Express and similar electronic delivery products do is electronically burst the documents by looking at the information on the document, typically a statement number, vendor number, an invoice number or a customer name, and use it to divide up the documents into many small documents, one for each destination. Then a database can be applied to designate how and to whom the documents will be delivered. Documents can be delivered via fax, email, posting to the web, or printed out and mailed traditionally.
Content Express has an overlay generator which gives you the ability to digitally design an overlay to merge with a document so that it looks just like the printed paper document. Then, to preserve that overlay, Content Express converts the results of the overlay plus the underlying printed information into a PDF.
► Consider this -- paper based document management is becoming outdated. It is extremely expensive due to costs in time, labor, printing, and storage. A Coopers & Lybrand study found that companies spend $20 on labor to file a document, $120 on labor to search for misfiled documents and $250 on labor to recreate a lost document.
Use less paper, be more efficient and save money by installing LaserVault today!