Document Management Software Question

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Posted by Andrew Mckay
Sep 2, 2011 at 03:27 AM

Thanks Jack

Hardware wise we have a good quality A4 and A3 scanner which can handle volume. You can set the resolution so I am happy with this. We also have large scanner for A0 and likewise the resolution settings are there. I will experiment with resolution but it will probably be either 100 or 200 dpi. At 300 dpi the files get very large.

OCR is vital. That is the one aspect of Evernote that has impressed me and as we will be doing just a few basic tags to each file I would like OCR

Budget wise if I properly motivate I will get some leeway there but it will be moderate. At this stage we have no system but ultimately I want to introduce an overall system of which the scanning is one part.The archiving needs to be for the future.Many buildings/structures have a 30 year life cycle and we have recently picked up new rehabilitation work from projects completed 30 years ago.

Thanks again Jack. Good questions as I am still in the research and investigation part of the whole exercise. regards Andrew

Jack Crawford wrote:
>Andrew
> >As you say there are a lot of solutions out there but you need to tailor it to
>your requirements. If you haven’t already done so, I would start by trying to answer a
>series of questions such as:
>- what is the total volume of documents I want to scan
>-
>are there are a lot of larger size documents (you mentioned engineering plans) - you
>may then need a large format scanner
>- what sort of resolution do I need (would people
>be expected to read plans via the software)
>- do I need full OCR or just images
>- what
>budget have I got
>- is this a standalone system or does it need to be part of the
>corporate network/system
>- is it a once off backlog or achiving exercise or do you
>want to set up an ongoing document management system
> >And so on.
> >I would then
>research the options - not just online but find out what like sized competitors are
>doing or what the professional association recommends.
> >Finally I caution against
>just going out and buying some scanning software and then trying to craft a solution
>around it. You need the complementary hardware and software from day one.
> >Good
>luck. It sounds like a big job.
> >Jack

Posted by Andrew Mckay
Sep 2, 2011 at 03:41 AM

Thanks Dan. Outsourcing is definitely one of the options I will and need to look at very seriously.

In house and out sourced both have their advantages and disadvantages. Recession is starting to bite here ( South Africa ) and that terrible word retrenchments is being used in some conversations so I need to make sure I do not give away work that we could do. But at the same time it is pointless trying to do something that we are not up to.

Evernote trucks was something I hadn’t thought of. Thanks again Andrew

dan7000 wrote:
>We do a lot of scanning large volumes of paper in my work. We almost always just send the
>documents to an outside firm that specializes in document imaging. As an example, I
>recently was confronted with 50 boxes of documents delivered to me, I looked through
>them and sorted out about 15 boxes I wanted scanned and sent them out to a company that
>had it done within a couple of days. They will scan it and then load it into whatever kind
>of software you prefer, with or without OCR, and many companies will have good
>suggestions on the software.
> >For smaller jobs, I agree with another poster that the
>hardware is really key. We have a Xerox Multifunction laser printer/scanner that
>does a great job of scanning from its autofeeder documents up to around 100 pages or so.
>At home I have a Canon multifunction ink jet machine that claims to do the same thing but
>can’t seem to get past 3 or 4 pages without jamming. If you have a high volume you don’t
>want it jamming on you ever.
> >One big difference between doing it yourself and
>outsourcing is what they call “unitization.” If you scan 100 pages into the Xerox, you
>get out a single 100-page PDF. If that’s supposed to be 10 documents, you then have to
>manually go through and split up the PDF into 10 separate files. The outsourcing
>companies usually handle unitizing, so you get one file (or one database record) per
>document.
> >Finally, for a medium-sized job, since you like Evernote, I would
>consider one of the scanning services offered in Evernote’s “Trunk.” There are a
>couple of services advertised there that you mail your documents to, and they scan
>them and put them into Evernote for you. You might get a better price from them than from
>one of the big imaging companies, but it would make sense to shop around.

Posted by Andrew Mckay
Sep 2, 2011 at 03:50 AM

Thanks looks like Paperport is going strong today based on their web page. Worth adding to my list to research. regards Andrew

Cassius wrote:
>Ten to 15 years ago, a colleague investigated what was available at that time and chose
>PaperPort. I have no idea what is available today.

Posted by JJSlote
Sep 2, 2011 at 10:14 AM

I’d recommend reading some of the Amazon user reviews of Version 12. Version 9 was excellent; Paperport has been a train wreck since, per its reviewers.

Andrew Mckay wrote:
>Thanks looks like Paperport is going strong today based on their web page. Worth
>adding to my list to research. regards Andrew

Posted by Pavi
Nov 7, 2011 at 10:49 AM

Hi, I am considering buying a scanner to facilitate the “paperless” lifestyle. The main function will be to scan receipts, old writings, etc. into UltraRecall. OCR would be nice.

Has anyone used, and can give opinions, on the following: Canon Imageformula P-150 and Fujitsu Scansnap S1300?

Also, should I get a dedicated scanner, or an all-in-one such as Canon Workforce 635 or Canon Workforce 840? I presume that the dedicated scanner has better software and usability for business cards, etc. However, my current printer is about to die, and having a new printer for documents (no photos) would be useful.

Any opinions?

Thanks, /Pavi

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