PayDox Smart Enterprise Suite and the Criteria of Selection an Electronic Document Management System
PAYDOX Collaboration Suite – Document and Business Process Management System
"Chaos cannot be automated!"
A widespread fallacy
"Automated chaos is still chaos!"
Another widespread fallacy

The Importance of a Document and Business Process Management System for a Company  

A poor system is hampered by the customers. Having chosen a poor automation system, the customers often end up, instead of a working system, with a standard set of the suppliers gripes aimed at the customer, such as, Your plant hasnt been re-engineered, your business processes are not optimized, Your staff is not sufficiently qualified, etc. and the inevitable conclusion: Your company cannot be automated under such conditions. To avoid such situations, it is necessary to properly assess the currently available systems. Our answer to this question is quite simple: any company can and should be automated, even if its business processes are not clearly defined and unstructured. Our time is all about change, and many companies are either awaiting reorganization, or are in the process of reorganization, or are rebuilding their production capabilities after reorganization J. Therefore, the system introduced should be flexible enough to act as the starting point for the optimization of the companys business processes. Moreover, companies with unoptimized business processes are the ones most in need of a system that can act as the tool for starting this process. If a company has an electronic document management system which allows the staff to see on the computer screen all the documents, tasks and assignments they are supposed to be working on, and the managers to supervise the business processes in real time (for instance, the execution of clients orders, the hiring of new employees, the current status of the execution of contracts, interaction between different divisions of the company, etc.), it is such capabilities that will be the starting point for the optimization of the companys business processes. Business process re-engineering done only on paper (even if the paper in this case is a printed computer file J), creation of business process descriptions outside the business processes proper leads to the business processes and their descriptions existing separately and independently from each other. Which can in no way guarantee that the description is adequate, and as actual business processes tends to change with time, after a while such descriptions lose all relevance. If, in addition to that, the employees that were involved in the description and re-engineering of the business processes along with consultants are transferred to other departments of the company in the course of the reorganization or leave the company altogether, after a while it becomes impossible to trace all that activity, except maybe through the archives. 

Therefore, we suggest that the most effective way for a company to structure and actually optimize its existing business processes is by introducing a document and business process management system (Electronic Document Management System). 

If your company is planning the introduction of the ISO9000 or CMM quality management standards, an electronic document management system is a must, for only electronic document management can give you the quantitative assessment of your staffs efficiency, maintain the workability and execution of the developed procedures and ensure compliance with quality management standards. 

If your company is planning to install a full-scale ERP business management system, the existence of an electronic document management system as phase one of this process will substantially facilitate it. Electronic document management will allow you to:

  • accelerate and facilitate the introduction of the ERP system and see the first actual results much earlier due to the timely automation of the business processes and electronic document management;
  • use the document and business process management system as a means of integration between the new ERP system and the systems already existing and working;
  • use the document and business process management system as a means of creating an unified user interface that will unite all users, all document management and all applications in the company.
The PayDox Electronic Document Management System was originally designed for helping companies to structure and optimize their business processes and work with documents. The PayDox Electronic Document Management System is a corporate portal of the Smart Enterprise Suite level based upon web technologies and using electronic document management as the instrumental base with a wide range of standard functions vital for any company and virtually limitless capabilities for expansion and integration. 

PayDox Electronic Document Management System It is common knowledge that conventional electronic document management systems become inadequate basically right after installation: integration with other corporate applications is often unsatisfactory, features are limited, possibilities of adjustment and development in view of the customers changing requirements are restricted. Smart Enterprise Suite (SES) class systems, according to the Gartner classification, which are coming to replace conventional electronic document management systems are designed to become centers of full-range processing of corporate information, a virtual arsenal of corporate automation and integration based upon the document management methodology. 

In addition to the Electronic Document Management (EDM) and Business Process Management (BPM) functions proper, a most important modern requirement to such systems is their Records Management (RM) function. This function allows any corporate document or, in a broader sense, any fact or event that needs to be recorded, to create a record (a set of data) in the corporate database and then ensure the maintenance of this information by users and obtaining of the required reports. It is the Records Management function that makes it possible to start the structuring of corporate information and business processes in those areas of work that have not been automated yet, and do it using standard, unified user data entry interfaces, storing the data obtained in the systems centralized database. 
We would like to emphasize this capability of the PayDox Electronic Document Management System to act as a tool for the structuring of corporate information. Important as the unstructured information processing capabilities (advertised as the key ones for many other electronic document management systems) may be, the corporate policy in regard to informatization should be concerned more with the structuring of corporate information than with improving methods of processing unstructured information. Structured information lends itself to the implementation of the more effective processing technologies; moreover, data of critical importance which have to be stored and retrieved with a one hundred percent reliability have to be presented in structured form only. In fact, almost any information contained in corporate documents and circulating in a companys document management (denominations of goods, their quantities and prices, peoples names, positions, addresses and phone numbers, etc.) is critically important. The processing of unstructured information has its uses. However, to concentrate ones efforts solely on it would be akin to the efforts of ancient wild mushroom and berry gatherers to perfect their methods of looking for mushrooms under forest snags and picking berries from tall bushes with the help of long sticks. Even champions among such gatherers could never approach the crops gathered from the primitive plantations of early farmers. The correct approach - for companies, at any rate - lies more in developing the technology for creating structured information ready for processing than in the most sophisticated methods of processing chaotic unstructured information. A companys business processes must maintain order in the information right along from the start, rather create chaos first and then try to straighten it out. 

Another important function of the system is Customer Relationship Management (CRM). This function makes it possible to record the history of relations with partners and clients, store information on partner companies and clients, their employees and contact persons, contacts via telephone, fax or e-mail, send information to partners and clients, allow partners and clients access to some of the documents and phases of corporate document management and corporate business processes in order to ensure their timely notification (for example, of the status of an order). 

The modern approach to the selection of the best electronic document management system for a company is based upon several important criteria of assessment of such systems. The best electronic document management system of a company must combine a number of important features. 

End user friendly 

This criterion means a minimal use of non-standard programs and interfaces by the systems user. This is a very important factor: the users opposition to the introduction of a project might have a negative impact on its fate. 

PayDox Electronic Document Management System The PayDox Electronic Document Management does not require the installation on the users computer of any new software: just the same well-known MS Internet Explorer, MS Word, MS Excel, MS Outlook Express, well familiar to all users. Users learn PayDox much faster, the system looks a lot simpler in the user interface. Users normally need just one hour to learn how to use the necessary functions of the system, and they usually enjoy working with it. 

Easy system maintenance and low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) 

This criterion means minimal labor requirement for system maintenance after it has been purchased. It is no secret that for some systems, their initial cost of purchase is only the beginning of all system-related expenses. The subsequent maintenance costs of some systems can be many times higher than the cost of purchase. 

The PayDox Electronic Document Management is only installed on the systems central server: installation or subsequent maintenance of the system on the users computers is not required. All adjustments and upgrades are done on the server only, after which these changes become accessible from all users computers. Accordingly, maintenance costs of the system are minimal and virtually unrelated to the number of computers connected to it. Therefore, taking into account the relatively low costs of purchasing the system, the expected Return On Investment (ROI) into the purchase of the system is quite prompt. 

Capability for integration with the existing applications 

The introduction of new systems often raises the question of their compatibility with the systems and programs already in use by the company. 

The PayDox Electronic Document Management can not only ensure compatibility with the systems and programs already in use by the company but also be used as the means of integration of both the systems and programs already in use by the company and those purchased or developed in the future. Such integration can be achieved both on the level of the central SQL compatible database and on the level of real time interprogram sharing or file sharing. PayDoxs open architecture makes it possible to build any additional features into the system. Being able to download and upload document and business process descriptions in the XML format allows to share information among several PayDox installations, as well as between PayDox and other electronic document management systems and applications in use by the company. Data contained in the databases of other corporate applications can be connected to PayDox documents for secure authorized use. Information contained in the databases of other corporate applications can be integrated with that from the current PayDox document and output as a printable MS Word/MS Excel file. 
Thus, you can: 

  • structure information from other corporate applications, such as accounting systems, human resources management systems, other ERP system applications, presenting it as PayDox documents in different aspects; 
  • append additional information (comments, explanations, list of employees the information is meant for, etc.) to information from other corporate applications; 
  • generate all necessary reports: data from several corporate applications can be summarized in one report generated by the system in real time; 
  • give unified remote access to information located in separated local corporate applications; 
  • expand the PayDox database adding to it your own information structure.
These capabilities allow the use of PayDox Electronic Document Management as a corporate portal integrating all corporate information and presenting a unified interface for access to corporate information. The value of the existing applications is substantially increased as it becomes possible to share the information contained in them for the benefit of the whole company. 

Possibility of working with remote offices and branches of the company 

This feature is highly important to modern companies. Remote offices, branches, representatives must be connected information-wise both with the head office and with one another. Such connection must be prompt and make it possible to create a unified information space of the company, regardless of the location of the subdivisions. 

The PayDox Electronic Document Management was originally designed as a solution to this vital problem. Organizing a unified information space of a company with the help of PayDox can be based upon any physical communication channels - the conventional telephone, dedicated communication lines, VPN, Internet. The systems functions allow to collect periodic (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly) reports from remote subdivisions. The supervisor, even while away on a business trip, can stay abreast of the current activities at his subdivision by connecting to the system from his/her laptop. 

The capacity for teamwork with documents and projects 

It is known that the potential for organizing teamwork of the staff with documents and projects in real time is an important requirement to modern electronic document management systems on the company scale. One can often see the staff of a company which has a working corporate information system discussing documents and projects via ICQ, Internet discussion groups and other external software, being unable to do so within their corporate information system. 

PayDox Electronic Document Management System The limitations of using external software for discussing corporate documents and projects are obvious: first, confidential information can fall into the hands of outsiders; second, this information is not stored together with the information on the documents and projects, is not managed in any way and can be lost. 

Besides, messaging systems are often used, not for business discussions but for exchanging private communications and carrying on general conversations, thus continuing personal interaction in the workplace. According to the published results of surveys of the use of Internet pagers by employees of British and US companies, 30-65% of employees use messaging systems for personal communications. Thus, the capacity for real time group work of the staff with documents and projects is a vital requirement which guarantees the security and safety of corporate information, as well as significant savings of time in the workplace. 

The PayDox Electronic Document Management has the subsystem PayDox Monitor for real time group work of the staff. PayDox Monitor allows the real time monitoring of all events taking place in the companys electronic document management system: document preparation, reconciliation and approval, discussion of the operations, etc. Any new information on a document, such as signing or approval, receipt of payment, comment or question on the document, loading of a an updated version, etc., is at once displayed on the screens of the users authorized to view this document. The PayDox Monitor subsystem makes it possible to organize discussion groups between different user groups, discuss in real time the progress of projects or business processes, with the discussions stored together with the document record and accessible only to users authorized to view this document. Document or project discussion groups automatically include only users authorized to view this document. The Monitor also allows users to exchange personal messages and create reminders of pending meetings and conferences right in the document record, to be displayed both on the Monitor screen and in the document record. 

The PayDox Electronic Document Management supports the feature of giving authorized access to documents to the staff of the company using PayDox, as well as to the employees of partner companies, i.e. joint discussion, reconciliation, approval and signing of contracts with remote partners can be arranged. 

Integration with MS Office 

The purchased system must be compatible with MS Office applications, such as MS Word, MS Excel, MS Outlook Express, etc., as these applications are used by most users. 

The PayDox Electronic Document Management is integrated with MS Office: complete MS Word or MS Excel documents arrive at the users computer from the system with data from the document records already filled in on-the-fly. E-mail notifications containing document descriptions and links to the appropriate document records arrive at the users MS Outlook / MS Outlook Express. MS Word and MS Excel documents can be uploaded to PayDox by the pushing a button: it goes immediately into the companys integrated electronic document management system, which eliminates the need for document search on local users computers. 

Calendar scheduling 

Modern document management must also be integrated with a calendar planner. Users have to be able to visually monitor the deadlines for the receipt, approval and execution of documents and tasks. The PayDox Event Calendar is a PayDox feature designed for scheduling both personal and joint corporate events. The Event Calendar allows to plan and monitor the staffs workload, view any timeframe and the events scheduled for it, such as receipt, approval and execution of documents, meetings, conferences, and business trips. The Event Calendar is integrated with the document management: the dates of receipt, approval and execution of documents, along with links to the documents records, are automatically displayed in the Event Calendars of the employees specified in the documents, which allows the employees to visually monitor the deadlines for the receipt, approval and execution of the documents. The Event Calendar makes it possible to schedule joint events: you can specify the list of employees involved in an event simultaneously with scheduling this event in your calendar, and this information will automatically appear in the calendars of the marked employees. 

Working with the system via e-mail and SMS 

The feature allowing to work with modern corporate systems via e-mail and SMS, while not a requirement, is a desirable function of such systems. The PayDox E-Mail Client is a PayDox feature designed for working with PayDox via e-mail without the use of a web browser. The PayDox E-Mail Client allows working with the system without a permanent connection to the local corporate computer network PayDox is installed in. All that is needed for such work is being able to send and receive e-mails. This function includes the capability for approving documents, adding comments to the document cards, receiving necessary document lists and necessary document records together with attached files and user comments and discussions. This function makes it possible to work securely with the system server from outside the local corporate computer network, without using any software apart from the e-mail client. An additional feature includes dubbing e-mail notifications sent by the system or users to the users cell phones via SMS. Users can themselves decide when to turn on the SMS messaging feature. For instance, if an employee is away and does not have access to his/her computer for some time, he/she can enable automatic SMS messaging for that period of time. 

Scanner interface 

Modern document management requires handy means of processing hard copy documents. Electronic document management systems must allow the scanning of documents directly from the system proper in minimal time. The PayDox Electronic Document Management allows the scanning and viewing of hard copy documents with one push a button. Also with one push a button the scanned documents are sent to the system server and attached to the document record. A batch-flow input of documents for scanning and loading to the system server can be organized if necessary. 

Logging the full history of working with documents 

Modern electronic document management systems must make it possible to log the full history of a document, so that the whole chain of events, comments and discussions related to the document could be traced if necessary. This feature ensures independence of corporate knowledge on current employees. 

PayDox Electronic Document Management System Even if employees leave the company or are transferred to other departments, their document processing knowledge is stored together with the documents in the companys electronic document management system and can be used by other employees coming to replace them. 

PayDox allows the storing of information in the popular blog (weblog) format. Each document record can contain comments in the form of blog comments which allows to present the whole history of the documents creation, approval, amendment and execution, the whole lifecycle of the document in the companys electronic document management system as a chronological sequence of viewable records. You can create comments in response to each blog comment on the document, thus recording in the document history all the correspondence and discussions between users related to the document. Access to the document history records is only given to users with authorized access to this document in the companys electronic document management system. Blog records of various documents are also accessible in the online PayDox Monitor which allows real time monitoring of all events in the companys electronic document management system, such as document preparation, reconciliation, approval, discussion of the progress of operations, etc.: any blog comment is at once displayed on the screens of users authorized to view the document. The convenient format of the presentation of text information, links, correspondence between employees, information on contacts in blog form helps record the whole document history in the electronic document management system in a simple, visual form. 

Working with payment documents 

Any company, regardless of its size, has to accord special attention to the preparation and control of payment documents. Therefore, the companys electronic document management system must support this type of activities. 

PayDox Electronic Document Management System The PayDox Electronic Document Management makes it possible to prepare and monitor the execution of payment documents, record the payment status of both Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable documents. Employees responsible for the preparation and execution of payment documents are automatically notified via e-mail of all changes in the payment status of the documents. Supervisors making payment decisions issue orders to make payments on documents directly from the electronic document management system. 

In addition to all standard functions of a document management system, PayDox also allows generating payment management reports, e.g. payment balances on contracts, reports on sales, supplies, payments by time periods, etc. Unlike other document management systems, PayDox makes it possible to store ALL information on a document in the structured form, i.e. all necessary parameters of the document can be stored in the database (not just the limited number of parameters of the document record), and reports can be generated on their basis in any aspect by period, contractor, user, company department, etc. Users can generate new types of reports independently, without the help of the system administrator. 

Balanced Scorecards (BSC) 

An essential feature of systems managing corporate document management is the capacity for generating the pattern of monitoring and analysis of the information contained in the documents processed. Realizing the concept of Balanced Scorecards (BSC) as an integral component of the electronic document management system is an effective solution of this problem. 

This function allows programming the visual PayDox Scorecard to gather and systematize information necessary for management decision making. The list of parameters generated can be as comprehensive as needed and include economic parameters calculated automatically on the basis of primary financial documents contained in the electronic document management system, as well as any non-economic parameters describing the operation of the company. 

The information base for the PayDox Scorecard can be the PayDox document database, as well as any external data, including those contained in databases of other corporate applications. A hierarchical presentation of parameters can be based upon time periods or any other kind of hierarchical relationship. For example, the hierarchic parameter system can be programmed in such a way that, as you are viewing the yearly totals in the breakdown by quarters, you can, by clicking with the mouse on a specific quarter, view the quarterly total in the breakdown by months, and by clicking on a monthly total, view the breakdown by days, and switch to any primary document the calculation of the totals was based upon. Similarly, the hierarchy of parameters for the companys departments can be programmed to show the breakdown by individual employees, by contractors, categories of goods and services, etc. 

PayDox Electronic Document Management System The advantage of the PayDox Scorecard is its complete integration with primary documents: the scorecards are calculated in real time, completely automatically, in the course of the companys everyday activities. If the information required for the calculation of the scorecard is contained in the companys current documents being processed by the electronic document management system or in the databases of other corporate applications, this information can be used for the automated calculation of scorecard. 

Working with directories 

Modern companies, regardless of their profile, are turning more and more into information processing centers. Working with documents requires all kinds of information which the staff needs to have at the tips of their fingers: directories of contractors, directories of currency codes, directories of units of measurements, phone numbers of employees and clients, equipment rosters, etc. Modern electronic document management systems must allow working conveniently with such information. 

PayDox Electronic Document Management System The PayDox Electronic Document Management has the standard set of directories necessary to practically anyone, as well as the capacity for creating any number of new directories for storing and using corporate information. You can do context search of the directories or use information from the directories to fill in the fields of a document during its creation or editing. 

Mass mailing and printing out of personalized documents 

Mass mailing and printing out of personalized documents according to lists of users and contact persons of companies business partners is a convenient form of addressed mailing of notifications, price lists, business offers, greetings and other materials. The PayDox Electronic Document Management automatically inserts the addressees name, address and other necessary attributes into the materials being printed or e-mailed. 
You can use PayDox user and contact name database as well as any third party data source (other corporate databases or your web-site subscribers database) to perform mass e-mailing.

Working with documents and workflow simultaneously 

Electronic document management systems working solely with documents do not lend themselves to comprehensive workflow automation. Systems working solely with workflow do not allow full-scale automation of the companys document management. The requirement for complex work with both documents and workflow (the sequence of tasks, orders, operations) is highly important: document preparation involves carrying out operations, fulfilling tasks and orders, while workflow requires preparation of appropriate documents. 

The PayDox Electronic Document Management allows comprehensive automation of both document preparation and processing (electronic document management) involving tasks, orders and operations, and workflow involving document preparation. The sequence of documents processed and tasks fulfilled is flexibly programmed by an authorized user and can be added to or amended in the course of the work, if necessary. 

Completeness of information stored in the system 

The capacity for the storing in the system of information on documents and workflow which is as complete as possible is highly important. Electronic document management systems often store only document records containing basic information on the document but not the full information of the document. 

PayDox Electronic Document Management System The PayDox Electronic Document Management allows storing the whole information on a document and generating detailed reports both on the document as a whole and on its specific details. Thus, for example, unlike conventional document management systems, PayDox can generate not only reports on invoices or waybills as a whole by time period, contractor, executor, but also detailed reports on specific goods and services the information on which is contained in the invoices and waybills. 

Security of information relayed and stored in the system 

Security of information must be ensured by the modern architecture of an electronic document management system and the use of modern means of information protection. 

The PayDox Electronic Document Management uses data protection means which are standard for ensuring the security of financial transactions. PayDox stores documents in the central database, which prevents distribution of documents among the users computers. In PayDox documents are not moved between the users computers but stay in the systems central database, with the users receiving notifications via e-mail with references to the appropriate documents. Documents of the internal management document management are only accessible to authorized users. All work of the users with the documents is recorded in the system log. Access of users to documents is fully regulated. Therefore, the PayDox Electronic Document Management can be used via the companys local network protected against external access, as well as via Internet for organizing a unified corporate electronic document management system between the companys remote branches. 

Easy tuning of the system for new types of documents and workflow 

The modern world is all about rapid change. When purchasing a new system, you must be sure that it can answer the needs of your company not only today but also tomorrow, when those needs change. 

PayDox Electronic Document Management System The PayDox Electronic Document Management can be tuned-up for new types of documents and workflow (and the existing installation parameters can be changed) in the process of day-to-day use. Moreover, tuning the system for new types of documents and workflow is so easy that it can be done not only by the system administrator but also by an advanced authorized user. Thus, for instance, a department head can independently develop and amend the description of electronic document management in his/her department. 

Scalability 

Electronic document management must be scalable, i.e. the system must be capable of serving a large number of users without involving considerable time expenditures or financial costs of the necessary changes. 

PayDox Electronic Document Management System The architecture of the PayDox Electronic Document Management is initially designed to be scalable. The standard installation of the system on one inexpensive server can serve up to hundreds of users. Should increased capacity or speed be required, all it takes is installing a more powerful server (which is still quite affordable), or installing the application server and the database server of the electronic document management system on two separate servers. 

The next generation of business automation systems 

Electronic document management systems incorporating the above principles are the next generation of business automation systems. The main objects of automation in such systems are documents (in the broadest sense from hard copy to electronic files of any format and any structure) and workflow, presented as document movement and processing. Such an approach to the automation of enterprises is both constructive and versatile, ensuring the automation of the companys document management and all workflow within a single concept and a single software package. 

Cornelius F.Burk, Ph. D said, that the future of documents is seen as the basic unit of a companys information resources managed within new, document-oriented workflow which is an integral part of a reorganized company. With the document as the basic unit of information, managers and users in the whole company can clearly see and comprehend the function of information management. They are no longer passive, indifferent onlookers of the information management process but its active participants. It is clear on the intuitive level that data- and system-oriented approaches do not yield the desired results. As Goldilocks would say after tasting porridge from the bowls of the Three Bears, the data is too small, the systems too big, and the documents are just right.
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