I&#;ve been doing a lot of planning as part of my Paperless Office Experiment. The comments on my first post have been very helpful in guiding me in the right direction. If you have any suggestions or experiences, please share them.
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The biggest portion of my planning has been in trying to identify the components necessary to make a paperless office workable. Simply adding a scanner won&#;t make you paperless. You have to have a system that works together as a whole not just a few random pieces of technology.
Here are the components I&#;ve identified as being necessary so far. I&#;d be interested in any input on things I may have overlooked.
Most people start with a scanner when they think of a paperless office. While it is important, it is more important to identify how the documents are going to be handled once they are on the computer and then work backwards to determine the best scanner that is compatible with the software you plan to use.
Here are some of the things to look for in a scanner:
At this point I&#;m leaning toward a Fujitsu S500M SnapScan. It is less than $500 and seems to have most of the features I&#;ll need. And it came highly recommended in the comments on the original post.
Once you scan a document you need an easy way to destroy it. There are a very wide variety of shredders on the market. For a paperless office you need something that can handle a reasonable volume and is fairly secure. Older shredders simply cut the paper into strips. These can be easily pieced back together. At the minimum you want a &#;confetti&#; shredder that produces pieces 1 inch by 1/4 inch. The ultra secure shredders reduce paper to a powder, but these usually run a few thousand dollars.
One of the things I look for in a shredder is the ability to shred unopened mail. I want to be able to stick the entire unopened envelope from a credit card application in it without needing to open it and handle each individual piece of paper. The ability to shred CDs and credit cards is also handy.
I already have a shredder. It is the Aurora ASCD that I got at Walmart. The closest thing I can find online is the Medium-Duty ASCD Confetti-Cut Paper Shredder. So far the only thing that caused it even a slight problem was bubble wrap.
(Yes I know you shouldn&#;t feed bubble wrap into a shredder, but since it hasn&#;t ever jammed, I&#;ve been growing curious as to just how much I can feed it before it has a problem. The bubble wrap didn&#;t really jam anything, it just got wrapped around the cutters and took a couple pieces of normal paper before it cleared itself off.)
Going paperless means that all of your information is going to be in one centralized place. While this is convenient, it is an identity thief&#;s dream target. If your computer were lost or stolen you want to make sure that they would not have easy access to all of your bank accounts, retirement info, etc.
So ideally you want your paperless office setup to encrypt your digital documents when you store them on your hard drive. These need to be saved in a way that even if someone steals your computer and gains access to the operating system, they could not access the files.
OS X has a feature called FileVault that does this. Your files are encrypted and a special password is assigned to them. After a period of not being used, it will prompt you to enter the password again before giving you access to the files.
Other operating systems have similar mechanisms and there are third party applications that give the same type of security. It is important to realize that this type of setup will prevent you from retrieving your files without the password. If you die, your spouse will not have access to any of your records unless you have shared your password. I would suggest keeping the password in a safe place like a lock box along with a physical piece of paper along with other important numbers just to be on the safe side.
This is really the cornerstone of your paperless office. When you scan in a document you need some way to track it. It is possible to just use the file system as your document management system. OS X and Vista both provide a way to add metadata to files and this can be an effective way to track things. Spotlight and Vista&#;s search feature may be all that you need. Another alternative is to use Google&#;s desktop search to locate data.
While I like Spotlight, it has always seemed a little slow to me. Maybe when I upgrade to an Intel based processor I&#;ll be pleasantly surprised, but I&#;m planning on using an actual document management system for my needs.
One of the most important parts is having a mechanism to index the content of scanned documents. On many systems, scanning in a PDF results in a beautiful image of the page without any actual text data. That means unless you have tagged the file in some other way, you will never be able to locate it based on a search.
What you want is to have an invisible layer of text that is created through optical character recognition that is generated and kept as part of the PDF. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered my CanoScan LiDE 70 and the included software does this automatically. However, I&#;ve since discovered that most other systems require a manual step to make this happen.
If you have a version of Acrobat Standard (or better) you can scan to Acrobat and let it do OCR. I&#;m not sure how accurate Adobe&#;s OCR package is, but still this requires you to manually tell Acrobat to perform OCR.
I&#;m looking for a solution that will allow me to scan directly into my document management system and perform the necessary OCR steps transparently. I want to push a button and put the document directly into the document management system. I suppose if it prompts me for a title or keywords, that would be ok but I don&#;t want to have to go through a 2 or 3 step process on each piece of paper.
DEVONThink Pro Office has been recommended as a good solution, so I&#;m currently trying to figure out if it can handle this type of workflow. If you go the filesystem rout, checkout our article on Simple Paperless Filing Systems.
With so much vital information being stored directly on my computer, I think I&#;m going to need to revamp my backup plan. I will probably keep DVDs or a hard drive in a lock box, but I&#;m considering the possibility of keeping an encrypted copy online, possibly using Amazon&#;s S3 service. .Mac has recently upgraded their storage limit, so it might be possible to keep an encrypted version of my documents synched with the .mac servers as another alternative.
Originally I used a 17 inch Powerbook with a x 900 screen and a 24 inch Dell monitor with a x screen. When I upgraded my Powerbook moved to a × built in display and a 30 inch × external monitor. The higher resolution isn&#;t so I can show an entire sheet of paper at only 5 inches tall. It does make it easier to read PDFs when I&#;m displaying an entire page on the screen and reduce the amount of time I have to spend scrolling around in a document. This is particularly important when dealing with multi column documents.
The large monitor lets you display two pages side by side for easy reading and the × monitor on the laptop gives me high quality when I&#;m on the traveling.
One of the common uses of paper, is to take with you. For example, you might print out a map to take on the road, print out your flight information when going on a trip or print out an article to read on a plane.
I&#;m not sure if you can really replace paper when it is used in this way, but I have a few devices that I plan to try to use. The first is my Blackberry. The second is my Sony eBook Reader that uses digital ink technology. I think I&#;ll still feel safer having my map or flight information on a piece of paper, but we&#;ll see.
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One of the big reasons I print documents out currently is so I can sign them and then fax them to someone. I&#;d like to find a good way to handle digital signatures on PDF documents. The simple way is to just scan in my signature, however Acrobat has some capabilities that allow you to sign or encrypt your document with your personal key which allows people to verify that you indeed signed the document. I don&#;t know much about what is possible at this point, but I&#;m looking for something that will give me a single way of dealing with signed digital document&#;whether they are being emailed to an insurance agent in the middle of rural Nebraska or a banker who has the most elaborate setup for verifying digital signatures.
If you have any suggestions or comments, please let me know. I&#;m trying to harness the collective experience of my readers to help me be successful while staying under my $1,000 budget.
A major part of how local governments function is through regular meetings at which the public are present. As a transparency initiative, councils are becoming more open. However, most citizens attending meetings must currently rely on paper handouts and documents to provide context for the items being discussed.
Unfortunately for local government councils and tax payers, this method is no longer efficient, as it does not take advantage of the advances made in paperless communication. By offering a digital alternative, it allows the public to have more autonomy and flexibility, participating in the meeting in a way that suits them best.
Moreover, printouts can be costly because of the large amount of paper involved at every one of these meetings. Even departments that are internally paperless seem to have been unable to avoid these external-facing costs, since printing and distributing meeting agendas have often been a requirement to properly engage the public.
By being creative and open-minded, these inefficiencies can be eliminated while still meeting the needs of the public. There are a number of options that city councils should consider to help solve this predicament.
By simply allowing public Wi-Fi with a guest sign-in and hosting the meeting material on a website for attendees to view, this might be the simplest and most immediate solution for the city.
Pros: This significantly reduces the reliance on the council to provide printed meeting materials, and most people own a portable device. There is also no risk of under- or over-printing materials, even with unpredictable attendance.
Cons: People are already distracted enough as it is with and social media; by allowing them to use their own devices, the temptation for them to disconnect from the meeting to do something else can be strong. There may also be some people who do not own such portable devices, potentially leading to accessibility concerns, which brings us to the next option&#;
To cater to those who do not own a device that they could bring with them, an alternative is for the city to provide one for them at the meeting venue. The city would need to purchase a number of tablets, pre-load them with meeting materials, and have them placed in each seat of the meeting quarters or available at the entrance to the venue.
Pros: This ensures every member of the public is looking at the same information, and eliminates the risk of throwing away huge stacks of paper for printouts that exceed meeting turnout.
Cons: This option can obviously be costly, and would also require a measure of security to ensure the tablets aren&#;t being removed from the room. Users unfamiliar with such devices may also need extra assistance &#; even if the materials are pre-loaded, one errant click of the home button can cause attendees to get &#;lost&#;.
Digital kiosks are becoming more and more popular everywhere you look. Whether you are finding your gate at an airport or purchasing food from a fast food restaurant, digital kiosks help provide clear information to users. Cities could install digital kiosks in meeting rooms so that the public can access information on those screens.
Pros: Kiosks can be very user-friendly to ensure that people can easily interact with them.
Cons: Each kiosk might get over-crowded, especially when high-profile matters are being discussed. The kiosk devices themselves can also carry a high price tag.
Depending on the current state of the meeting area, another option might be to renovate it by installing new equipment and upgrading the room with new technology. For example, display screens positioned at the front and throughout the room would provide visibility of all meeting materials. Electronic voting equipment might also be investigated, and there are wireless options available that do not require hardwired button devices. Cameras and microphones might also be a useful consideration, especially if the next option (live streaming) is also being considered.
Pros: Display screens allow meeting materials to be presented during the meeting without printing, and electronic vote results can be displayed immediately to improve transparency. A variety of options are available depending on scale and budget.
Cons: Renovations can be a significant financial investment if not properly managed. Technology used in the meeting room will also require a staff member to manage the content being shown (e.g. moving from item to item on the screens).
Many people attend meetings to find out what&#;s going on in their city &#; purely an information-gathering exercise. With video having such a foothold in modern day media consumption, many public meetings can easily be streamed for people to watch at home &#; or even on their phones when they&#;re on the go. In fact, some people consume information better in the comfort of their homes, where they don&#;t have to worry about the anxieties of beating traffic, bad weather, or just being uncomfortable in a room with strangers.
Pros: Making meetings and related information available as video via the web can meet the needs of the majority of people while minimizing their time investment. (For example, beyond eliminating travel time, viewers won&#;t need to sit through the entire meeting video just for one agenda item of interest, as timestamps tagged to specific meeting items enable them to easily find and jump to what they&#;re looking for). Technology enhancers such as closed captioning services are available to further ensure that the needs of different groups are met.
Cons: Options for streaming video production, delivery and closed captioning can vary quite significantly in cost and complexity. Be sure to conduct detailed research to ensure the best fit for your budget and needs.
Related Resources: Engaging the public with videos of your meeting
Whichever of these options &#; or combination of these options &#; you choose, supplying this information to attendees is just a single yet crucial facet of your meeting processes. Implementing these options in conjunction with a central system of managing meetings might be the best course of action for any city council. Such a system helps with producing and distributing meeting agendas and supplementary materials while getting rid of the varying or hidden costs that usually come with alternatives, and improving your efficiencies before and after the meetings.
With eSCRIBE meeting software, there is a wide range of modules available to handle needs such as agenda distribution, video streaming, and voting management. If you would like to learn more about how eSCRIBE can make your public meetings more efficient, less costly, and more accessible, please don&#;t hesitate to contact us today to get more information or request a free quote.
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