Hyland Software's Document Management Blog

The White House on Records Management: ‘We Can’t Wait’

// November 29th, 2011 // No Comments » // Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Affordable Housing, Back Office, Document Management, Enterprise content management, Federal Government, Finance & Administration, Government, Health & Human Services, Human Resources, Justice & Public Safety, Public Works, State and Local Government // Terri Jones

“Records management can’t wait,” President Barack Obama told the federal government agencies yesterday, via presidential memorandum. It’s likely the federal government could learn a lot from state and local government agencies who have already embraced records management. Maybe you can, too.

The president hopes to transform federal agencies and create more transparency. How this will happen is captured in a White House blog post titled “We Can’t Wait: Bringing Records Management into the Twenty-First Century.”

It is a great post, but I believe it’s possible many readers will overlook a small – but important – phrase:

“…The [Records Management] Directive will focus on maintaining accountability to the American public through documenting agency actions; increasing efficiency (and thus reducing costs); and switching, where feasible, from paper-based records to electronic records.”

In those few words highlighted above, the enterprise content management (ECM) community rejoices. Why? Because ECM is a valuable tool for government, and it is an investment that should be made at every level of government, even in this time of severe budget reductions.

You see, the flexibility of a good ECM solution means the solution can become a tool for many government departments and initiatives. Understanding this, thousands of cities and counties across the country have already embraced electronic records and ECM, and have used the solution to meet a number of needs. We can see the result:

• Reduced costs. From eliminating paper and file cabinets to the costs of storing and moving files.
• Reclaiming staff time. No more searching for files, no lost documents, no filing, printing or photocopying.
• Speeding up government. Workflow automation shaves days off of processes; physical paper files replaced with electronic allow more staff to simultaneously access information.
• Connecting documents and data. Easy information retrieval helps make the transition from paper files to electronic records easy and intuitive for users, and requires little or no staff training.

At the same time, the ECM investment lays the foundation for meeting transparency and open government initiatives, while realizing all of the lowered costs and efficiency government organizations need to survive. So, access to records can take place through a website or a kiosk or a computer station at an office, improving constituent service while reducing the staff time needed to fill requests.

The good news for federal agencies is that they need look no farther than the counties and cities who have invested in an ECM solution. Other counties and cities who are considering an ECM solution can similarly find ideas and proven value thanks to the examples of their peers.

Current government ECM users show that creating transparency is just one of the benefits of moving to electronic records. So, while federal agencies may make this transition to meet a presidential memorandum on Open Government, their efforts could end up improving government operations, reducing costs and reclaiming staff time for the important work they do. The proof is in the results of cities and counties who have already moved to include ECM as one of their IT tools.

Accounts payable vs. accounts receivable: Managing the invoice tug-of-war in accounting and finance with software

// July 27th, 2010 // No Comments » // Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable // Jasin Kessler

My son just finished up a week at summer camp. At the end of the week, the parents were invited to a family day to see what their kids worked on, play games, and most importantly, to take their kids home. But, as usual, the clear favorite game of the day was tug-of-war. You know, the classic matchup of one team pulling for supremacy over the other. Brute strength is often the deciding factor.

It’s funny how so many things in life are a proverbial tug-of-war. At home, it might be struggling between purchasing that new entertainment system versus the roof on your house. At dinner, it might be the healthy choice versus the hearty choice. And at work, it might be in the accounting and finance department, specifically accounts payable (AP) versus accounts receivable (AR).

If you’re not in AP or AR, let me explain why this is such a battle. AP often interacts with a vendor’s accounts receivable department. Conversely, in AR, a customer’s accounts payable department is your regular contact. And I bet those conversations aren’t about the latest summer blockbuster or the weather for the weekend. Much too often it’s a tug-of-war over money. Did you receive an invoice from your vendor that you don’t think is correct? Or did you send an invoice to your customer, only to receive back a portion of the payment you originally requested?

So who wins? Just like at summer camp, the winner is the one with the most strength. But in this case, strength isn’t about muscles. Rather, it’s information that is the source of power. And in the AP versus AR tug-of-war, the winner is the one with the best information. Whoever’s records are best, whoever’s proof is better, and whoever has the confidence that all of the information they need is right at their finger tips will come out on top.

But there are plenty of obstacles along the way preventing a victorious finish. Too often the information is very decentralized. Think about it sitting in a file folder, manufacturing specs on the production floor, shipping documents and photographs in the warehouse, and invoicing information stuck in the accounting system. And what about all of the e-mails and phone calls that took place in between?

To prevent these obstacles, centralizing the information is key. To do so, you must be able to capture content from any number of sources and interrelate it to each other. Using software like enterprise content management (ECM), this can be done. When a purchase order is issued, it’s tagged with a number. Then, all of the subsequent documents, e-mails, photos, specifications, etc. are tagged with that same number. Now, you have all the information you need. More importantly, you have all the information you need in one place. ECM is like a one-stop-shop for information that touches all the areas of an organization’s finance operations.

So when you are haggling with your vendor’s AR department or your customer’s AP department, think about how long it would take you to gather all of the information you will need to win your argument. Then think about ECM. Without it, you might need to resort to brute strength to win, but with ECM, the strength of the information you have right at your finger tips will give you the proof you need to win the AP versus AR tug-of-war.