I M AG I NG & PAY ME N T S
PROCESSING
The Anatomy of Enterprise Content Management
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IMAGING & PAYMENTS PROCESSING
Contents
Overview2
Enterprise Content Management
3
Report Management
4
Document Management
Scanning
E-forms/E-signatures
Indexing
Manual indexing from an Image
Drag and Drop OCR
Indexing from Paper
Search/Retrieval
4
Productivity Modules
Workflow
Document Tracking
Records Management
Integration
Repositories
Storage
Backup/Recovery
Security
Auditing and Compliance
6
The Price of Change Avoidance
8
Making the Right Choice
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The Anatomy of Enterprise Content Management
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O verview
When an organization starts to look into Enterprise Content Management (ECM), it’s usually because one or two
departments are drowning in paper. Their paper problems and associated manual processes are so frustrating,
time-consuming, and expensive that they just can’t stand it any longer.
In organizations that have not embraced enterprise-wide document or content management, departments are
running out of storage space, staff wastes valuable time searching for information, sharing documents is slow
and cumbersome, and documents are misplaced or lost. As organizations grow and add locations, these issues
become more pronounced.
The key for organizations considering an ECM solution is that the solution has the potential to effectively scale
across the entire company. ECM allows organizations to move beyond the inefficiency of paper handling to an
orderly approach to all areas of the organization that puts an end to lost information and wasted time.
If you have a lot of physical documents – insurance claims, medical records, government forms, payroll, human
resources records, or student admissions, for example – and you need a more efficient way to capture, process,
and access those documents, then you’re looking for a content management solution.
ECM enables you to:
Capture documents in any format – including paper, email, mainframe reports, and electronic forms.
Manage content according to your organization’s business rules and gauge the health of processes in real-time.
Store, organize, and track your content so documents are there when you need them.
Deliver documents as soon as they’re needed so processes run efficiently, costs stay low, and customer service
is enhanced.
Preserve and protect your documents so you meet and stay in compliance with internal and external standards.
One of the first steps in creating an ECM project strategy is identifying the business problem you are trying to
alleviate. Here are five common problems we hear from customers. Do any of these sound familiar?
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I have too much paper.
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I’m losing track of documents.
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Compliance is keeping me up at night.
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My employees are engaged in low-value tasks.
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I have too many versions of critical documents.
With this in mind, this white paper discusses the various components included in an ECM solution and how they
make it possible to drive efficiency in any organization.
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The Anatomy of Enterprise Content Management
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En t e r pr ise Content Management
Enterprise Content Management is comprised of the strategies, methods, and tools used to capture, manage,
store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes. ECM tools and strategies
allow the management of an organization’s unstructured information, wherever that information exists.1
CAPTURE
STORE
INPUT
Human Created Information
• Office documents
• Forms
• Rich media
Application Created Information
• Report processing
• E-forms
• XML
Technologies:
• Data/document recognition
• Document imaging – scanning
• Forms processing
• E-forms/Web forms
• COLD/ERM
OUTPUT
MANAGE
Collaboration
Tracking
Workflow/Business Process
Management (BPM)
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Distribution:
• Paper
• Internet
• Extranet
• Intranet
• Portal
• Email
• Fax
• Mobile devices
• E-statements
Library Services:
• Search
• Version control
• Check in/out
• Retrieval
• Audit trail
PRESERVE
Classification:
• Indexing
• Index design
• Categorization
DELIVER
• Retention
• Compliance
• Archive
Archive
• Paper
• Film
• Optical
• Network Attached Storage
(NAS) / Storage Area Network
(SAN)
• Content Addressed Storage
(CAS)
Definition: AIIM 2013 “What is ECM”
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Being overwhelmed with paper is one thing. Being overwhelmed by information is another. After all, paper is
something most organizations want to eliminate. Information, on the other hand, is the lifeblood of a competitive
company. The more information the better, but only if critical documents are organized, accessible, and secure.
”Critical documents” means everything that’s important to a particular organization. If you’re in financial services,
mortgage and loan documents are critical. For those in the insurance industry, anything connected to a claim and
claims processing is key, both to the bottom line and to customer service. Healthcare? It’s everything involving
the patient. And it doesn’t matter how big or small your organization may be; employee records and policy
documents are vital for your human resources department.
Regardless of how you manage content that enters your organization’s infrastructure from various sources, it has a
preferred lifecycle. The ability to access the correct version of a document or record is important, but companies
must go further. Content must be managed so that it is used to achieve strategic business goals. Central to this
strategy are the tools and technologies of ECM, which manage the complete lifecycle of content, birth to death.
ECM is an ongoing and evolving strategy for maximizing the efficient use of content. It will be helpful to use the
information below as a starting point to review the common ECM components. Map a current process to see
where you may find overlap and room for improvement for the applications and strategies that your business is
developing. As always, you must match the technology tools to address your organization’s needs. Technology
can enable streamlined management of content, but the underlying strategy must come first.
There are three components that make up ECM: Report Management, Document Management, and Productivity
modules – they all bring specific functionality to the organization.
Report Management is a key component in any ECM solution. It will archive report data and allow the
organization to electronically view, export, and manage data such as accounting reports, loan records, inventories,
shipping and receiving documents, and customer bills. This eliminates the handling of paper or microfilm/
microfiche. Data that is imported from a core system should be viewed in a structured format; much like it is
viewed within the core system. The ECM report repository should provide multiple points of data access and
immediate desktop retrieval. A report management solution should give your users a way to export data to
analyze and manage it in different ways using popular data mining solutions such as Business Objects®, Monarch®
or Microsoft® Excel®.
Document Management helps organizations better manage the creation, revision, approval, and
consumption of electronic documents and content. It provides key features such as library services, document
profiling, searching, check-in, check-out, version control, revision history, annotations and stamps, audit trail, and
document security. Document management can be broken down further to show the specific components that
are included within its framework.
Scanning is one input source used to capture information. Paper generally enters the organization’s
ECM solution through a scanner, or sometimes a multifunction device. In centralized scan operations, large
volumes of paper are put into the system by dedicated workers. In distributed operations, smaller volumes of
documents are captured with lower volume scanners or multifunction devices closer to their point of creation.
Auto-importing is often used to simplify the acquisition of documents.
E-for ms/E-signatures can be used in “straight-through processing” in any business transaction that uses
electronically captured documents such as customer onboarding, purchases, insurance enrollments, legal
documents, and more. Implementing an e-signature solution helps eliminate the time and resources required
to scan, copy, and file paper documents. Capturing the signature can be easily managed using electronic
signature pads or tablets. Once the document is finalized, the auto-indexed signed e-documents can be filed
into the ECM repository. The e-form/e-signature solution may also provide a way to deliver documents to
consumers for e-signature via an online solution using multiple authentication techniques, as well as to validate
document integrity each time the signed document is accessed. Consumers can safely review documents
online anywhere they can connect to the Internet, and electronically sign their confidential or sensitive
documents, such as consumer loans, in privacy at a time that best suits their needs or schedules.
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Increasingly, electronic document images and signatures have the same legal status as a paper document or
“wet” signature. Both the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA 1999) and Electronic Signatures in Global
and National Commerce Act (ESIGN 2000) enable the presentation of electronically signed agreements where
paper and ink would have historically been required in most, though not all, business-to-business or consumer
transactions. The three pillars of this legislation are:
A record or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because it is in
electronic form.
2.
If a law requires a record to be in writing, an electronic record satisfies the law.
3.
If a law requires a signature, an electronic signature satisfies the law.
1.
Be sure to view specific legislation for your state, as the UETA applies to state law, and your state may, or may
not, have adopted this legislation in its entirety.
Indexing is required so your users can find the documents and records that are stored in the ECM system.
There is a tradeoff between too few and too many index fields. Use too few and you may not be able to locate
documents easily. Use too many and it is difficult and expensive to capture the index data. Typically a balance
is struck so that somewhere between 5 and 10 index fields are captured.
Ideally, in order to import a paper or electronic document into your ECM system, you won’t have to index at
all. This ideal is achieved when the business process that captures the document indexes it automatically. For
example, a user fills out an application online and submits it electronically. The system knows what form it is
and processes it automatically. Another example is at a doctor’s office when you are asked for an insurance
card. The receptionist scans your card and the information is read automatically.
Manual Ind exing from an Image is a traditional method of indexing incoming paper documents.
Documents are scanned, often using patch pages or barcodes to delineate the start of a new document, and
then indexed by a data entry operator who enters index data while viewing the image.
Drag and Drop OCR is a technique that can be used as a supplement to the manual indexing. This
technique allows the data entry operator to “rubber band” the portion of the image needed and the system
does an on-the-fly OCR and places the data into the Windows clipboard, where it can then be pasted into the
appropriate index field. This helps make the indexing quicker and reduces the number of keystrokes required.
This approach is also useful when the person doing the indexing is not a full time data entry person.
Indexing from Paper instead of the scanned image is often done when the capture process is a “back
end” scanning approach. This approach is useful as an interim step during an ECM implementation, before
the full optimized business process is developed. In this case the scanning is performed after the paper is
processed. As the paper is processed (for example, information from the paper document is entered into a
primary business application) a barcode cover sheet or label is printed.
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Zonal OCR is used to extract data from fixed fields on paper forms such as applications. This
is helpful when you receive a lot of the same types of forms. Software is used to design a forms
template so it can find the zone from which you plan to extract data. In its simplest form, Zonal OCR
extracts machine print data from one or more zones on the document, validates it by using simple
rules such as format, length, data mask, etc., and then populates a data entry form. This data can then
be routed to error correction stations before upload to the destination system.
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Forms processing takes Zonal OCR to another level. It is used in high volume forms-capture
environments to extract data from fixed-field forms. The data may include machine print, or mark
sense (like the circles on the SAT test for choosing the correct answer). This technology uses forms
recognition to determine which form is being processed. It uses anchor points to match the stored
form template to the image, often needing to de-skew and stretch the image to match the anchor
points and align the template properly.
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Auto classification is used primarily in high volume capture environments. One of the high-cost
components is the labor needed to prepare the documents for scanning. This often includes placing
patch pages (a specialized barcoded page) between folders and/or documents. When recognized by
the scanner or scan software, these patch pages automatically delineate the start of a new folder or
document, thus making it easier to index the documents downstream. This extra step adds to the cost
of the document preparation process and over time can significantly increase costs.
Auto classification software is used to identify document types in a capture process. It can be used in
all kinds of data streams, but here we are focusing on auto classification of scanned paper documents.
The software requires setup and extensive training to properly identify documents. It can determine
the start of a new document, the type of document, and the end of a multipage document. Once that
occurs, documents are automatically routed to indexing stations or data extraction processes that
operate based on the document type.
Search/Retrieval delivers one of the greatest benefits of a strong ECM system – the ability to efficiently
get out what you put in. By having strong indexing, taxonomy, and repository services, locating the information
in your system should be a snap. The best solutions provide users a full text search solution that will quickly
search specified network directories and all of the stored report data, electronic documents, and check images
with free-form, natural language searches. It should also compensate for errors such as misspellings, typos, or
poor quality type on the content that is searched.
Productivity Modules deliver additional functionality for specific applications and business needs.
Workflow functionality streamlines business processes and procedures. A document or activity can
activate a workflow automatically based on an organization’s business rules. Employee applications can
be distributed to the appropriate individual in human resources for review, sales orders can be sent to a
manager for approval and then on to distribution for delivery, and credit applications can be sent to the
appropriate manager in the finance department for immediate review and approval. Automated workflow
is seamless, quick, and ensures accountability.
Consider which processes are candidates for automation, and whether they require some degree of ad hoc
processing or manual intervention. Workflow handles approvals and prioritizes the order documents are
presented. In the case of exceptions, workflow also escalates decisions to the next person in the hierarchy.
These decisions are based on pre-defined rules developed by system owners.
Document Tracking can be used to ensure that documents are received and files are complete and upto-date. Documents can be tracked and managed to ensure all documents are received and present based on
predefined checklists. Document Tracking can also notify and alert the organization to any documents missing
or incomplete. Vehicle titles, insurance policies, and other trailing documents can also be tracked to make sure
they are received within a specified time.
Records Management manages content of long-term business value. They are deemed records and
managed according to a retention schedule that determines how long a record is kept based on either
outside regulations or internal business practices. Any piece of content can be designated a record. Records
management is responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use,
and disposition of records, including the processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of and information
about business activities and transactions in the form of records.
Integration via an API toolkit allows an organization to integrate with existing line-of-business applications
using a Web service or a COM API. Integration toolkits enable organizations to provide their users with a
window to information that exists within their core or platform solutions.
Repositories are where the data, and much of a company’s investment in ECM, reside. A repository can be
a sophisticated system that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, or, in a small company, as simple as a file
folder system. The key is to keep the information secure and available so that you have information that can be
found once it is placed into the system.
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Storage functionality gives content a place to “live.” Storage technology (NAS/SAN, magnetic, tape,
microfilm, RAID) provide options for storing content online for rapid access or near- or off-line for content
that isn’t needed often.
Backup/Recovery functionality allows you to back up content in various formats and/or locations to help
ensure business viability in the face of a disaster.
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Continuity. Keeping a business going 24 x 7 is the task of business continuity planning. While often
mentioned with disaster recovery, business continuity planning is the overall strategy for ensuring
that operations continue in the event of any disruption – natural or man-made. Disaster recovery is
more narrowly focused on getting an organization’s IT infrastructure going again, a subset of business
continuity. Because the lifeblood of most businesses today is represented by electronic documents,
ECM has a key role to play in continuity. After all, without access to the most vital electronic
documents, a business is dead in the water.
Methods of storage will vary depending on how critical the content is to the company – from off-site
backup tapes to redundant, mirrored sites separated by geography and on different power grids. A
strong continuity plan will show you that not all content is critical. Companies must prioritize content
to determine how quickly it needs to be back online in the event of a disaster. Business continuity
begins with a sound plan and high-level executive support.
Security restricts access to content, both during its creation and management as well as when delivered.
The security controls, combined with the auditing and reporting capabilities, provide the tools to both create
and enforce access boundaries for everyone within your organization, to maintain security for you and your
customers.
Auditing and Compliance are extremely important topics in today’s regulatory environment. Financial
institutions must make sure their systems are secure, auditable, traceable, and flexible enough to quickly adapt
to any new regulations. The best ECM solution will:
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Ensure consistent record keeping, guaranteeing the right information is available to the right people.
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Automate document retention to provide consistent disposition based on business rules
identified by the customer.
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Respond to audit requests and legal concerns in a timely manner.
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Control revisions and instantly track changes to records.
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Compliance. The key to a successful compliance strategy is integrating the idea of compliance
success into your business – not viewing compliance as a project that can be completed and then
considered “finished.” While often painful, complying with regulations should be viewed as an
opportunity to improve common business processes and not just an ongoing cost to the business.
It is no secret that there can be high costs associated with compliance initiatives regarding both
technology and employee time. Securing compliance for only one regulation at a time (such as
Sarbanes-Oxley or HIPAA) will cause your costs to grow as each new regulation is established over the
years. To help limit the risk and cost, proactive ECM strategies must be developed within key areas,
such as records management and business process management. The strategies must ensure that the
proper business practices are followed and that content is properly captured, stored, managed, and
disposed of at the appropriate and legal time in its lifecycle.
Developing a compliance initiative properly will tap many areas of expertise, particularly legal, IT, and
records management; all in support of the overall business objectives of the organization. Individuals
from each of these areas must contribute their knowledge and perspectives to ensure the benefits
of a sound compliance program. While compliance is not always a technology problem, information
technology, and the massive growth of unstructured content, contributes to corporate exposure. The
tools of ECM, properly used, can help reduce the overall cost of compliance to the business.
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T he Pr ice o f Change Avoidance
While ECM can be a costly initiative, what are the costs of not properly managing your content? The cost of not
implementing ECM tools is often left unmeasured until too late. Consequences like the cost of lengthy legal
proceedings, the cost of lost repeat business due to the inability to perform simple customer service interactions,
and the cost of typical business process delays are easy to measure after the fact. You can simply calculate
lawyers’ time, the cost to acquire new customers, and FTE salaries.
Understanding the cost of these potential losses will allow you to see that ECM investments have valuable
benefits that can often, but not always, be measured. The key is to set your important metrics for success up
front and measure your success based on those expectations. The improvements will not always show on the
final balance sheet but they are there. While identifying a direct ROI can be difficult, you can see the impacts of
the improved process efficiency on the business. ECM tools can make your organization more efficient and drive
down your cost of doing business.
Our society is so accustomed to working with paper that it can be daunting to consider implementing an ECM
solution. Consider, however, that our comfort with paper can be exchanged for the comfort of an ECM solution,
as its tools become part of your business process on a day-to-day basis. Embrace the change now, and a year
from now it will feel normal.
Ma k ing t he Right Choice
Many factors play a role in determining which approach to ECM is right for any given organization. For example,
large, geographically dispersed organizations could benefit from an outsourced, centralized mail processing
capability that includes capture and automated linking to an in-house workflow system. Small and mid-sized
organizations with little IT expertise or a limited budget may benefit from a SaaS (Software as a Service) model in
which functionality is supported by experts and maintenance is automatically provided. A hybrid, module-based
system is often the best approach because it enables a business to build and modify a system as needs arise.
In conclusion, it should be reiterated that there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to ECM. Each ECM
deployment should be a customized approach that best leverages a specific organization’s competencies
and strengths.
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Copyright © 2013. Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.® All rights reserved. ProfitStars is a registered trademark of Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.
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