Before choosing tools or defining processes in a Documentary Digitalization project, it is essential to carry out a prior analysis that makes it possible to take informed decisions, ensure the success of the project and save on unnecessary costs.
Identifying problems and opportunities through prior analysis
The previous analysis helps us to know the current state of the company in terms of information dispersion. In other words, this step helps us to have a vision of where the different documents and their flows are located. When carried out effectively, scattered documents can be located related to different company offices, plants, warehouses, suppliers or partners.
On the other hand, locating all this information in different channels allows us to detect silos and duplications, analyze how permissions and access are managed, and identify processes to be improved. All of this will be very important to a clear definition of needs and, consequently, to the choice of an adecuate document manager.
Defining the objectives of automated and intelligent document management
Before starting digitalization or implement any system, we must define what do we want to achieve with digitalization:
- Reduce time wasted searching for documentation.
- Improve traceability and access control.
- Automate workflows and integrate them, for example, with SAP.
- Ensure that information is available and up to date for those who need it.
Having clear objectives allows measure the success of the implementation and justify the investment to management.
Impact on implementation times
Performing a prior analysis has a direct effect on the project planning. When the processes, requirements and documentary model are defined from the start, it is possible to establish a more realistic plan with limited tasks and a reliable estimated duration. This avoids one of the most common problems in digitization projects: constant stops to redefine range.
Without that initial evaluation, the project moves “on the fly”. New requirements arise during the construction phase, structures that have already been implemented are reconfigured and cycles of stop—redefine—redeploy extend deadlines significantly. In many cases, what was planned for six months ends up extending more than a year.
On the contrary, an approach based on a well-defined scope and validated by users and technical team allows meeting deadlines and evolving subsequently through controlled improvements.
Cost savings and range control
Time optimization and meeting deadlines have a direct impact on costs. Furthermore, when processes, functionalities and user expectations are identified from the beginning, the economic proposal is adjusted to reality. This avoids budgetary deviations resulting from functionalities not initially contemplated, changes in scope during implementation, or discrepancies between what was expected by the business and what was planned by the technical team.
Projects based on solid analysis tend to be on budget and can significantly reduce total implementation costs.
In addition, this initial effort is not wasted after the first deployment: it becomes a reusable guide for future roll-outs to other departments, reducing time and costs in the following phases and ensuring consistency throughout the documentary model.
Users are tkey when analyzing corporate processes
A critical point of the previous analysis is to involve the users who work with the documentation on a daily basis, since they are the ones who best know the real problems at work on a daily basis, providing ideas that would otherwise go unnoticed.
In addition, their participation facilitates the adoption of the system, since they feel valued and part of the transformation process. It also avoids the idea that new software is going to be imposed on them, to which they have to adapt. On the contrary, it is presented to them as a solution to their problems.
| It's essential listen to users. It is not they who must adapt to the software, but rather it is the tool that adapts to their needs. | Sofía Paredes, Brait
Brait, specialists in document digitization (successful and sustainable)
All our projects of digitization of Document Management have in common that we take care of it from start to the end. That is, from the analysis, requirements, needs and scope design to deployment and post-go-live support to the team.
We identify problems and opportunities, define clear objectives, involve users and help companies choose the right Document Manager and justify the investment. This maximizes efficiency and reduces risks.
Contact us today for your Document Management project!
