An International Document Management Case Study.

Brief:

Stage 1

Collect, collate, label, store and codify over 250,000 pages of information from over 40 sites, spread over seven countries, in 12 weeks.

Stage 2

Provide 24 hour access from any point on the globe to search, read and update the document database.

System Requirements (Parameters):

Methodology:

The documents were prepared for scanning by Clayton Utz LTS staff at each site, this included the coding of each document with a bar code to identify the site and department the document was sourced from.

The documents were then scanned into electronic format (TIFF Group 4) and stored in accordance with the bar-code requirements. At the end of each day all the scanned documents were transferred to tape or CD-ROM, depending on the equipment being used. A plan to transfer images back via dial-up or ISDN links was not practical in this instance to the the tight timeframes involved. The images were then sent back to Clayton Utz in Melbourne for down loading to the central storage medium. (Magnetic Disk).

Each document (image) was then checked by a data entry operator who also entered the category and other relevant information into the document "Home" page. The term "Home" page was derived from the use of Internet technology in the design of the system. Each document, identified by the bar-code, was assigned a unique home page where all related information and links were stored and maintained. (Server software supplied by Ringtail Solutions Pty Ltd)

The use of Internet technology allowed live access to the document "home" pages and the documents themselves. Teams of up to 12 lawyers could work on a set of documents simultaneously. In some cases the legal teams were split between Melbourne and Sydney with little effect on their ability to work as a team on the assembled material. Later in the process satellite sites were set up in the USA and the UK to allow access by local lawyers and client representatives in those countries. These satellite databases were kept up to date by transferring updates via the Internet backed up by CD-ROM copies.

The use of Internet also allowed a secure remote link to be utilised allowing the client, and other parties working on the matter, to access the information from their own offices 24 hours a day. This allowed the financial team to work on the relevant documents from their own offices in Melbourne using dial-up connections. Open internet access was not provided due to security concerns.

System Statistics:

The Future:

The client now has in place a snapshot of their business as of January 1998. The task continues with the weekly collection and scanning of new or modified documents to allow an up to date picture to be maintained. The use of Internet technology made possible much of what would have been nigh impossible, from a cost/benefit viewpoint, two or three years ago however, it is still not a perfect solution. A lot of the background support and maintenance work is still carried out using conventional programming tools. For the most part this is invisible to the user, as it should be, but as the development tools for the Internet improve the need to use these background tools will decrease. One particular area invites no argument; the ease of use of the Internet environment allows users to be productive within hours instead of days with conventional proprietary "front end" environments.

At the present moment a hybrid solution would appear to be the best option. Internet/Intranet for the user interface and traditional programming/database technologies at the back end for maintenance, reporting and administration would seem to offer the best combination of tools.

A number of interesting developments also add weight to this new design, ie. Third Party Hosting. This technology allows the remote hosting of database and storage solutions, with very little effect on performance, therefore negating the heavy investment in infrastructure that may be required to set up a system such as this. In short, third parties can be contracted to host the various components of the system but for all intents and purposes the system would appear as a seamless integrated environment on the office workstation. This allows the benefits of the document management system to be enjoyed by the client office without the necessity to engage in a major investment in in-house hardware, software and expertise while maintaining full control of the process and performance of the system.