All companies have problems controlling the storage and retrieval of documents vital to the operation of their business.
Keeping secure records which can be accessed immediately for inspection has necessitated vast paper records being stored in locked rooms and safes. These records occupy valuable space and in many instances can be accessed by unauthorised personnel. Retrieving the information on request is made difficult by the quantities of paper that are kept. This product provides a solution which attacks each problem in a specific manner; reducing the volumes of filed paper, increasing security and reducing the risk of theft and misplacement.

Original documents are filed once and are not required unless referral for proof or legal action is necessary. If an original has been misfiled there is still a copy on the computer which can be printed and certified as genuine in front of a Commissioner of Oaths.
Companies currently either:-
Store records on site in filing cabinets or strong rooms. Unfortunately under this method misfiled documents may never be found. If a document is accessed it may not be refiled correctly. Deliberate sabotage, either for gain or revenge, is also possible.

Send the documents to microfilm or microfiche companies for duplication and then store the original documents on-site or off-site with a document storage company. This method has some of the advantages of DocScan but costs per copy are far higher, capture time is longer, and access to the microfilmed information is restricted to those staff members with costly microfilm readers.

With DocScan any staff member with access rights and a Windows computer linked to a network can access, print, fax or email any stored document.

Space
An area of concern to any company is the space required to store paper documents. Floor space costs are continually rising and any method which gives fast, safe, and reliable access to documents should be investigated by these companies. Once a decision is made to store documents electronically the amount of space required to store the scanned documents on a host computer is vital. Davidson Communications has designed the program to minimise the space necessary to maintain the clarity of the documents. Typically a black and white document which would be stored in 450 000 characters (450k) of Hard drive space can be stored in less than 40 000 characters (40K) using DocScan

As a rule of thumb on a 60Gb. Hard drive we can store between 2million and 3million document pages (between 6 000 and 9 000 lever-arch files, or 600 to 900 metres of wall space.) This equates to between 200 and 300 4 drawer filing cabinets.

In addition, many organisations have documents with a large number of pages in their content. Scanning such documents can be a lengthy process, but hardware available to Davidson Communications allows between 6 and 120 pages to be scanned per minute. These are stored as multiple pages within a single file thereby reducing file system access times as well as the time necessary to capture all the pages.

Advantages

The following list features some of the advantages associated with the DocScan system:
An automatic link between a scanner and database.
Fully customisable features to customer requirements
Helps promote the paperless office.
Powerful search capabilities.
Secure, customisable storage capabilities.
Easy functionality and maintenance.
Low storage and maintenance costs. Documents are stored in less than 10% of the Storage space normally utilised by standard scanning software.