FormFast, Inc.

Content and Document Management Abstract

Enterprise Content Management (ECM) at FormFast, Inc.

Managing "content resources" has become a crucial and critical process for today’s organizations.

As part of its ongoing commitment to finding process improvement solutions, FormFast, Inc recently participated in a market evaluation with the technology-consulting firm, Doculabs, Inc. Below, we share some key elements from the presentations and discussions that took place over a two-day period.

Abstract:

Paper documents have been with us for centuries, but the dotcom revolution of 2000 brought both a new venue and a dizzying influx of e-commerce. According to AIIM International, the challenge facing organizations today is how to manage the flood of unstructured information or ‘content’ across the enterprise…" The number of Web pages is expected to grow from 925 million in 1998 to 13.1 billion by the year 2003 notes International Data Corporation (IDC), a Framingham, Massachusetts-based research firm." So it’s no surprise that Enterprise Content Management (ECM) has become such a pressing need.

AIIM International defines ‘Enterprise Content Management’ as the creation, capture, delivery, customization and management of content across an enterprise. Content is defined as any information and/or data an enterprise uses in its performance of daily business processes.

The move to an ECM strategy presents solutions to several typical business drivers:

• Operational Efficiency - Reduce operational costs, improve productivity

• Risk Reduction - Ensure compliance, reduce litigation exposure, support security standards, ensure business continuity

• IT Asset/Vendor Consolidation - Enable IT consolidation and standardization, and position the company to leverage technological advances as related to information and data

Content

When discussing ECM we need to understand "content" as it relates to the process. Office documents, Forms, Email, Eforms, Enterprise reports/COLD, CAD drawings, Images, Collaboration objects, Web content, XML content, Digital Assets, etc… all make up the "contents" of an enterprise. Each of the above content items evolves thought a "Content Lifecycle".

The "Content Lifecycle" is defined by three phases:

• Creation -- Create and Capture (authoring, import, accumulation, conversion)

• Management -- Manage and Archive (collaboration services, process automation services, library services, repository services, content intelligence services, transformation services).

• Delivery – Retrieve and Deliver -- Publishing, Web Delivery, Portal Delivery, Distribution

There are three points of interface between the document automation vendor such as FormFast and the ECM vendor:

1) WebFormFill documents, once completed, must be automatically archived to the "content" server with appropriate metadata tags to allow indexing by department, function, customer or patient ID, date, etc. They must be locked and formatted to eliminate the possibility of alteration.

2) Printed documents, including data and form image, if they have no secondary writing operations, can be submitted via COLD process to an image server simultaneously with their output to a device such as printer, fax server or email server. FormFast has APIs for all common image export formats and can export indexing data in multiple formats.

3) Printed documents which have secondary writing operations can still be indexed as long as the transaction ID, record ID, Customer/Employee/Patient ID and Date are known when the form is initiated. By generating documents on demand with bar codes containing the source document’s data, the form can be scanned later and automatically indexed to the image server.

If these three points of interface are properly implemented most errors and labor in the indexing process can be eliminated.How FormFast, Inc. Stacks Up in the ECM community
FormFast, Inc. provides specialized forms and eforms capabilities not provided by broad-based ECM vendors (unless provided through partnerships). Specialized eforms providers may use high tech architectural solutions and participate in ECM partnerships but they will most likely lack vertical experience in Health Care thus leaving the client vulnerable to unnecessary risks and costs. FormFast’s Health Care experience and knowledge is premier in the industry. Because of experience gained from working with our well-established client base, FormFast will have answers for your existing problem(s) based on solutions we already have in production.

FormFast, Inc. can serve you best when addressing Business Process Improvements and Automation within the Health Care industry. Based on cost reduction made possible by FormFast automation software, business processes will be simplified, compliance concerns will be handled, patient safety will be enhanced and even nurse retention issues based on workload will be addressed. With FormFast products, the low total cost of ownership and built in self-sufficiency (ease of use, low cost, low skill requirements, etc.) can improve and lighten you daily operations workflows significantly. Streamlined admission paperwork, web based pre-admission, scanning and storing images for insurance IDs, patient photos IDs and signatures, customize post-care instructions, communication via fax, email, etc… will all serve to automate and improve you daily processes.

Your decisions should be informed by a thorough understanding of ECM processes and issues. For our seven page white paper, Electronic Content Management, covering these concepts in more detail, please email info@formfast.com showing name and facility and we will forward to you immediately.