The Time and Cost Effectiveness of Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) Implementation

The Time and Cost Effectiveness of Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) Implementation

Business Research

For this project, you will write a research proposal using an appropriate research

method and design. In this proposal, you will answer a research question that is

based upon a specific management problem, which will also be selected by you.

The management problem should be one that organizations face today.

Once you select the research problem you are going to address, you will define the

problem in your own context (i.e., your own organization) and narrow the focus of

the research study by writing a specific research question that will guide the creation

of the research proposal.

In this project, you will provide details about how the research study should be

conducted and include the literature review, method, design and data collection

processes. You are not required to conduct the research study, but the proposal

should be detailed enough that the study could be conducted using your proposal

as the guide. The Time and Cost Effectiveness of Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) Implementation  Ethical research practices will need to be addressed in the proposal

as well, including how your proposal will ensure the protection of those involved.

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Project Instructions

Write a research proposal designed around a specific management problem.

Example topics might include:

Ensuring a well-prepared pipeline of future leaders ready to succeed current managers

and executives as they move on or retire

Creating sustainable change in a complex organization and fostering an environment

where that change is welcomed and not feared

Fostering an innovative product development system to meet everchanging customer

needs

Increasing efficiency in production o Lower the cost of procuring raw materials for the

production process o Improve the internal communication system so that all

members of the organization are “on the same page.”

Increasing quality in a product or service in order to meet ISO 9001 or Malcolm Baldrige

National Quality Award guidelines

The Time and Cost Effectiveness of Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) Implementation

1 Introduction

Background

Document management is an integral part of business management, not only for the large size organizations, but also for the middle and small size enterprises (SMEs). Inadequate or non-up-to-date document management strategies are likely to affect every business negatively, whether large or small business. However, proper document management in a business has been proven to be beneficial in a business in the sense that it saves on the time spent on accessing and sending the documents, financial resources meant for the maintenance of such systems as well as tracking customer feedback towards a product or towards the organization. Poor documentation affects businesses in a number of ways, which may be unrecoverable if not managed. These include vulnerability to exposure and hence external interferences.

In the last couple of decades, businesses have attempted to move from paper work as a means of document management in organizations, towards computer based document storage. This strategy has been successful in managing the security of documents, but not to the level of completely blocking off external interference.  Besides, computer storage has successfully reduced the space that was initially taken by the traditionally practiced paper based. However, this hardware based documentation has been limited in the sense that it has not completely eradicated the need for large storage space needed as well as the providing efficient back up and disaster recovery systems. Factors such as the staff collaboration, space for document retrieval as well as strict regulatory compliance among staff has not been effectively addressed by the computer hardware storage.

With the continuous spread in the accessibility and use of the internet, document management strategies that are based on the internet have come to play.  Electronic Document Management System (EDMS), as the internet based information management methods are referred, are software based, which makes them more independent and easier to manage than paper work. The benefits that EDMS have over the traditional methods of document management can be singly defined, based on their technicality, and on the needs of the organization. In an overview, EDMS is beneficial to organizations since it reduces the space need for storage, enhances document security, improves the regulatory compliances of staff as well as enhancing easier retrieval of documents.  The Time and Cost Effectiveness of Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) Implementation. Additionally, EDMS enhances staff collaboration and provides for better back up and disaster recovery of documents.

The organization that I work with is known as Elkins Limited, an international organization headquartered in Marseille, France but with several operational branches in North America. At Elkins, the traditional paper based documentation is still utilized, incorporated into the computer hardware based document storage which still requires an initial paper document. Before it is utilized. Even through the system has been effective to the organization, there are observable limitations that it has stayed with for a long time. This research is meant to evaluate the cost and time effectiveness that the organization is likely to achieve in the event that it opts to move from paper documentation to Electronic Document Management Systems.

Problem Statement

Document regulation has been one of the major challenges in most organizations today, with most businesses still stuck to the traditional paper based documentation, and only a few adopting the modern day software based document management systems. A number of technical, financial as well as operational barriers have been established to contribute to the slow adoption of EDMS in organizations. However, the largely used traditional document management techniques have limited the operations for most of these organizations by increasing their costs of operations and by limiting the extents and speed at which some aspects of organizational operations can be carried out.

At Elkins Limited, for example, several costs are incurred in document management since the organization has since stuck in the traditional paperwork as a mechanism of document management. Even as the cost of commercial property increases in the organization, the costs of maintaining the life cabinets, file storage boxes as well as storage bins has also purposefully increased. Moreover, the cost of retrieving documents has signid8cabrly increased. At Elkins Limited, for example, the average costs of filing a document for a year by use of the traditional paper documentation system roughly estimates to $20 while the costs of retrieving the same document is almost six times the amount spent on storage. These costs are calculated in the form of labor. Besides, close to 70% of the total number of documents filed get lost, while 3.5% of the remaining documents in the storage boxes gets mystified. Additionally, professionals and executives often use between a minimum of 55% of their office time searching for information kept in files, while only spend between 5-15% of their office time reading and utilizing that information. The Time and Cost Effectiveness of Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) Implementation.

A solution to these extravagant costs and time spent on keeping and retrieving documents for use can be fixed by adopting software based Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS). Different companies have offered a wide range of document management systems solutions, with the capabilities to retrieve documents simply by typing a word or a phrase present in the document, as presented in the full-text document search, or some that utilize the index input categories to documents and folders. EDMS are easily incorporated into other business software so as to enable access of important information in a timely manner, without any additional costs incurred. Lastly, EDMS can facilitate the access of documents virtually from anywhere, as long as there is reliable internet connection.

Research Rationale

Previous publication inclined towards exploring the relevance of internet based document have since expounded on the different aspects of DMS which are beneficial to organizations. Previous studies have also been able to test on the applicability of EDMS to control various limitations that arise from the use of paper documentation. Publications such as Leonard, (2006) have focused on the relevance of electronic documentation on supply chain management as compared to using manual or paper purchase documentation. However, there is limited publication that directly addresses the concern of organizations to reduce the time and costs used in document management. This research seeks to solve the problem of the limitations that are presented by using the traditional paper based document management systems by proposing that such organizations should shift from such documentation systems to EDMS. The study is based around a company known as Elkins Limited, which has for long used paper documentation for a long time and seeks to advice appropriately on the most effective, affordable and efficient solutions to adopt for use.

Research Objectives

Based on the problem statement given above, the objectives of this research will be to;

1. To establish, through review of relevant literature and case studies, the extent to which moving from paper documentation to Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) impacts on the time and cost effectiveness of organizations.
2. To identify the available EDMS solutions in the market, evaluate their effectiveness and recommend the best solution that would help Elkins Limited manage the time and costs spent on document managements.

Research Questions

1. How does shifting from the traditional paper based document management system to the modern to Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) impact on the organization’s time and cost effectiveness?
2. Which are the available EDMS solutions options in the market that would be readily effective and recommendable for Elkins Limited?

• Literature Review

Research framework of EDMS implementation

EDMS have largely attracted scholarly explorations on the impacts that moving from paper documentations to the modern software based EDMS in terms of the spectrum of increasing the efficiency of the organizational operations as well as to reduce option costs. The Time and Cost Effectiveness of Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) Implementation. Fenton (2017 argues that the operational benefits that moving to EDMS presents to the organization transitions from old techniques such as use of mails and scanned copies of papers, which reduces the amount of labor used in such in transactions. However, Burtylev, Mokhun, Bodnya & Yukhnevich, (2013) claim that the benefits of EDMS in organizations surpass the aspects of time and supplied alone.  This literature outlines that IDMS stretches past to address the problem of handling and registering new documents, and providing proper reporting systems for purchase and order documents Burtylev, Mokhun, Bodnya & Yukhnevich, (2013).

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The extent in which EDMS implementation goes in fixing the problem of time taken to complete organizational operations is also outlined by Babari, Bakri & Hashim, (2015). EDMS provide organizations with the relevant tools for driving the document management and automate the entire process of documentation. Besides, Aigbe & Akpojaro, (2014) have further established that EDMS implementation provides a chance for organizations to secure and control the process of documentation. Regulated content is of necessity to each organization, and hence having security and control over such files is imperative for the organization (Aigbe & Akpojaro, 2014). However, according to Arinze & Anandarajan, (2010) achieving security from paper based filing systems presents organizations with a challenge, and hence EDMS helps improves security by use of encryptions which deters non authorized individuals from accessing these files.

Most importantly, EDMS implementation have proved beneficial in enhancing the level of knowledge management and search in an organization (Arinze & Anandarajan, 2010). Document property and metadata have served as important aspects of intellectual property, and essential source of organizational information (Davis, Hardley, & Davis, 2015). Davis, Hardley, & Davis, (2015) asserts that business intelligence and search tools which are incorporated in modern EDMS software, one can generate essential metrics and trends which serve as sources of valuable information. Lastly, (Frear, 2015) provides that EDMS implementation is more likely to provide an organization with more consistent data and content. This supported by Fenton, (2016) who adds that EDMS have template management distribution tools which provide document revision managements.

EDMS implementation processes

According to Abdulkadhim, Bahari, Bakri, & Ismail, (2015) EDMS creation and implementation for use in organizational documentation management systems is a process that takes place in accordance to the international norms. Davis, Hardley, & Davis, (2015)’s study emphasizes on their aim to pioneer customer flexibility through greater formalization of all the organizations staff with the process around its operation. The process of implementation and use of EDMS are getting more and more use in the corporate world, hence there is need for organizations to adopt the most effective and affordable EDMS solutions. (Shifter & Greber, 2007).  (I.N.Burtylev, Mokhun, Bodnya, & Yukhnevich, 2013) exeplains that the process of ttransitioning from paper electronic document management system should be done in a gradual manner. Moreover, Arinze & Anandarajan, (2010) additional support staff who are enthusiastic enough to help the staff understand the benefits that will generally help the staff in the said organization to catch up with the developments as presented by Chao, (2017). Managers and organization executives ought to understand the benefits that their firms are likely to accrue from the migration from paper to EDMS. EDMS implementation relies on the existence of old files, which are coherently used to create new ones (Shifter & Greber, 2007). Burtylev, Mokhun, Bodnya, & Yukhnevich, (2013) adds that in the implementation of EDMS, organizations with paper work and archived documentation has to scan the papers into electronic and back them up in scanned forms. However, Abdulkadhim, Bahari, Bakri, & Ismail, (2015) relates to the earlier studies, adding that new organizations devoid of previously used papers, it is applicable for the implementers to create a shared means of documents storage in directories and the organization should completely prohibit storing documents on local disks of the organization storage. The Time and Cost Effectiveness of Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) Implementation

3. Research Methodology

Research methods and Design

This study will utilize the qualitative design of research, based on the review of peer-reviewed publications that have addressed the need for EDMS implementations to overtake paper documentation in an organization. This method will be useful in providing an underline scholarly information that will be coherently inform the need to shift from paper to EDMS techniques. The reason for using qualitative methods is that data collected through qualitative methods are easy to adjusts and respond to during analysis.  This research will seek to collect reliable data on the cost and time spent on searching and retrieving documents while using the traditional methods and that spent while using EDMS software.

Data collection Process and Techniques

Data in this research will be collected on the basis of cost and time spent on searching and retrieving documents while using the traditional methods and that spent while using EDMS software. The search engine technique of data collection will be employed to come with more accurate peer reviewed journals the search words will be restricted to two body texts as shown below;

1. Electronic Document Management
2. EDMS implementation

The journals targeted for this research will be required to have been published between the years 2010- 2019. The study will filter through the abstract of each and every available journal that is related to the subject and will hence get rid of the irrelevant journals. Hence study will critically examine all the available reviews aligned to the subject of study, and will classify each of the content to several themes.

Ethical Research practices

Independent review

This study will create room for independent review as a means of minimizing the potential and to ensure its ethical acceptability. An independent review team will look into the proposal to harmonize it with the set regulations for such studies.

Informed Consent

The potential participants in this study will be granted the chance to make their own personal decisions on whether they would wish to co9ntinue participating in the study or not.  The processes of informed consent will include accurately informing the participant of the purpose of the study and their roles to play in this study.

Respect for potential and selected participants

The participant’s dignity will be upheld throughout the entire study. This will be possible through keeping private the information they deliver as well as respecting their decisions on participation. The Time and Cost Effectiveness of Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) Implementation.

 

References

Abdulkadhim, H., Bahari, M., Bakri, A., & Ismail, W. (2015). A research framework of electronic document management systems (EDMS) implementation process in government.  Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technolog, 42-430.

Aigbe, P., & Akpojaro, J. (2014). Analysis of security issues in electronic payment. International Journal of Computer Applications, 108(10), 10-14.

Arinze, B., & Anandarajan, M. (2010). Factors that determine the adoption of cloud computing: A global perspective. International Journal of Enterprise Information Systems, 6(4), 55-68. doi:org/10.4018/jeis.2010100104

Brusco, J. (2011). Trending toward paperless. AORN Journal, 94(1), 13-18.

Burchell, J. (2011). Anticipating and managing resistance in organizational information technology (IT) change initiatives. International Journal of The Academic Business world, 5(1), 19-28.

Chao, C. (2017). Implementing a Paperless System for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMBs). University of Oregon Buinsess Journal , 7-15. The Time and Cost Effectiveness of Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) Implementation.

Davis, J., Hardley, J., & Davis, H. (2015). Paperless processes: Survey of CPA firms in a smaller market regarding obstacles, challenges and benefits of implementation. International Journal of The Academic Business World, 9(1), 49-59.

Fenton, P. (2018). Benefits of Moving to an Electronic Document Management System (EDMS). Journal of Business Studies , 14-21.

Frear, H. (n.d.). Fear of filing? EDM can help with paper overload and building customer relationships. Credit Control, 35(3/4), 87-89.

Huag. (2012). The implementation of enterprise content management systems in SMEs. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 25(4), 349-372.

I.N.Burtylev, Mokhun, K., Bodnya, Y., & Yukhnevich, D. (2013). Development of Electronic Document Management Systems: Advantage and Efficiency. Science and Technology March 2013, 1(9), 1-9. doi:10.5923/s.scit.201301.01

Jones, S. (n.d.). eGovernment document management system: A case analysis of risk and reward. International Journal of Information Management,, 32(4), 396-400.

Lutteroth, C., & Weber, G. (2011). Going paperless – on the evaluation of electronic form technologies. In 2012 23rd International Workshop on Database and Expert Systems Applications, 14-18.

Miller, S. (2014). How safe are your digital documents? University Business, 17(5), 27-30.

Shifter, A., & Greber, D. (2007). Getting real about the paperless office: Improving service and efficiency by reducing paper use. Benefits & Compensation Digest, 44(3), 38-43.

Welsh, T. (Dec 2007). Growing profits with technology. Journal of Financial Planning, 20(1), 11. The Time and Cost Effectiveness of Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) Implementation.