Professional Services and the Elephant in the Room - Part 1

So… you’ve decided to implement FileHold. Installation is done, hard part is over—or is it? Let’s discuss the Elephant in the Room.

The necessity for document management system is usually driven by requirements for better management and control over corporate information, be it paper or electronic. And the actual effort to install a document management system is generally fairly straight forward. But once it’s installed -- then what?

Yep. You gotta configure it.

That said, the first step in configuring FileHold IS NOT configuring FileHold. That may sound odd, but think about this: how can you solve problems if you don’t know what the problems are? Therefore, the first step setting up FileHold is uncovering the elephants in the room and deciding what to do it them. (Yes, you may likely find multiple elephants that will need to be dealt with).

Pre-configuration analysis should be the first step in assessing the elephants in the room. You must first evaluate your as-is structure to understand the type and size of the elephants (some elephants are unruly). And then you must determine if any of the elephants require special attention, and you must determine where all the elephants are located (sometimes they hide). Here are a few things to consider:

• Are there existing or new business requirements that need to be reviewed and/or revised?
• Are there internal processes that need to be updated or implemented?
• What are the top user frustrations with the current system? What would make operations more streamlined?
• How do users currently store their documents? Is there a structured methodology when saving documents? How do they share information? What works? What doesn’t? How can you make it better or easier?
• How do users find their stuff? What types of searches are important?
• What kind of security will be required?
• Are there external repositories of data that need to be accessed?
• Are there records retention policies or ISO standards that need to be considered? Is social media use acceptable?
• What kind of training will be required?
• Who will configure and manage the application?
• Who will monitor growth?

Yes, this may be daunting, but the more effort you put in to analysis, the fewer elephants you’ll have to deal with later.

Many organizations have internal analysts who they can utilize for this investigative phase of the implementation. Smaller organizations may require outside assistance. Either way, FileHold Professional Services may be engaged to assist with all aspects of your FileHold configuration from analysis and design to deployment, training and beyond. FileHold consultants have years of experience working with customers on successful eDMS engagements in almost every industry. We strive to find all the elephants to ensure our Customers won’t!

Now, what about that other enormous elephant in the room—Data and Document Migration? Stay tuned for Elephant in the Room, Part 2.