Caveat - I have not read all of the messages in this thread, just the
last couple, so please forgive me if I am repeating something someone
else already shared ...

Gus, here is an example of imaging without workflow from a previous
consulting/outsourcing gig I worked several years ago.  I was helping a
Fortune 500 transportation company with their corporate records.  A
major segment of materials in this collection were contracts.  One of
the projects I was engaged on for them was to image all of their
contracts for 2 major purposes: 1. to make them immediately available to
folks in their Supply Chain department for contract management and
procurement purposes and 2. to make them able to load to an ASP for
real-time collaboration between inside and outside counsel (outside
counsel was located in a different state).  There were other benefits as
well (space, resources, etc.), however the above were the driving forces
at the time.

I know you asked for specific/concrete figures, and unfortunately I
can't give those to you.  However, I can assure you that, to my client
company, the sheer ease of doing business after imaging was immense.
And I think that is the point that Bill was trying to make.  In some
instances, the cost and time of scanning initiatives is far less than
the cost of doing business in the hardcopy world.  It would have cost a
fortune to make copies of all of the contracts to share with outside
counsel, and the mailing costs back and forth would have been
prohibitive as well.  And the procurement folks were beside themselves
happy because now they could answer questions asked by anyone almost
immediately rather than having to request the hardcopy from Records
and/or find the person who already had it checked out.

I hope that gives you an example of at least one instance of imaging
being useful outside of the workflow realm.  

I do agree about your statement that, in order for true automated
workflow to work, all of the workflow components need to be electronic,
however that is not the only reason for imaging and not the only
instance of multiple users needing access to the same document at the
same time.  I'd call the project I described more one of collaboration
than workflow-related.

Happy Friday!
Julie

Julie J. Colgan
Director of Records Management
Nexsen Pruet, LLC
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803-253-8270

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