The topic of document management first emerged in the early 2000s, when some entities began to realize the potential inherent in having a digital, archived and always reachable copy of their documents. Today, years later, robust and reliable digital document management is a necessity, especially in a highly bureaucratized context such as the Italian one. In which, fortunately, for some years it has also been possible to archive documents in dematerialized form.
The main benefits of document management
If we take what is happening abroad as a model, we often refer to document management as primarily a domestic benefit. No doubt this aspect is relevant and we will return to it, including with some examples, in the second part of this article. However, in highly bureaucratized countries like Italy, a regulatory one is added to the strictly operational advantage. Having a functional and efficient document archiving system also means, in most cases, having an operational advantage when, for strictly regulatory reasons, it is necessary to produce or provide specific documentation.
This, of course, is valid in businesses that decide, or have decided, to use platforms such as SAP for document management, but more importantly have adopted an effective and functional method for managing documents in digital format.
Manage documents through SAP ERP
SAP natively has a dedicated document management feature, SAP DMS, available as standard functionality when a new system is installed SAP ERP. Thanks to this module, which can also be implemented after deployment, document management is fully integrated with theSAP ecosystem, with the well-known advantages in terms of permeability and findability of information.
Among the most important features of SAP document management we find many that can help business processes, including and especially administrative and management processes, particularly with regard to integration with production and logistics departments.
In fact, in addition to making it possible to reach all business documents in a single repository, SAP DSM also makes it possible, for example, to store different versions of a document for tracking purposes, as well as to organize them according to a predetermined hierarchy and have a centralized, automated approval system. The latter is particularly useful when the supply chain involves numerous approval steps, for example in the case of invoices for payment.
Of course, these functions are complemented by some more closely related to information systems management, for example, the ability to access documents via secure Web, integration with Windows Explorer, and an advanced permissions management system.
Why is document management so important?
Before answering this question, let us limit ourselves to a simple observation: how often does it happen, especially in companies that do not perceive document management as adding value, that processes are slowed down or blocked precisely by the difficulty in finding documents and information?
To clarify with a series of examples, let us bring some with increasing levels of complexity: for example, think of the arrival of goods at the company, where the receiver will likely have to manage a packing slip and a picking list, and then pass them on to purchasing to check that everything is consistent, and so on. The physical circulation of paper makes this process extremely slow and prone to error (and possible loss). Operating digitally, for example, allows the appropriate checks to be made automatically, based on the internal or external order number.
Coming to a more complex example, let’s imagine a company that is asked to perform maintenance on a piece of machinery that is no longer in production, and first needs to retrieve blueprints, drawings and specifications. In some cases this is difficult, and sometimes even impossible, with all the attendant implications. Where, with a proper information system, it would be possible to retrieve the entire documentation in minutes or even seconds.
This is why having a system, but more importantly a method, of document management becomes increasingly important as a company grows in size.
Opportunities for improvement
As we can also see from the examples, this is, once again, a cultural change before a technical one. Companies that already have a good prior data culture (even analog) will find in tools such as SAP DMS a very valuable support to further increase their efficiency.
Those, on the other hand, that have never perceived document organization and archiving as a priority will have the opportunity to grasp its great advantages and start a virtuous process of improvement.
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In this video discover all the benefits of Document Management with SAP with our senior consultant Francesca Solazzi.
