Document management all comes down to creating solutions that organize information and make it easy for the end users to accomplish their tasks.
To ensure success with any document management implementation:
- Never forget the original ROI, or the reason for the project
- Make sure to include end users in the vendor selection process
- Always include end users in the design and implementation
- Never let IT drive the project
Organizations often get bogged down in technical details to the detriment of the poor and forgotten end user. What starts out as a project to help the end user become more effective, efficient, happy or productive can quickly turn into a long and painful IT project. When this happens, and no matter how technically elegant the outcome is, the document management system is doomed to fail.
Obviously, we all know that not all IT driven projects fail. There are IT professionals who live by the first three rules above. They understand that their position is a support role that helps the organization achieve its goals. Unfortunately, those IT professionals are the exception, rather than the rule.
If you are an end user who needs to implement a document management solution to solve a specific problem such as improving your accounts payable process, managing HR documents, streamlining contract processing, or any of the hundreds of other possible issues, here’s how to know if you are doomed to fail: