A series of deadlines is looming for Australian government agencies under the Government’s Digital Continuity 2020 policy which aims to have all transition to entirely digital work processes by December 31 of that year.

The first have actually already passed. By 31 December 2015 over 200 agencies, including all Commonwealth courts, tribunals and commissions of inquiry, were asked to identify paper-based business processes which must be migrated over the next four years.

From, 1 January 2016, all records created in digital format must be managed digitally.

It is estimated that 1/3 of agencies don’t have digital information management strategies in place, while 40% of agencies still duplicate information in both digital and physical formats, and more than 28% of agencies are still printing information for filing

While many agencies have a lot of work to do in migrating work processes from paper to digital, EzeScan is helping many record managers make the practice of record-keeping a function of the business process as opposed to an obligation at the end of the information life cycle.

This can begin with an appropriately designed and configured EzeScan batch scanning solution, which provides governance and compliance functions in addition to being a fast and cost-effective method to digitise, capture and register documents of all types.  Its seamless integration with many popular EDRMS has made it product of choice for many records and information managers.

One of the stated aims of the 2020 policy is: “The integration of information governance principles and practices into the work of agencies”.

Many agencies are currently batch processing both physical and electronic documents.  Over time the reliance of physical documents is being phased out as paper based workflows are migrated to digital workflows.

Embedding records management

At the core of every EzeScan batch scanning implementation is alignment of the business process with the recording of defined information associated with that process as a record.  This is allowing agencies to be 2020 ready even now.

The added value is EzeScan’s ability to; 

• initiate intelligent automated processes

• accelerate document delivery

• minimise manual document handling

• capture critical information on-the-fly

• ensure regulatory and digitisation standards compliance.

In production environments EzeScan can be used as the principal records tool for the capture and recording of the digital assets.   

For decentralised capture, EzeScan’s suite of WebApps provide records-aligned business process tools for all staff within an agency and the members of the public they interact with.  Supporting both desktop and mobile devices such as tablets and phones, the WebApps ensure the digital assets are captured with the required metadata, named and filed correctly, distributed to the required personnel, initiate the correct record workflow, all with little effort and no records management expertise.

WebApp solutions include automated records workgroup capture from MFDs, digital mailroom distribution, digital file capture, file approval and intelligent barcode creation.

One of the latest EzeScan WebApps is the “Digital Forms Assistant (DFA)”. The EzeScan Digital Forms Assistant (DFA) is the ideal tool for any agency to effortlessly transfer labour intensive paper based business processes to efficient digital online ones. The web based admin interface makes it easy to create and manage web forms (such as applications, surveys, multi-choice exams and customer feedback forms to name but a few)  by simply adding the required forms objects to the Web page (e.g. radio buttons, tick boxes, list boxes, lookups, grids or images). 

Web forms can be accessed either internally on a company intranet or externally via the internet. Captured information can be validated in real-time with default metadata applied automatically. For every digital form submitted, the EzeScan WebApp Server can generate an XML file containing the captured data and optionally render the web form as digital asset (PDF) and automatically name and file this correctly into your EDRMS.  For supported EDRM systems EzeScan can also satisfy compliance and governance requirements or automatically trigger workflows delivering even greater business process automation.

EzeScan’s ability to query and validate data and upload information across multiple applications addresses the additional 2020 requirement for interoperability.  With inbuilt integration with over 20 popular EDRMS and finance systems Agencies can leverage their investment in these technologies and the assets they contain.

By use of these tools and methods, Australian government agencies can ensure that they are “2020 ready.”

Demos Gougoulas is Sales & Channel Manager with Outback Imaging, the home of EzeScan. Email him at demos@ezescan.com.au