A White Paper - by William Saffady
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The concept of a document life cycle is well established in records management theory and practice. From creation or receipt through destruction or permanent preservation, documents are subject to changing requirements for timely retrieval, convenient distribution, and reliable, cost-effective storage.
The document life cycle is divided, by frequency of reference, into active and inactive (less active) stages.
The active stage is concerned with the timely availability of information to support an organization’s business operations. The storage medium selected for the active stage must permit convenient retrieval of documents for reference, editing, or distribution.
The inactive stage is principally concerned with retention of information. The storage medium selected for the inactive stage must provide cost-effective, reliable retention of documents, often for long periods of time.
Available document storage media have distinctive strengths and limitations.
Paper is familiar and convenient for reference copies, but paper documents can require large amounts of storage space and paper files can be difficult to organize and maintain.
Electronic formats provide excellent retrieval functionality for the active stage of the document life cycle, but they are poorly suited to retention of information for long periods of time. In particular, the continued utility of electronic documents is adversely affected by the limited stability of computer storage media and the dependence of computer-processible information on specific hardware and software configurations.
With its superior stability, compatibility, and compactness, micrographics is very well suited to long, even permanent retention of documents. Micrographics technology also provides good functionary for the active stage of the document life cycle.
Paper, micrographics, and electronic media can and must coexist in document management applications. These media are less competitors than allies. It is not the task of document management to prefer one storage medium over the others, but to match media to specific application requirements.
A mixed-media approach combines the distinctive advantages of paper, micrographics, and electronic formats to satisfy specific life cycle requirements that cannot be satisfied by a single document management methodology or technology. Micrographics, in particular, has a solid track record integration with other document formats. When combined with paper or electronic media, it can deliver very effective solutions to document management problems.
Technology is a means to an end, not an end in itself. The objective of document management should always be a proper business solution.
MIXED-MEDIA SOLUTIONS
New technologies do not invariably supplant older document management methodologies. Micrographics and electronic formats offer alternatives to paper, but they have not completely replaced it. As the preceding discussion indicates, paper, micrographics, and electronic formats each have a significant strengths for document management, but no single medium offers the best solution for all phases of the document life cycle.
Paper is familiar and convenient for reference copies, but paper documents can require large amounts of storage space and paper files can be difficult to organize and maintain. Electronic formats provide excellent retrieval functionality for the active stage of the document life cycle, but they are poorly suited to retention of information for long periods of time. In particular, the continued utility of electronic documents is adversely affected by the limited stability of computer storage media and the dependence of computer-processible information ob specific hardware and software configurations. With its superior stability, compatibility, and compactness, micrographics is very well suited to long, even permanent retention of documents. Micrographics technology also provides good functionality for the active stage of the document life cycle, but users mat prefer a completely computerized system for active reference, particularly in applications that have a workflow component.
Rather than competing with one another, paper, micrographics, and electronic formats can and must coexist in document management applications. A mixed-media approach combines the distinctive advantages of paper, micrographics, and electronic formats to more effectively address the active and inactive stages of the document life cycle. In mixed media implementations, document formats complement and supplement each other, the strengths of one format addressing the limitations of the others.
Micrographics, in particular, has a solid track record of integration with other document formats. Document management systems that combine paper with micrographics are commonplace. For over half a century, office documents have been maintained in paper form to satisfy active reference and interfiling requirements, after which they are microfilmed for compact, reliable long-term storage. Similarly, scientific and business libraries may prefer paper copies for reading and routing the latest issues of professional journals or other serial publications, but they often purchase microfilm or microfiche versions of annual volumes to save shelf space and eliminate binding costs. In COM applications, microfiche reports may be supplemented by one or two paper copies to facilitate annotations or other functional requirements that micrographics cannot easily accommodate.
In computer-based document management implementations, micrographics can complement or supplement electronic document formats, delivering exceptional value in area where electronic formats lack appropriate functionality. Documents can be stored for different purposes in both electronic and micrographic formats. The electronic versions offer convenient reference and distribution for the most active stage of the document life cycle, which may span several weeks or months, depending on the application. Micrographics provides reliable storage copies for less active stages, which may span years, decades, or – in the case of permanent records – centuries. If the electronic versions are recorded on rewritable media, they can be deleted when retrieval activity diminishes, leaving the micrographic versions to satisfy continuing reference requirements. The rewritable electronic media can be reused for new documents. The approach conserves computer storage space, just as microfilming of paper documents conserves office space. Because micrographics technology can easily accommodate user’s reference requirements, the dual media approach does not compromise retrieval functionality during less active stages of the document life cycle.
Such dual-media configurations can be implemented in several ways:
Documents can be converted to electronic formats and microfilmed in separate operations, either in-house or by a service bureau.
Integrated scanner/cameras can digitize documents and record them on microfilm in a single operation.
Documents can be microfilmed and the resulting images scanned for input to an electronic document storage system. Micrographic scanners are available for roll microfilm, microfiche, and aperture cards.
Finally, COM technology can produce micrographic storage copies from computer-processible text or electronic document images.
In many electronic document management implementations, numerous older records exist on microfilm. Through less active than newer documents, such microfilm images often contain useful information that must be conveniently accessible. To avoid costly conversion of microfilm backfiles to electronic formats, a computer data base can serve as an index to document images recorded on either microfilm or electronic media. In such hybrid implementations, retrieval workstations can include display and printing components for both document formats: high-resolution video monitors and laser printers for electronic document images and reader/printers for microfilm. Alternatively, reader/scanners, as described above, can convert microfilm images to electronic formats for display, printing, distribution, or storage on computer-processible media.
For completely automated media handling, sophisticated hybrid systems can combine hard disk arrays or optical disk autochangers for storage of electronic documents with specially designed microfilm jukeboxes. In such implementations, microfilm cartridges that contain images identified by a data base search are retrieved and mounted in a scanning mechanism for transmission to desktop retrieval stations for display or printing. Since the electronic documents and micrographic images can be displayed and printed on the same devices, the document format and storage media are transparent and irrelevant to the requester.
Author: William Saffady
Reprinted From:
School of Information Science and Policy
State University of New York at Albany
For the Association for Information And Image Management International
