This is the second part of our feature on HR process improvement through a powerful information management system. The first installment featured four document management secrets for your HR team. Ready for the next five?
Here are five more tidbits to prime your knowledge on powerful document management and process automation for your HR department:
- Document management software allows you to automate your performance review process.
One of our clients came to us with an interesting challenge, they wanted to use our solution for employee reviews and they knew that we had automated alerts, but not quite what they needed. They requested that we give the alerts the ability to automatically trigger a workflow process. We did that and now they never forget a performance review again! With an automated alerting system, your document management system tells you when it’s time to execute those critical reviews, allowing you to electronically distribute the necessary information to the reviewers and even have reminders set to ensure they get completed on time.
- Grant access to documents from remote offices.
One of our clients is a large technology consulting firm with offices located in multiple states. Many of their people work on multiple projects and often need to be tasked from other offices. With their paper records, each office ended up keeping a copy of their personnel file. What they ended up with is mismatching files and copies located in multiple offices. With our solution they do not have to make copies, overnight files or even fax or email critical documents. Now there is no need to keep duplicate copies in the remote offices, keep only the electronic copy and save office space. Everything is accessible in one cloud-based repository.
- Keep all critical files on lockdown with secure document management.
One of our fortune 1000 customers has so many employees that they had to dedicate a team of people just to retrieve and replace employee files. They need to be kept secure but authorized people need access. The expense was growing right along with the company. With paper records, you have to remember to lock the files away whenever you leave your desk, even if it’s just for a quick snack break or a run to the bathroom. If you don’t lock them up, you’re liable to HIPAA violations. With an electronic document management system, the system timeout setting automatically logs you out and shuts down access to files.
But it’s not just the locked-up documents you have to worry about when you rely on paper files. When your records are secured in an electronic system, you don’t have to worry about personal information being left absentmindedly on people’s desks.
- Never worry about “returning files” after viewing.
This one’s simple: When you receive a paper document, you have to put it back when you’re finished. But, what if you return it to the wrong place or, worse yet, you forget to put it back altogether? We’re all human and we all make mistakes, but these mistakes lead to lost, damaged, violated or stolen documents. The time saving here are enormous. Your HR team can literally save hours per day by not having to carry documents back and forth between their desks and the locked file cabinets.
In the seamless world of electronic document management, you’re never in taking possession of the original document. You’re simply viewing a copy of it, while the real document stays locked up in the system – only accessible to the appropriate people, always secure and never misplaced.
- Set up an electronic file for employee data, and only set it up once!
Document management should not be a hassle. One client maintains over 50 documents for each employee. In their old system, every time they added a document to the file, they had to type all of the information again, name, address, phone, etc. This led to many mistakes and incorrect data. In our system when you add new documents all you have to do is enter the employee ID to link the document to the corresponding record, no repeated typing of their information.
Want more tips on taking the hassle out of HR information management? Click below to download DocuVantage’s free report: Improving Information Movement With Workflow Software.
