The Life Cycle of a Document: Capture
The four phases include:
1. Capture
2. Manage
3. Archive
4. Retrieval
In order to simplify this process, I believe that it will be helpful to cover each phase as its own respective topic.
1. Capture: capture is the process of acquiring a document and the information associated with the document in whatever file-form it is in, and then, converting the document from that original format into a format that can be utilized by your document management system.
Thus, the Capture phase is the act of obtaining information that you wish to store and make readily accessible.
A document can be captured both physically (i.e. via a scanner) and internally. The primary modes of internal capture include: faxes, email attachments, and website downloads.
Furthermore, the capture phase acquires two aspects of a document. First, there is the paper form of the document. This is the certificate, record, form, article, etc. that the general user will read and utilize.
Second, there is the information about the document that is stored in a database. This is the information that a system uses to store and retrieve the document. The information about a document is utilized in the latter phases of a document's life cycle and are particularly helpful when a user is searching for a document within their system.
For example, imagine that you are the director of your business's human resources department and are responsible for managing and accounting for pay-roll. Additionally, in order to maximize your time and expenses, you have employed a document management system to retain and safe-guard this information. During the capture phase, you will scan or upload the actual pay-roll stubs. As such, the physical pay-stubs will be sent to a file folder; in this case, the file folder might be called, ‘Pay Roll'. Additionally, information about the physical pay-stubs, such as who signed them, who they belong to, the amount that was paid, the name of the file folder and where they are saved are also stored on your system's database. Now that your pay-stubs have been captured, they are ready to be managed, archived, and retrieved.
Whether you are working with pay-stubs, archiving birth certificates, or organizing legal documents-managing these files effectively begins with proper organization. Hence, the goal of the capture phase is to acquire the information associated with your documents in a manner that will allow you to find them-hassle free!
