Any classification system or search engine works how the database’s or inventory’s specific contents or items have been indexed. How particular items in a database or library are sorted, classified, organized, and placed in a location determines whether anyone looking for anything could do it more quickly and conveniently. Libraries have their indexing and classification systems because they do a lot of storage and retrieval tasks.
Document management software systems have been developed to help companies solve their document indexing and retrieval processes. This technology is beneficial for businesses that handle many documents, such as law firms and insurance companies. You can check this out and the other similar sites if you’re looking for document scanning software to enhance your document management system.
Without any further hesitation, here are some of the best practices you can adopt and implement to improve your indexing system.
- Consider Automating Simple And Repetitive Tasks
As outlined earlier, you’ll have to process and convert your documents into digital files before you get to the indexing part of your knowledge management system. Some of these steps and processes are simple and repetitive tasks that don’t need human discretion or intervention. Then, it just so happened that there were no technologies yet before to do them. They had to be done by human workers before when there were no computers yet.
To accomplish this, you have to identify which tasks and steps in your document management system can be automated. Usually, these would cover tasks that don’t require anyone to decide about anything. Scanning books and thick files, for example, can now be done with scanners that can also mechanically flip each page after it has been scanned. Various scanner models are currently out on the market to perform this task for you.
The best practice, in this case, would be to use automation equipment and software systems to handle simple and repetitive tasks and processes. There are many tasks and steps in your document management system. You can automate those tasks which don’t require making a choice or a decision.
Scanning documents is one example of a task that doesn’t require anyone to think of what to do. Saving your documents into categorized and organized folders can also be automated now. There are AI-powered document management systems that can now read the contents of a document and decide where to save it in your database and folders.
- Rationalize Your Naming Conventions And Indexing Structure
One of the most important things you have to do to develop an indexing system that works is to make sure that your files can be found with relative speed and ease. You might have a general idea of the contents of each specific folder or file, especially if you’ve personally worked on them. But you might not know the contents of other files in your inventory if they were assigned to another team.
It’s essential to rationalize your naming conventions for your files to be located with speed and relative ease. The way you name your files should take into account what their contents are. It should also anticipate what keywords the person searching for them would use. Your folder names and file names should also consider how the search algorithm of your indexing system works to make the search process faster and more accurate.
The best practice here would be to work with the provider of your document management software or indexing system on how to name your folders and files. This would make sure you and your document management software provider are on the same page on how to search for any type of document in your database. You should also consider asking the teams which will most likely use their documents whether the naming conventions you came up with work for them.
- Test Whether Your Search Interface Works For Your Users
Another critical aspect of indexing is to find out what your users feel and experience when they use your keyword search interface. The indexing system is just the database back-end part. But it’s connected to the front-end search interface, which all of your users would see each time they look for a file or document in your database or library.
Keep in mind that what you or your indexing system providers had in mind when you sorted and organized your files and documents might not be the same way that your users look for files or information. You should consider testing how individual users would search for the files that they’re looking for in your index. The keywords they use in the search box should somehow correspond with how you organize the files and folders in your index.
Conclusion
Indexing is one of the most crucial components of a document management system. Scanned documents have to be saved and stored in server locations which would make sense not only to people who will search for them but also to the indexing system and document management software.