Scanning Automation

Is your Human Resources department still managing employee information on paper? If the answer is “yes”, you have most likely thought about moving to electronic personnel files. Compared to paper documents, electronic personnel files allow for easier maintenance, instant retrieval and a higher level of security. When combined, these benefits add up to a significant improvement in efficiency across the entire office. The challenge lies in the conversion process. Now HR scanning software can provide companies with a shortcut to electronic personnel files.

The Old Way

The old fashioned conversion process is not a quick one. It utilizes the standard scan-to-desktop method that most of us are familiar with. Unfortunately, this is not the quickest way to move to electronic personnel files. The old way looks something like this:

1. Choose an employee file, take our the first folder section and scan the first document in the folder
2. Find the scanned document file on your computer 
3. Name the scanned document file correctly
4. Create or find the appropriate folder location to save the newly scanned document and save it
5. Repeat for every single document in an employee’s folder

Not only does this process contain many steps and take quite a bit of time, but it also leaves a lot of room for error. It’s not uncommon for staff to forget to follow strict naming conventions when converting such a large number of documents. Furthermore, maintaining a cohesive folder structure from employee to employee can be a serious challenge. If a document in accidently named incorrectly or filed in the wrong location, your team is in trouble.

The New Way

The new way to move to electronic personnel files utilizes HR scanning software to help automate the conversion process. HR scanning software has “scanning automation” features built-in. Designed to work with your existing multifunction copier or dedicated desktop scanners, your HR team can now take a shortcut through the traditional file conversion process. Here are two scanning automation techniques popular in HR:

Barcode Recognition

With Barcode Recognition, barcoded cover sheets are used to separate an employee’s folder into its various sections. Your staff can then scan the entire folder in at once. From the information on the barcodes, the system will recognize which employee all of these documents are for and label the documents in each folder section accordingly. This is a HUGE time saver when converting your existing personnel files.

Batch Processing

When you have a bunch of paper documents for many different employees, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to scan them using barcode recognition. Instead, your staff can utilize “batch processing” to scan in a stack of unrelated paperwork and then quickly break that scan down into individual documents on-screen. Batch processing is most often used as an easy way to get miscellaneous paper documents into your electronic filing system on an ongoing basis. Its also commonly used to convert your I-9 forms to electronic format when they are stored together in separate binder or folder. Finally, batch processing can also be used to break a previously-scanned document down into smaller documents. 

Learn More

Are you interested in taking your Human Resources department paperless? Give us a call today! DynaFile has been helping companies achieve a higher level of efficiency for over 15 years. With a focus on HR, our scan-to-cloud system makes going paperless easier than ever. Scanning automation tools like Barcode Recognition and Batch Processing let you take your existing files paperless fast, while still being able to easily manage miscellaneous paper coming into the department. HIPAA-compliant cloud storage keeps your files up-to-date with all required information and makes document retrieval instantaneous from anywhere. Finally, you can take all of your pen-and-paper processes like employee onboarding completely digital with online forms, electronic signatures and automated workflows. Want to learn more? Contact us today for a free demo!

Anyone who has scanned hundreds of documents knows that the biggest time sink is not feeding the paper into the scanner. The difficulty arises when you have to separate out each document and putting them into the correct folder. Organizing each document, separating it, naming it, and sorting the document into a folder takes a lot of time. One of the best solutions to this problem is straightforward: filing with barcodes via cover sheets.

Cover sheets are easy to use. Simply print them out one time and they can be reused over and over again. When you’re ready to scan a folder, just add the cover sheet to the folder, directly in front of the appropriate section. This method allows for a way to separate documents by collating in advance. Once all the collation is done, the entire folder is fed into the scanner. The software can then pick up which document goes where based upon the cover sheet. An assembly line of scanning and adding cover sheets maximizes labor hours.

So how does software recognize these cover sheets and know where to sort them? The answer is simple, but powerful. Barcodes placed on each cover sheet make it easy for the scanner to read and sort. In addition, bar codes are resilient against the variety of printing problems. If artifacts (little “printer hiccups” such as dots) get printed, the bar code is long enough to avoid problems. The same is not true of QR codes, where one tiny misprint can ruin the entire QR code. This is also an advantage over OCR or “text recognition” methods that have a hard time reading hand-written text and dealing with paper shifts that commonly occur during scanning. Also, bar codes do not need any special, unique printer or scanner. Every printer on the market has no trouble printing out a bar code and your document management system has the tools to read the barcodes.

Not all systems need to incorporate barcode scanners into their workflows, but this is a very powerful tool for making the switch to a paperless filing system. Many companies use barcode recognition methods to convert their existing paper files to electronic format. It cuts out a great many steps and saves staff a ton of time over traditional “scan, name, save” methods.

If you would like to learn more about using barcode recognition, contact us today. DynaFile is a scan-to-cloud filing system that allows for the use of barcode cover sheets. Just one of DynaFile’s scanning automation methods, barcode recognition can be used to take an entire department paperless quickly and easily. From there, DynaFile lets you take all of your pen-and-paper workflows online so you can stay paperless going forward. Contact us for a free demo!