Plan your data organization
Before intensive use of your application, you should plan your data organization in the repository.
Take the information that follows only as a general idea of the basic steps you should consider before intensive use of your application.
A good analysis of your organization and an understanding of the application can help you find the best way to solve your problems. OpenKM is not a closed application; it offers more than a couple of features focused on document management. OpenKM is a flexible application and can be used in several ways. It's a good idea to spend some time understanding your organization, your business logic and the processes involved, and how the OpenKM features can work together in your day-to-day, helping your organization become more efficient and save money.
Some questions you should ask yourself about your organization:
- Where are your information and documents located?
- What kinds of documents do you have?
- Are your documents in electronic format or not?
- What document formats do you have? PDF, MS Office, OpenOffice, etc.
- How are you currently finding documents? How would you like to find them; which terms do you consider relevant?
- Who can access the information and in which way?
- Do you need a workflow process?
What are the objectives of the previous questions?
- List in a table all the distinct types of information you have (invoices, budgets, legal papers, etc.).
- Identify the format of the documents (PDF, DOC, etc.)
- Identify non-digitized information that should be processed (scanned). The digitization process can be a basic process.
- Identify for each type of information (document type) which information is relevant (metadata). For example, invoices usually have an invoice number, a date range, and a customer, among other fields. The metadata will help users retrieve information quickly and efficiently.
- Identify the security that must be applied for each document type: who can read, write, or delete information. Also, your security needs will help you set the level of application logging you require. OpenKM provides a full audit of any user action that can be configured in a more or less restrictive way.
- Identify workflows and the people involved in them.
The goal is to create a plan with a calendar and milestones.
What are the goals you are looking for with the implementation of the application? Usually they could be:
- Set some order in my organization. The application enforces users to work in certain ways, which benefits your company because it helps you set rules that all users must follow.
- Consolidate the intellectual capital. By consolidating all your company's knowledge in a single place, you make that knowledge available to be shared among all your users, with rules applied to it.
- Help you comply with legal regulations.
Try to set a specification in a single document answering these questions and others. It will help you plan how to organize the information.
Good practice
- Consider OpenKM as a project that affects all your departments and usually your customers.
- Choose the leaders.
- Gradually implement the project. You can start with a single department, a group of users, or a specific business process. Think of the implementation as a virus in your company. A good leader should demonstrate the benefits of the new system and show them to other users. Users usually receive any news in the company as something negative; however, if they perceive the application as helping their work (efficient search, saving time, and solving real problems, etc.), they will be the first to be interested in using it. One of the major goals of OpenKM is the intuitive UI, which helps in this process (after two weeks the user feels comfortable using the application).
- Think simply; the best solution is usually the easiest way to solve problems.
- Listen your users and try to get them involved in the project.
- Periodically review your plan, try to refine and identify possible problems.
