Page 26 — VANGUARD, WESDNESDAY APRIL 14, 2010

MZ Consulting urges switch to e-drawer document system
By Emeka Aginam

With the gradual move to the paperless VV office environment, the Managing Director of MZ Consulting, an indigenous Information Technology service provider, Mr. Musa Zubairu has urged corporate organizations in the country to embrace Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) for storing and tracking volumes of data in an electronic format in their organisations. EDMS is the process of storing, tracking and retrieving volumes of information processed each day by organizations in e-format
Zubairu who addressed IT journalists last week in Lagos on the benefits and features of the software, that MZ Consulting is committed to assist organizations to efficiently store data in e-format using EDMS in the knowledge economy.
He assured that EDMS was built to meet the needs of all institutions including medical, financial, law firms, insurance, transportation, government, education, mortgage, real estate, construction,    non-governmental organization, government and other professional service organizations.
EDMS, he explained, is a multi-user system that allows as many users to have access to the system simultaneously, adding that the system allows for any type of document or publication into its' own "eDrawer."
The software, he said also serves as an "e-Library" for monitoring and maintaining electronic documents with appropriate audit controls on access and usage.
EDMS, if well embraced according to him, will allow companies locate files through electronic means within very short periods measured in nano-seconds.
These vital information, according to him, may consist of institutional records such as internal memos, letters, approvals, students' records, examination answer papers, staffs employment details, medical records, personal profile, among others to formal organization documents such as contracts agreement, briefs, memorandum and articles, e-mails, faxes, forms, invoices, bank statements, and other office related documents.
The system, he further explained, significantly reduces document retrieval times, allowing organizations to get more work done in significantly less time, thereby cutting unnecessary overhead costs and increasing overall productivity.
The software, according to the MD of MZ Consulting provides the tools for various industries to comply with legislation that specify policies and procedures for record keeping.
MZ Consulting, he said actively supports eDrawer Document Management System which delivers tremendous value for any paper intensive business, adding that it was purposely designed to be a very easily configured application.
" Specific departments within organizations, such as human resources and accounting, can greatly benefit from e-document management systems.
Even individuals with items like tax returns, mortgages, wills, receipts, and a host of other paper files can benefit by providing safekeeping and security of their most important files and documents, he said.
"EDMS supports all documents / record types no matter which application created them. Using a scanner, search keys and indexes can be created while putting them into an electronically secured drawer.
"In each drawer, documents can be placed into appropriate folders. These documents can be retrieved, processed, annotated, updated and checked out at any time and finalised based on the appropriate user authentication" he added.
Document misplacement, immediate unavailability or eventual lost by employees, he said usually means additional copies and

RC: 702419

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