Document Imaging is one of the most effective records management tools available.
However, you only get the full benefits of document imaging when you use an experienced team to help the implementation process.
Converting paper records using document scanning into digital images gives your organization major productivity improvements.
Document imaging gives you these major benefits:
Achieving these benefits can be difficult and slow due to technical issues, costs, and staff expertise. The Association of Information and Image Management (AIIM) report that 50% of organizations who attempt document imaging projects fail.
You can assure success if you use a trained and experienced staff of imaging professionals to help you avoid the pitfalls.
These professionals do not have to be employees since these skills are typically needed only at the initial implementation stage of your document imaging project. They simply need to be with you at the beginning of the project to ensure your project is done properly. Shifting the burden to an outsource document imaging service will reduce internal staff requirements and help you avoid IT capital investments.
And if you are concerned about documents leaving your facility, the good news is that we provide on-site document imaging services referred to as a “facilities management” (FM) engagement.
Our Approach
…to implement the recommendations
And we do this at a guaranteed price and within a guaranteed time frame.
To learn more about our document imaging professional service process, we’ll send our free “Planning a Document Conversion” white paper. Call us at 408 -2656 -11709.
For a no obligation assessment or to learn more, call 408 -2656 -11709 or email today.
Remodeling a dental office has lots of goals that include improved appearance, improved work flow and increased patient satisfaction. When a doctor wants to stay in their current location, another common problem is dealing with patient records that keep growing. Space limitations make more storage a real challenge,
In one recent dental office remodel, the available wall space for files was only 106”. Using two, 36” and one, 30” lateral cabinets, 5-drawers provided 480 patient record filing inches. The alcove was about 30” deep. What could be done to get more records in the space available?
Current Situation (three lateral cabinets, 5-drawer) fit into 106″ alcove:
Current Patient File Area Layout3D Image of Current Layout
3D Illustration of Current Lateral File Cabinets
Solution: The alcove is about 30” deep. While traditional lateral cabinets are 18” deep, taking most of that space, modern end-tab folder, flipper-door cabinets are only 14” deep. So the available opening will get more capacity with narrower cabinets.
A “Side-Trac” system came to the rescue. Our special, narrow space-saving cabinets are available in 30”, 36” and 42” wide, and just 14” deep. By placing three cabinets in back (2, 36” and 1, 30”) and two in front on movable carriages (1, 36” and 1, 30”), the same space now stores 92% more patient files. This new configuration shown below adds 443 filing inches of storage in the same 106”.
New Moving Cabinet Solution - 3 in back, 2 movable in front
3D Image of New Layout, 3 cabinets in back, 2 in front
Side-Trac Mobile, Side-to-Side Movable Storage Solution
To learn more about high density storage in tight spaces, click on the Side-Trac Picture above or visit our web site, click here.
How to deal with changes in your Records Management needs.
The bedrock of an organization’s ongoing success is good records management. If your bedrock is shaky or changing, instead of dealing the complexity of records management change yourself, you can outsource professional records management services and save a ton of time and money.
Situations that impact your organization’s records include mergers, acquisitions, relocations, reporting requirements, ISO certification, audits, space problems, missing files, or paperless initiatives. While your organization may be staffed fine for daily operation, adding a “records management” improvement project may be a problem without professional help. Plus, your team may not have the time or expertise for a major overhaul.
If you are facing records management changes or improvement initiatives, results happen faster and more professionally when you use a records management professional services group. One we suggest you consider is TAB’s Professional Services.RefBPCH-0009
TAB Services include File Moves (keeping folders in the right order), Conversion Service (changing from inefficient vertical file cabinet storage to end-tab filing), Imaging Services (both on-site and off-site, scan-on-demand), and general Records Management Consulting. TAB’s trained and certified Records Managers provide experienced based advice on records oriented business functions, records classification, records retention and destruction, corporate records policies and records monitoring systems. Plus, during mergers or acquisitions, their help is especially valuable when consolidating multiple records into one centralized system.
TAB’s approach is to thoroughly involved you and your organization’s personnel in a needs assessment. TAB does a no-cost Survey to determine the potential project scope and objectives and prepares for your review, budgetary estimates and a rough idea of the tasks required. If fiscally OK, a detailed Proposal is prepared covering project tasks, benefits and results expect and time frame. To confirm the proposal, a Test is done to make certain that the assumptions and scope were properly identified. Then a detailed Scope-of-Work is prepared that confirms what is to be done, by whom, and when.
On the other hand, if you are looking for a good alternative to reduce your record keeping costs, reduce risk of exposure to litigation and ensure regulatory and legislative requirements, and increase record management efficiency by speeding information retrieval and increasing employee productivity, you might consider using TAB’s File Room Outsourcing capability.
Learn more at www.tab.com/Services.aspx or www.tab.com/BusinessIssues.aspx.
Tax returns, business audits & processes go faster and smoother with good, easy-to-find records. A good goal for 2010 is to get your records into excellent shape. It will help today and certainly in the years to come.
For a prompt, personal review, contact us at 408 . 656 . 1709
While Vertical File Cabinets and Lateral File Cabinets are the most common file cabinets in offices, they are not the most efficient filing cabinet type. Vertical and Lateral File Cabinets are common because they were invented years ago and are the “default” file cabinet. You cannot typically find more efficient filing cabinets images on computer aided design programs because newer, more efficient filing systems are not as well known by computer software designers or interior designers. Based on cost per filing inch, vertical file cabinets and lateral file cabinets are actually one of the most expensive ways to file. RefBPCH-0008
End Tab Filing, a more modern filing method, is much more efficient and less expensive.
Here is why:
Filing Levels – Maximum
4 or 5
Drawers cannot be above eye level. You automatically loose storage area above eye level.
You must be able to see over the top of a file drawer.
6, 7 or 8
Proper labeling gives you file storage above eye level, automatically increasing the filing capacity per square foot.
Making use of filing space above eye level
Depth of File Cabinet
Typically 18” or 19” for lateral, 20” to 24” for vertical files.
The weight of the drawers when extended to access files limit the depth available for filing.
Typically 12” to 14” for letter sized folders and 15” to 17” for legal sized folders. Depth is determined by the folder type; cuts floor space used.
Space used by file drawer mechanism
Drawer roller glides consume cabinet space; about 4” to 6” per drawer are used for in/out hardware. So a 42” wide lateral file typically has 36” to 38” of filing space per drawer.
Notice the drawer glides take up storage space
No drawers. Typically, about 2” per shelf is used for the sides of the cabinets. Thus a 42” end tab folder cabinet has 40 filing inches per shelf.
No pull out drawers means no space taken by glides
Access to File in Drawers or on Shelves.
Only one (1) drawer can be accessed at a time. The drawer needs to be fully closed before another drawer can be opened. Drawers extend into aisle space, reducing room for personnel passage and space to access files that might be positioned on the other side of the aisle.
Only one drawer can be opened at a time.
All shelves are accessible at the same time. Nothing extends into the aisle so less space is needed between units that are opposite one another.
Access all files at once
Folder Efficiency
Pendeflex style folders, often used as containers or holders for manila folder take filing space. Eight (8) Pendeflex style folders consume 1 filing inch. Plus Pendeflex folders cost about 90 cents each, adding to your cost of filing (compared to about 12 cents per manila folder). The plastic tab labels in hanging folder give you limited labeling space and there is no benefit from color-coding. Plus, when hanging folders get full and heavy, they sometimes fail.
Hanging Style Folders Take Up Space
End tab (side tab) folders do not need “holders”, no space is lost to folders holding folders.
Text labels use the entire folder edge giving you lots of space for folder identification including color-coding.
Lots of Information on Color-Coded Labels
Office Floor Space Used
4 Drawer Vertical File:15 Filing Inches/Sq. Foot
5 Drawer Vertical File:18 Filing Inches/Sq. Foot
5 Drawer Lateral File: 15 Filing Inches/Sq. Foot
7 Shelf Cabinet: 25 Filing Inches/Sq. Foot
End / Side Tab Filing Gives You More Filing Per Square Foot
To learn more about even more efficient filing systems, click here…
You get instant recognition that file folders are in the proper place when you use color-coded labels. File folders with alpha or numeric labels without color code can easily be mis-filed and virtually lost in a large filing system. Avoid that problem with color-coding your labels.
You have probably seen color-coded labels in your local doctor’s office or as props in a TV medical drama. While healthcare is a big user of color-coding, virtually any office filing system is improved with color-coding.
There are many benefits to color-coding files. First, blocks of color, associated with the same character or number (i.e., “A” or “1” ) are grouped together. This assures all “A”s are in the same location. Since “B” is represented by a different color, if a folder that begins with “B” got mixed in with “A”, the color difference would be immediately apparent. If the file was simply text, there would be no visual clue that there is a problem.
Color-coding also improves the reliability of business information because it is easier to find a file on a shelf and proactively prevents misfiles. Data is found quicker and more reliably.
And if you use date color-code notation (year codes) you can more quickly and reliably identify records that can be purged or moved to off-site record storage. For example, a doctor’s office could add a color-code year to the patient’s file label and update it as patients are seen by the physician. Then, on a yearly basis, the office staff can quickly identify patients that have not been seen for some time and move those records to off-site storage, freeing space in the current patient record area.
Another key benefit is an increase in the volume of records that can be stored in the available space. Part of the increase in space efficiency is the ability to file records above eye level. Lateral & vertical file cabinets max out at 5 drawers because above this, you cannot see into the drawer. Side tab labeling lets you go 6, 7, 8 or sometimes 9 levels high, adding 40% or more storage in the same number of square feet.
Plus, if you use high density mobile storage (moving shelves), you can literally increase storage capacity of a room more than 330%.
Get the full story here at www.officefurnituresanjose.com
A firm in the Bay Area called us recently to see if we could solve an upcoming record management filing problem. The space set aside for record storage in a pending move was much smaller than their existing space. Could we help?
The client has legal files, currently stored in Pendeflex folders in lateral and vertical cabinets. They have four, 42” wide, 5-drawer lateral cabinets and 40, 25” deep, legal width 4-drawer vertical file cabinets. The file cabinets are full of files with about 1 Pendeflex holder per 2 filing inches. We calculated they have about 4,611 filing inches of records (12 filing inches per foot). Although spread out in their current facility, these 4 lateral filing cabinets and 40 vertical filing cabinets would need to be stored in a room about 20 feet by 15 feet in the new location (or about 300 square feet). Over time, the cost of the 4 lateral file cabinets and 40 vertical filing cabinets was about $16,000 that works out to about $3.50 per filing inch.
Space Needed for Existing Filing Cabinets
Since the client only had a 15 foot by 12 foot room in the new location that could be dedicated to corporate records, the client called upon us for a solution.
High Density Storage will come to this client’s rescue. A 15 foot by 12 foot room can be outfitted with a high density mobile storage system with 1 fixed shelving unit and 4 movable shelving units. Each carriage holds a 76” tall, 7 opening, legal depth filing shelf unit. By converting to side tab filing (the professional way to store records), taking advantage of space above eye level, and eliminating wasted space (aisles), the high density system will store 6,076 filing inches in this small space, a 39% increase over the current filing capacity of their lateral and vertical cabinets. Plus, an added benefit, this solution only requires 180 square feet of space, 39% less than the alternative 20 x 15.
High Density Storage Plan
Another benefit of this solution is the elimination of the Pedeflex hanging files. Eliminating the Pendeflex hanging files freed up an additional 242 filing inches, the equivalent of almost 2 ½ vertical file cabinets. RefBPCH-0006
The investment required to install this system the high density mobile system is about $20,700. So while the investment amount is more (about 29%), there is more storage capacity (about 39%) and the space requirement is less. This solution works out to about $3.40 per filing inch. And the customer continues to get the benefit of reduced space by lower lease rates and building costs such as heating and air conditioning.
You can see a quick 50 second video of the moving aisle high density storage system concept at
If your organization is running out of record storage space (or any storage space), give us a call at 408-656-1709. We provide a no obligation assessment within a day or two and can often double or even triple the items you can store in the square footage you already have.
When two organizations combine, one challenge is to successfully merge the records of the two organizations into on coherent system. There are two approaches, 1) keep the files in two distinct locations in the records area (file room) or 2), interfile the two systems. Interfiling is more work to do but many consider it the more appropriate approach on the long run.
For example, suppose two medical practices merge and the physicians and records manager decides to interfile, that is, put patient files into one system sorted by patient’s last name. While both filing systems may now be sorted by last name, the labeling systems might be different. For example, one group may use 3 color-coded labels placed at the top of a side-tab labels and the other might use 2 color-coded labels at the bottom of the side-tab. Since the primary benefit of color-coding is consistency so colors match until there is a character change (e.g., you see a red “A” until the patient’s last name changes to “B”, yellow). You lose that benefit if color-codes alternate between top of the folder and bottom of the folder.
So one system must change to match the other, preferably before the move. Unless there is a good reason to do otherwise, convert the system with the fewer records to match the system with larger number of records. With any luck, there might be a computerized data base of the file names, (i.e., a billing system may have the necessary data). If so, most of the work is done. First, have a computerized label designed that matches the existing system. (TABQUIK labels can match virtually any current labeling approach). Even if you have heretofore wrapped individual color-coded labels and applied Avery or Dymo labels, you can get a single label design that matches any system you have created.
Next, simply give that list of records (patient files) to the label/folder manufacturer who can create conversion folders for you, pre-labeled ready to go. The earlier you do this, the better. If your merger is a few months off, when you have pre-labeled conversion folders ready to go, your staff can start the conversion process as they handle folders in the day to day business of the organization. Thus, a portion of your folders are easily converted before the move reducing the time and expense of a dedicated conversion team.
Next, your shelving /cabinet supplier can measure the two filing systems and determine the filing capacity needed in the new combined record storage area. More than likely more capacity will be needed. If you are lucky you can just add some shelves or cabinets. If you have already filled the available shelves with shelves, you can convert some of those shelves to TwinFile rotating cabinets (click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjhONcQAnZs), add sliding shelves in front of existing shelves/cabinets (SideTrac) or if things are really tight, add compacting mobile storage (placing existing shelves/cabinets on movable carriages and adding new shelves/cabinets). More than likely, you can get the filing capacity you need with more efficient filing systems. RefBPCH-0003
Once you have expanded the file space to accommodate the new files that will be added due to the merger, you need to disperse the existing files throughout the system. Your filing sales support person should be able to give you a map on a shelf –by-shelf basis of the patient last name(s) to ensure files are spread right. You need to leave space so the merged records will fit into the new filing area without moving records needlessly.
In the meantime, finish converting the existing files to the new file/labeling system. Use outsource resources (brought in for the job) if necessary. Your file consultant can often provide experienced personnel who have done this type of work for many other clients.
Have patient records moved by professionals who have moved records before, not just a furniture mover. You need to know with confidence that in an urgent situation, you can get to any record fast. People who move records as a business keep stuff organized and easily accessible. Don’t package records into boxes, simply have them put onto multi-level shelved file carts built to this purpose. When the file carts get to the new location, they serve as portable storage while you do the conversion. You can either bring in a conversion team or do the in-filing with existing personnel (perhaps scheduling a “staff day” to do this. When carts are well organized and the filing system has pre-divided into proper sections, teams can work on different sections logically and without running into one another. In most cases, the inter filing can be done in a matter of a few hours.
Be sure to have one person doing quality assurance, double checking the files to be sure files are in the right order on the shelves.
Using this procedure will give you the greatest chance of smooth, successful merger integration.
Running out of storage space? Consider a space efficient rotation cabinet to get 2 ½ to 3 times more in the same space.
If you are currently using 4-drawer or 5-drawer lateral cabinets (36” wide) and have about 1 foot available in front of the cabinet, double or triple the filing capacity in the same 36” (actually 36 ½”).
You get more capacity three ways.
1) Assuming you are using Pendeflex style folders with manila folders in the Pendeflex folder, you save two ways. First, you eliminate the cost of the Pendeflex folders when you convert to Color-‘Coded, side tab filing. Second, since 8 Pendeflex folders take up 1” of filing space, assuming you have about 16 Pendeflex folder per drawer, in a 5-drawer lateral cabinet, you have 75 to 80 Pendeflex folders in cabinet – that take 10 filing inches. Eliminate those Pendeflex folders and you avoid their cost and save filing inches.
2) Use side tab filing and you get “above-eye-level” filing. Lateral filing cabinets stop at 5 levels because you can’t see over the top of file drawer to see the file names. But when you label on the side, you can easily go 6, 7 or even 8 shelving levels up giving you effective use of otherwise wasted air space.
3) Using a rotating cabinet with side tab labeling is like putting 2 filing cabinets in the same space and then some by being able to use storage space above eye level. A two-sided cabinet like TwinFile gets you easy access to both sides of the cabinet combined with quick and simple cabinet locking security.
To see this cabinet in action, visit YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu5P4W4pt8U
Installation Examples.
Tight Dentist Reception Area Patient Records
A dentist in San Jose had just over 36” available space and her traditional lateral file was overflowing. Since the doctor’s reception area was tight, she contacted us for assistance. We installed a single 7-level TwinFile, provided software to create side tab labeled folders, and in short order, the doctor’s office had more than enough storage for their practice in virtually the same space.
Law Office running out of client file space.
A San Jose law office retained our firm to solve their client file space limitation. About ½ their files were in shelves (but used traditional top tab filing) and the balance were in 5-drawer lateral files. We developed a new layout, replacing the lateral files with 4-side to side, and back-to-back TwinFile cabinets, helped the client convert to side tab filing by providing prelabeled side tab folders, and increased the file room’s capacity by 38%. And a side benefit was a complete record’s manager workstation (u-shaped) was able to fit into the room giving better file management organization and work space.
Law Office Remodel
A law firm in a downtown San Jose high rise was remodeling their office. A major challenge was to enable the firm to keep important client and administration files close at hand for the partners and yet keep the office well organized with uncluttered space. Next to the legal staff, there were alcoves, about 30” deep (initially planned for lateral cabinets). By installing banks of five TwinFiles (7 adjustable shelve), they were able to increase the storage capacity by 135% plus have some files configured for binders as well as files. The cabinets are normally kept closed unless files are being accessed. The legal staff area keeps it’s well groomed look all day long.
Business Office File Change
A local retail organization with multiple locations is moving to a new location and wants to take the opportunity to convert to more efficient side tab filing. All their current files are in lateral or vertical file drawers. However, the thought of doing the file conversion at the same time as the move is just too overwhelming.
We are recommending TwinFiles and Tambour Door Cabinets specially configured to help them get to their goal and yet make the move as painless as possible. TwinFiles will be used where there is at least 30” space from the wall. And Tambour Door Cabinets will be used where only traditional lateral files would fit.
The unique configuration is outfitting the bottom 5 filing levels with pull-out drawers (no face), using a removable side-to-side filing bar. The top two filing levels are shelves with file supports. As initially configured, movers can simply transfer existing files into like drawer in the TwinFiles and Tambour Door Cabinets. After the move and when things are settled, the client will convert top tab labeled folder with side tab folders (using TABQUIK, our color-coding labeling software). The drawers easily convert to side tab filing by simply removing the side-to-side bar and adding file supports. Thus the client gets more efficient storage, use of space above eye level, and can do it on their own schedule.
To see this drawer with the side-to-side file bar in a TwinFile, go to YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjhONcQAnZs
