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 Situation
Solution
Benefits
SituationProfessional services organizations face mounting challenges around storage, organization, and retrieval of vital records and documents. Information is held in a wide variety of formats and repositories, and the volume of information is constantly growing. In addition, client teams are often geographically separated and team members may work in different applications. Finally, government controls, regulatory guidelines, and client demands regarding records retention are tighter than ever before. Professional services organizations recognize the critical need for a good document management and retention solution, but they might find implementing such a solution to be prohibitively time-consuming or expensive. As a result, engagement managers and project teams often create ad hoc file structures for each project, leading to unnecessary manual work. Project teams struggle with inconsistent file structures across projects and applications. Organizations face increased risk due to lost or unsaved documents and a lack of corporate quality control and enforcement of standards and guidelines.
SolutionAn automated document management and retention solution built using the Microsoft Office System can help project teams easily organize, share, and access important engagement documents, increasing collaboration and team productivity. 
Figure 1 Illustration showing how a document management and retention solution can create an organized file structure where information can be easily stored, retrieved, and shared A solution can streamline the processes around creating document repositories, file structures, and team sites; identifying required records; defining disposition schedules; and providing team members with access to project sites and documents. A solution can also address how teams store and manage client engagement records throughout the life of the project. A document retention solution may use Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 and Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies for file system setup, management, and security. Team members can navigate through the file system using familiar Office interfaces like those in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 and Microsoft Office Word 2003. A solution might also feature applications like Microsoft Office OneNote 2003 and Microsoft Office Live Meeting to enhance collaboration. A solution built on the Microsoft Office System can help address specific document management and retention challenges by enabling: | • | Automation of document management setup procedures. Using InfoPath, basic engagement metadata such as customer name, project start date, and contract type, can be captured automatically at the start of the project. In addition, team members can be selected, required records can be designated, and disposition schedules can be defined for the project. | | • | Central location for engagement documents. Using SharePoint Products and Technologies, a central project site can be created to provision an engagement project with standardized templates, allow Web-based access to all records, provide easy administration of file systems, enable central policy enforcement by records managers, administer security, and assign access privileges to team members. | | • | Integration of file system across all Office applications. XML support gives team members the ability to save and access files in their native formats from any Office application interface. Team members can also save records across applications using drag and drop functionality. |
BenefitsA Microsoft Office-based document retention solution can help client engagement teams: | • | Save time by using standardized file structures, sites, and templates. | | • | Improve productivity with consistent file structures across similar projects. | | • | Reduce risk by using advanced security, administrative features, and retention protocol based on corporate policies and legal and business compliance requirements. | | • | Connect with team members and customers more effectively, share information securely, and work together with speed and agility. | | • | Work faster by enabling access to all client engagement records in their native formats from within a single interface (for example, Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or a Web browser). |
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