CLEARSPACE Digital Document Archiving system

INTRODUCTION Digital Document Archiving is the process of capturing paper documents through scanning and storing the electronic forms of these documents on computers for easy retrieval and distribution. This is the basic description of Digital Document Archiving. However, it is not only paper documents that can digital archiving, documents already existing in electronic forms such as audio, video, , web pages etc can also be archived. As an organisation grows, so also does the amount of paper documents used to support important business processes. In fact, recent estimates show that the amount of paper handled by any organization has increased ten-fold in the last five years. As an organisation grows, so also does the amount of paper documents used to support important business processes. In fact, recent estimates show that the amount of paper handled by any organization has increased ten-fold in the last five years. These increases in paper documents have driven document related costs higher as well as labour costs. The consequences being reduced organisational efficiency and profitability. The consequences being reduced organisational efficiency and profitability.

Clearspace Digital Document Archiving System makes it possible to: Manage millions of documents and retrieve the right one in seconds. Manage millions of documents and retrieve the right one in seconds. Share documents with colleagues across different departments and geographical locations while protecting confidential information. Share documents with colleagues across different departments and geographical locations while protecting confidential information. Create tags and attributes for documents in order to facilitate easy retrieval. Backup files and records for disaster recovery. Create tags and attributes for documents in order to facilitate easy retrieval. Backup files and records for disaster recovery. The basic components of Clearspace Digital Document Archiving System are: Import tools for bringing scanned paper documents and various electronic documents into the system. Import tools for bringing scanned paper documents and various electronic documents into the system. Fixed and Dynamic attributes fields for tagging documents. Fixed and Dynamic attributes fields for tagging documents. Indexing, search and retrieval functions for locating archived documents. Indexing, search and retrieval functions for locating archived documents. Security systems and tools for protecting documents from unauthorized access. Security systems and tools for protecting documents from unauthorized access. Backup and restore tools for disaster recovery. Backup and restore tools for disaster recovery. Digital Document Archiving enables more efficient distribution of and control over information which ultimately results in organisational efficiency and profitability.

ARCHITECTURE Clearspace digital document archiving system is based on the DAS Engine. The DAS Engine implements the basic features of the product such as security, intelligent search, dynamic attributes, and access control among others. The DAS Engine uploads digital documents on to the file server for storage. A white-list of supported document formats (e.g. PDF, JPEG, TIFF, etc.) must have been created through the Clearspace application settings tool. Documents to be uploaded are checked against the white-list to prevent unwanted formats or harmful formats from being uploaded to the file servers. The database server maintains a meta-data database of the all the documents on the file server. The documents are indexed by their document ID and other fixed and dynamic attributes. This allows the DAS Engine to carry out intelligent searches for documents thereby facilitating easy retrieval of archived documents.

SECURITY As system security is an absolute necessity for any successful document archiving software, Clearspace implements rigorous security features that permits only authorized persons to perform required duties – whether from their desktop, laptop, a branch office or even from a remote location or over the web – without compromising the integrity of the database, Document Server or the network. Clearspace gives the system administrator the tools to balance access and security through control over access rights, feature rights, and document access rights.

DEPARTMENTS LIST Clearspace seamlessly blends into any organizational structure because it allows you to create departments and make documents originate from these departments. Each department is associated with a code that uniquely identifies the department. Clearspace allows a user to browse through a department for the documents in that department to retrieve only documents that he is authorized to access. With Clearspace, you do not have to pay again for you extend the software to another department. You only create the department and give users from the department access to the system.

DOCUMENT UPLOAD Because Clearspace is designed to enhance business operations, it accommodates all the types of documents – paper, electronic, audio and video to name a few – that may be part of your organisations processes and procedures. Paper documents are captured by scanning. The physical document is scanned to produce a picture image which is uploaded into Clearspace. Any type of scanning machine may be used for this process. The scanning process is external to Clearspace. Different types of scanners are available in the market today ranging from flat-bed scanners to fast industrial scanners capable of scanning several documents per minute. Examples of fast industrial scanners are the Canon DR 7580 and 9080C. Clearspace provides both single and batch methods of uploading documents. Organisations that image large number of documents daily will quickly realize the importance of batch upload. When large number of documents need to be brought into Clearspace daily, it is efficient to upload each document individually. Clearspace therefore makes it possible to upload documents and records in batch to speed processing.

STORAGE AND ARCHIVING Once documents are brought into Clearspace, they are reliably and safely stored on the Document Server component. At the point of upload, attributes values are entered for the document. Clearspace provides Fixed Attributes and Dynamic Attributes respectively. Fixed Attributes include Document ID, Description, department ID etc. Fixed Attributes include Document ID, Description, department ID etc. Clearspace makes use of the Document Servers hard disk as the storage device. Uploaded documents are indexed by their attributes.

RETRIEVAL AND SEARCH Clearspace being an enterprise-quality system is uniquely designed to help your employees solve the problem by providing search tools that make it possible to quickly search through thousands of documents and locate the exact one they need. Retrieval of relevant documents is fast and is based on searches conducted on attributes fields.

USER PRIVILEGES Access to Clearspace requires someone to have a user profile on Clearspace. This profile is created by the system administrator. Each user belongs to a certain group. The user inherits the feature rights or GMA and the document access rights of the group to which it belongs. This profile is created by the system administrator. Each user belongs to a certain group. The user inherits the feature rights or GMA and the document access rights of the group to which it belongs.

BACK-UP CREATION Clearspace simplifies disaster recovery and business continuity planning by allowing the creation of backups of the entire archive and database and also the storage of such backups on CDs, DVDs and other storage media. Clearspace provides tools to create the database backup in two different formats – XML and SQL. In the event of any disaster, the archive and database can easily be recovered from the backup disks and business can continue from where it stopped when the backup was created.

RESTORE BACK-UP When database and document repository backups are created, they should be copied onto external storage media and safely stored in a safe location preferably an off-site location.

FOR MORE INFORMATION , website:

THANK YOU