Understanding Information Management

Information management is a general terms that refers to managing any kind of information. This information that is managed varies according to the industry. Document management is also considered as information management since you are managing the information that is contained in the documents.

 

There are many document management systems available in the market. Electronic document management systems are popular in most of the companies that deal with documents daily. Records management, document imaging, process automation and digital asset management are also included in information management. Products that help the user in managing emails, and to collaborate play a vital role in information management.

 

There are specialized servers for such information management. The information that is passed between departments is also stored in the server for later retrieval. Information management includes managing your emails and integrating anything with your email. The email clients have to be integrated with the information management systems so that proper indexing is done.

 

All the emails are stored in a central repository for later retrieval if needed. This keeps the mail safe and organized. These information systems keep an account of all the emails that are sent and received. The emails received and sent are stored at a central place directly from the email client applications. It is possible to configure these information systems to archive the mails sent or only the attachments that are sent.

 

Sending and receiving faxes are part of the process in many companies. Today there are many applications available that can send and receive fax without a fax machine. The fax technology has come a long way to this stage. Using a thermal paper for receiving fax makes the text unreadable sometimes. Now you can send fax using standard printer driver via a fax modem.

 

This helps you to receive your fax without a fax machine. This improves the efficiency and productivity in an organization. This makes it possible to receive unattended fax. You can even have a dedicated fax server. This helps you to have an account of all the faxes that are received. Only if there is a need for a hard copy you can take a printout of the fax that is received or you can just send the message through other applications to others.

 

OCR (optical character recognition) is another area in information management and document management. A paper based office can convert the existing document into electronic document using the OCR technology. When using this technology the existing paper documents are converted into image files and translate them into a form that the computer can read.

 

The OCR system then reads the images to find the text found in the images. Some of the powerful OCR programs even recognize the handwriting. While converting the image files into documents there are options provided to mask out some part of the image and convert only a certain part of the document. Converting a paper-based office into an electronic paperless office can be done using such technologies.

 

Having the records in electronic form can be achieved using software available for that purpose. But they have to be maintained for many years consistently and whenever required they have to be retrieved. Managing them over a long period is very important. Record Management software available for this purpose would help you achieve this.

 

When information is managed in the electronic form there must be way to keep the documents secure. Like you sign the paper documents digital signatures are placed on the electronic documents to preserve the data integrity. Federal legislation recognizes digital signature as a legal form of authorization. The digital signature in a document recognizes the signer of the document and it is tied to the signer. Thus information management can be done in many ways and it differs from organization to organization.




| Contents to look for in an information security management handbook | Making use of the information management network for business success | Operational benefits of strategic information management | Principles involved in implementing business information management | The need for information risk management | What is the need for a proper information management strategy |

 















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