Needs Assessment

An Electronic Document Management (EDM) Needs Assessment is an indispensable prerequisite for designing and implementing an EDM solution. EDM is not just technology. In fact, it is a business solution that simply leverages the best available technologies. The objectives being: business process improvement, automation, productivity enhancement, security, and compliance.

Product sales firms would have you believe that this step is not necessary for a couple of reasons. First, they do not want to identify business or functional requirements that are not addressed by the products they sell. Also, they do not want to jeopardize the sale by including the up front assessment expense. The result, a shoe-horned solution sold by presenting features and benefits without respect to actual requirements.

The industry-accepted best practices start with requirements analysis, the EDM Needs Assessment. Would you ever conceive receiving medical treatment without first being examined and diagnosed by an unbiased medical professional? It sounds absurd. However, skipping this crucial “diagnosis” step for an EDM solution is the same thing. Likewise, if you have a representative from Pfizer examine your condition, you can be certain that the prescription is going to be one of the pharmaceuticals they manufacture.

For these reasons, it is critical that business and functional requirements be gathered by a certified, vendor-neutral EDM professional before a design and implementation plan is presented. This is the only way to guaranty that you will result with a solution that will address your unique business needs.