Paperless Blog

By DynaFile | Be paperless in 30 days or less

Scanning Automation Converts Entire Personnel File To Electronic Format At Once

Taking your Human Resources department paperless is a challenging yet worthwhile task. Scanning automation can help by converting employee files to electronic format fast.

Going paperless can seem like a tremendous project for any HR department. Mindsets and workflows need to be adjusted to account for a digital document management process. The overarching challenge, however, is how to convert all of your paper employee files to electronic format. Luckily, there are now scanning automation tools that you can use to make the process quicker and easier than ever before.

Barcode recognition indexes employee documents as they are scanned.
With a traditional document imaging process, documents have to be scanned, named and saved individually. This can take A LOT of time if you're trying to digitize your entire archive of employee files. This is where scanning automation kicks in. Barcode recognition can be used to drastically reduce the time it takes to convert your personnel files to electronic format (average conversion time is about 2 minutes per employee file). Barcode cover sheets are used as file separators to split each employee file into certain sections like, performance reviews, benefits, tax information, etc. Then you simply scan the entire file at once! The barcodes are read as each page passes through the scanner and information about the documents in that section are relayed to the computer. The separator pages can be reused time and time again so you don't have to keep generating more and more paper.

Scan to cloud filing system files employee documents automatically.
When combined with a cloud filing system, barcode recognition can be used to automatically file employee documents as they are scanned. As the system accepts the scanned packet, it reads the barcodes in front of each section and assigns indexing properties to the documents behind it. The indexing information is then used to file all of the documents from the personnel file automatically in the system. 

Indexing employee files benefits HR. 
By indexing employee files, HR is able to keep much tighter control over them. Here are some examples of how employee files become easier to manage when indexed:

  • Consolidate files with controlled access.
    Since all of the documents within your employee files are indexed, you can control access to specific kinds of documents. For example, you can have a certain group of users that are only able to view performance reviews when they open an employee's file. Whereas, there is another group that can only view benefits and tax information when they log in. This allows you to consolidate employee files commonly stored separately and still maintain compliance.

  • Retrieve documents instantly.
    Index search lets you pull up documents instantly without digging through files or drilling down through endless folders. Simply select the employee name and the type of document you are looking for and voila! Index searches can be as granular as you like by cross referencing unlimited indexing properties. You can even run a report for all documents of a specific type across all employees just as fast.

  • Access files from anywhere, at any time.
    Since your employee file cabinet is in the cloud, authorized employees can securely access files from any location at any time. This comes in handy when you have dispersed office locations or you want to provide self-service documents to your employees.

  • Implement paperless onboarding.
    The onboarding process can take a lot of time and uses a lot of paper. Why not go paperless from the second the employee is hired? Electronic signatures and online forms can be used to get new hires "papered up" without a single sheet. The best part is, they can review all documentation, complete and sign everything online before their first day of work.

  • Share documents securely.
    Most cloud filing systems include a feature set to allow you to share documents securely. Encrypted links are a great way to do this. They provide a secure path directly to the document residing in the filing system. You can choose to have the link expire after a certain amount of time or even require the recipient to login with their username and password before viewing.

If you would like to learn more about going paperless in your HR department, contact us today. DynaFile has been helping companies automate their paper conversion process for over a decade. Our scan to cloud filing system combines scanning automation with cloud document management to help you go paperless fast and then easily manage your employee files in the cloud. 

Helping Companies Go Paperless For Over 15 Years