REDEEMER’S UNIVERSITY

College/Department: CMSS/FNS
Program: 200 Level Accounting

Course (Code):
Accounting Laboratory and Application Software (ACC 207)

LECTURE NOTE 1

TOPIC: PAPERLESS OFFICE

The study objective
What is a paperless office?
What is the paperless office's functionality?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of paperless office?
How does one go about implementing a paperless office in an organization?

1. Introduction
The business organization turns out a large amount of working papers in the event of keeping records,
processing, updating, storing, and providing information for management decisions. These have created
various issues and threats, including space problems, adequate storage, information retrieval, and
control. Ecologists are reacting to such environmental threats by launching initiatives that promote
business practices and technologies that support and improved environmental protection and
sustainability. Despite the pressure to minimize or eradicate the use of papers in the office, many private
and public sector companies are still producing the quantity of paper that is becoming more difficult to
control. In some offices, the documents provided exceed the information they represent. Knox in 1980
noted that the growth of paperwork has exceeded the corresponding increase in business and led to an
attempt to introduce digital documentation to create the paperless office. New technological
developments like EDMS and the Internet, with sharing and collaboration capabilities, have been added.
These have assisted most companies in reducing or eradicating the amount of paper used in the office.

2. Concept of paperless office

The alternative words for paper include a certificate, document, file, and periodical. Journal, newspaper,
letter, record, script, thesis, etc. are also part of it. They refer to the products containing information known
as “Hard copy” The office management experts decided to minimize the hard copies by introducing the
paperless office in which papers convert into digital format and store electronically known as “Soft copy.”
Initially, the paperless office was partially initiated only to generate documents that would be converted
and stored in digital form, video, and audio to create the virtual paper. The introduction of internet
technologies, digital files, accounting software, and other computer real-time online facilities have
changed the definition of paperless work beyond traditional methods.

A paperless office is defined as a work environment where the use of paper is either minimized or
eliminated. The paperless office is also known as a "Digital office" or "e-office." It is a term used to cover
the increasing use of computer-based information technology for office work. This is done by converting
all documents in papers form into digital form. The concept can be extended to communications outside
the office as well. According to the proponents, a paperless office is not only environmentally friendly but
also helps boost the productivity and efficiency of an office while also saving money and making work
processes more accessible. It is more convenient as digital documents can be easily shared between
internal and external parties. When documents have been converted into softcopy, it is easier to work
upon and move from one work station to another through the internet and workflow facilities.

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3 The functionality of the paperless office
An electronic document management system (EDMS) is a software system for organizing and storing
different documents. This type of system is a more general type of storage system that helps users
organize and store digital documents. EDMS is achieved through software such as DigiFile, PaperGate,
DataPro, LogicalDOC, Samepage, LibreOffice, Nitro, etc.

The information era of electronic document management, work-process automation (workflow), optical
character recognition, and imaging are essential elements of the paperless office. Document
management software allows the user to scan and store electronic documents in a database for
subsequent retrieval and sharing, and it can assign viewing and editing privileges to users. It helps:
(i) Manage the creation of documents;
(ii) Distribution maintenance;
(iii) Organizing documents
(iv) Storage of documents; and
(v) Retrieval of documents.
It often includes scanning (converting paper documents to electronic format) and high performance
storage.

However, the links in electronic document management are

Indexing: Subject indexing is the act of describing or classifying a document by index terms or other
symbols in order to indicate what the document is about, to summarize its content or to increase its
findability. In other words, it is about identifying and describing the subject of documents. Document
indexing is the process of associating or tagging documents with different “search” terms e.g. in
invoice document management, there are a number of ways we might want to index and search for
an invoice: Invoice number, customer ID, Region or country.
Searching: The EDMS has the capability to search and locate document in any file within the system
Retrieving: Data retrieval means obtaining data from a database management system. In this case, it is
considered that data is represented in a structured way – properly indexed. In order to retrieve the desired
data the user present a set of criteria by a query.
Selection of software is important in this regard and the application of appropriate expertise during the
indexing phase is critical for finding electronic documents at a later stage. Several document
management packages now provide full-text indexing and searching.

3. Workflow
A workflow is a series of tasks you need to complete in order to reach some repeatable business goal or
get work done. The key word here is “repeatable”. The workflow shouldn’t be confused with a task (a
one-time to-do), or a bunch of tasks bulked together (that’s a project). It’s a chain of tasks that happen in
a sequence and something that you do on a regular basis. A basic definition of electronic workflow is the
technology infrastructure, inclusive of both hardware and software, used to direct, regulate and automate
the flow of an organization's electronic content in order to make the flow more efficient and secure.
Workflow is the definition, execution and automation of business processes where tasks, information or
documents are passed from one participant to another for action, according to a set of procedural rules.
A workflow management system is software that helps to define, administer and coordinate different
business processes e.g. a simple universal workflow could control and supervise all required tasks or
steps for a vacation or order request process. Workflow software provides a tool enables the automation
of the electronic flow of documents. It ensures that the correct document enters the database and routes
each document to the appropriate person who will work on them. Electronic workflow co-ordinates
documents and the activities of the role players. Data/information is monitored, tracking of dynamic
content and feedback are made possible at any point in a document's life cycle. Approval obtained at the
right stages within the business process.

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4. Intranet
An intranet is a private network that is used within an enterprise. It may consist of many interlinked local
area networks and also use leased lines in the wide area network. Typically, an intranet includes
connections through one or more gateway computers to the outside Internet. Intranet within an
organization creates a Web-enabled digital environment for the entire organization, providing services
such as electronic mail, GroupWare and search engines via a standard Web browser. The intranet
enables cross-platform information access, sharing and communicating information across traditional
organizational boundaries.

5. Enabling technologies
Documents have to be put into a computer-readable format – Softcopy before they can be stored
electronically. Enabling technologies that assist in the electronic management of documents include
(i) Scanner: Flat platen (bed) scanners are used for smaller documents (up to A3),
Drum scanners are used for large (A4) sized documents. Multiple feed scanners are useful
when working with multiple page documents and large volumes.
(ii) The digital camera is another image-entry alternative especially useful for capturing images in
fragile bound materials, although it is less effective for large volumes.
(iii) Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology electronically recognizes characters or text
automatically and can be used to convert scanned documents (images) to full text documents.
It is particularly useful because it enables full- text indexing and searching.
(vi) The integration of recognologies and electronic document management systems (EDMS) are
predicted to include all the technology functions related to scanning, indexing, modifying,
processing, storing and retrieving of documents. Distributed printing is facilitated by high
volume network fax solutions, network printers, network PCs or network printer devices
(vii) The imaging software used to achieve paperless office includes: DigiFile (India), Papergate
(USA), Easylib (India) and other EDMS Software. For accounting purposes, the software used
includes Pastel (partnership and evolution), Sage line 50, ERPs, SUN system, Oracles financial,
Ad pact accounting system, Quick books, MYOB etc.

6. Advantages and Disadvantages of Paperless office

Advantages
(i) Documents can be saved and retrieved with ease using paperless office. This can save a
significant amount of time during the work day.
(ii) The same document can be duplicated, faxed, manipulated or combined at the same time.
(iii) The paperless office helps multiple users to access the same document at the same time with
more ease and convenience.
(iv) With respect to storage and space involved, the paperless office provides bigger and more
efficient storage. Large amounts of documents can be stored in a single computer. Bulky file
cabinets can be eliminated.
(v) A document can be retrieved without having to move physically from one location in the office
to another.
(vi) There are greater communication capabilities involved, particularly with employees working in
different locations.
Disadvantages
(i) Reading of a long document is tough on a computer screen. It is easier and preferable on
paper.
(ii) Security measures needs to be strengthened in a paperless office. User access control must
be monitored.
(iii) Legal implications of digital work processing are involved.
(iv) The process of converting existing documents into digital form takes time and sometimes
comes at
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 great costs.
(v) Continual upgrading of hardware and software can be essential.
(vi) Computer viruses, power outages, network crashes and the like can effectively shut down an
entire
system if it relies solely on digital information.

7. How to start paperless

Paperless is the act of exchanging printed pages for digital documents. To go paperless means
exchanging and archiving information digitally rather the use of physical letters and pages of papers.
The following five simple steps should be adopted.
1. Acquire the necessary computer hardware facilities with capability
2. Acquire the EDMS software appropriate to the firms need
3. Properly indexed your files and documents and determine where file them.
4. Create a folder system.
5. Scan your documents.
6. Shred sensitive documents.
7. Maintain your filing system

8. Difficulties in adopting the paperless office

The following are problems with adopting a paperless office:
1. Cost of equipment- hardware and software
2. The primary difficulty in going paperless is that much of a business's communication is with other
companies and individuals instead of just being internal. Electronic communication requires both the
sender and the recipient to have appropriate equipment (software and hardware).
3. There may be costs and temporary productivity losses when converting to a paperless office.
4. Government regulations and business policies may also slow down the change.
5. Businesses may encounter technical difficulties such as file format compatibility, the longevity of digital
documents, system stability, and employees and clients not having appropriate technological skills.
6. There may be a reduction of paper, but cannot be eradicated in some aspect, especially in small and
medium-sized businesses.