How Did We Get Here?

The Beginnings of Document Management.

Imagine going back in time, not to the age of Caesar or the Old West, but just to the early 1980s, when the landscape of document and records management was drastically different.

While debates rage on today over dealing with electronic medical and financial records, it would be interesting to see how far we’ve come just within the last 25 years, to see how we got here.

A recent article from AIIM discusses the various innovations over the last few years that have led to the current state of the Document Management world today. After all, knowing where we came from can help us identify the correct path forward.

The Eighties

Until the mid 1980s, most business records were physical, either in paper or microform. Finding the right document was dependent on standardized systems, usually based upon Library Science. The late 80s brought some seminal advances in computer hardware and software. Here are the five biggest advances that laid the groundwork for today’s electronic records – and thus creating the headaches of many a modern records manager.

Digital Document Scanners. While the first image scanner was invented as early as 1957, the first document scanners became readily available during the late 80s. While document scanners are identified more with paper copiers (xerography), the better comparison is to fax machines, where the first mass applications of digital scanning began.

Low Cost Storage. Optical disc storage used the (newly affordable) laser to burn disks with the data coming from the scanner. And when costs became more affordable, digital storage of images became more practical.

Computer speed. The bits of information that a scanner produces must pass through a computer. In the mid-80s, personal computers had limited processing power, and mainframe processing was expensive. But toward the end of the decade, however, prices for personal computers lowered, and for the first time, the processing power to handle images was widely deployed.

Image Displays. During the 80s, computer monitor image displays made significant leaps, beginning with only plain, alphanumeric characters to the end of the decade, where displays of bit-mapped images as well characters could be displayed.

Laser printers. Early printers printed dots in a matrix, with a resolution too low for most graphical applications. Character printers of the time essentially automated the capabilities of a typewriter. In a laser printer, the image is actually directed by a digital sequence such as that which makes up a digital image. The first, mass-produced laser printer arrived in 1984, so it was ready when the other components came together.

The 90s and Beyond

In recent years, advances in software applications, such as those bringing spreadsheets, databases, and especially word processing to many office workers have brought ease to simple office duties. However, they have spawned a records creation ‘anarchy’ -- where there were once only a few (secretaries, word processers, etc.) who could create and file documents, now there were many. In addition, keeping track of all these newly created records has created nightmare scenarios involving compliancy, privacy, and litigation.

And now with the proliferation of the Internet, email, Twitter, and social networking, these challenges seem to be continuously developing not by the day, but often by the hour.

While there is no simple solution to electronic records or media choices, taking a step back to see ‘where we came from’ can help craft strategies to address current challenges.