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Document Imaging and Retention Management (DIRM)By Tracy Hansen, DIRM Project ManagerD id you know institutions of higher-education teem with documents? Of course you did. The proliferation of student applications, prior transcripts, financial aid requests, purchase orders, receipts and other items, combined with varied retention schedules for each document, has forever made the lives of University employees more difficult. Not to mention, the paperwork has occupied entire rooms or warehouses, slowly squeezing out any potential office space, resulting in increased overhead and decreased efficiency.With the evolution of electronic technologies, however, institutions of higher-education are now able to reduce the paper load, or in some cases, eliminate it all together. Document imaging–the process of making electronic versions of all that paperwork, and storing it in a format which is conveniently accessible to the appropriate staff as well as secure–is making it all happen. UNT is currently researching document imaging and retention management systems that will dove-tail with our Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system (PeopleSoft), making it possible to manage the data within a single application, or with other modules such as workflow, to help move the data around, while keeping track of it. The project is called Document Imaging and Retention Management (DIRM), and is comprised of a working committee and a steering committee with members who represent a cross-section of the University. The committees have completed extensive research including demonstrations from many vendors around the nation and are now completing an RFP to begin the purchase process for an imaging system. If you have any questions regarding the project please check out our website http://dirm.unt.edu, or contact Tracy Hansen (project manager) at Hansen@unt.edu
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