Why should we use a document management system?

The higher education world is full of paper. Final exams, transcripts, financial aid forms, student records, and athletics documents fill filing cabinets in universities and colleges nationwide. When one of these documents is needed, finding it can be a challenge for whoever has to look through the filing cabinets, hoping the document was put in the correct place.

Traditional paper storage also takes up valuable real estate on campuses that could otherwise be used for classrooms, or to provide additional resources to students.

While technological advances have revolutionized education—Smart Boards replacing chalkboards, online testing, tablets replacing textbooks, etc.—many universities and colleges are still using old, inefficient processes to manage their paper documents. There must be a more efficient, streamlined method to handle all of the documents in the higher education world, right?

There is. The answer is a document management solution (DMS).

Many colleges and universities still utilize an archaic method of filing, which costs more than a digital document management system. Aside from cost, perhaps the most compelling reason to use a DMS is for security. A DMS can keep all your documents secure and easily accessible. Your filing cabinets are probably full of student, faculty, and other records required to keep your college running. Why risk the security of these documents?

Don’t put your students’ records at risk. Increase your efficiency and save money by using the most secure, user-friendly document management system available. You won’t believe how easy it is to go paperless!

This article originally appeared in the College Planning & Management September 2019 issue of Spaces4Learning.

About the Author

Jesse Wood is the CEO of eFileCabinet (www.efilecabinet.com), a best-of-breed advanced document management system. Wood has 20 years of leadership experience innovating custom technical solutions for a wide range of business applications.

Featured

  • Texas Recruitment

    Texas Recruitment

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. The University of Texas at Austin's Texas Recruitment has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Grand Prize award in the category of Renovation.

  • Porter Family Center

    Porter Family Center for Innovation and Academics

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. The Porter Family Center for Innovation and Academics has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Project of Distinction award in the category of New Construction.

  • A digital silhouette works at a computer, immersed in a glowing, interconnected world

    How Will AI Transform Learning Space Design?

    For years, higher education has designed learning spaces around technology as a tool for display, capture, collaboration, and connectivity. AI changes that equation.

  • USC Launches Major AI Initiative After $200M Gift

    The University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Calif., recently announced that it has launched a “transformational” new AI initiative thanks to a $200M gift, according to a news release. The project will leverage AI toward breakthroughs and innovations in subjects like the health sciences, business, security, and the arts.