Paperless Office

[rbaker]

Who needs paper?

For years, office managers have been rubbing their hands at the notion that databases, spreadsheets, e-mail, and digital documents can replace traditional ledgers, forms, and faxes. But while saving the environment is a laudable goal, the truth is that it's actually harder to preserve digital records than the old-fashioned kind.

Digital record-keeping presents security and privacy risks unheard of in the days of locked filing cabinets. The paperless office may finally be here, but it's enough to make you wish for a good, old-fashioned memo pad.

[MarySue]

Who needs paper?

For years, office managers have been rubbing their hands at the notion that databases, spreadsheets, e-mail, and digital documents can replace traditional ledgers, forms, and faxes. But while saving the environment is a laudable goal, the truth is that it's actually harder to preserve digital records than the old-fashioned kind.

Digital record-keeping presents security and privacy risks unheard of in the days of locked filing cabinets. The paperless office may finally be here, but it's enough to make you wish for a good, old-fashioned memo pad.

Paperless is fun when the power's out! :D

[For-Life]

Who needs paper?

For years, office managers have been rubbing their hands at the notion that databases, spreadsheets, e-mail, and digital documents can replace traditional ledgers, forms, and faxes. But while saving the environment is a laudable goal, the truth is that it's actually harder to preserve digital records than the old-fashioned kind.

Digital record-keeping presents security and privacy risks unheard of in the days of locked filing cabinets. The paperless office may finally be here, but it's enough to make you wish for a good, old-fashioned memo pad.

I LOVE our paperless system.

- If I need to work on something where I need a quiet environment, I bring my laptop home and work on it there.

- Or if I am on a business trip to Toronto, I do the same.

- If I need to find a letter from three years ago, I can quickly find and print a new copy of it from my desk instead of having to go to the file and photocopy it.

- Our providers submit their reports electronically to us.

- I can do more with one email in 15 seconds than I could ever do with paper.

- We can send copies of letters to each other, track the changes right on the document, and approve them without redoing the letter.

- We have one fellow who works for us. He works out of his home, 600km from us, and never misses a beat. He can access all of our files


For security, we have passwords for our computers that we have to change every month. We are also allowed different protections to the files. We have top of the line security. Can someone hack us if they want? I am sure. But they could probably also find a way into our locked cabinets.

Either way, I work for the government and we have to be transparent. I have nothing to hide from taxpayers, so that security is not a major concern of mine.

[eyedude]

Don't we need to keep prescriptions on file?

[rbaker]

Either way, I work for the government and we have to be transparent. I have nothing to hide from taxpayers, so that security is not a major concern of mine.

If I were a resident of Canada a statement like that would scare the ever-loving crap out of me. While you may not have anything to hide from the taxpayers and strive to be "transparent" in all of your doings you are certainly accountable to them and do have an obligation to maintain the confidentiality of their personal information or are things that different up North. I guess that civil servants and apparatchiks are the same the world over.

"I'm from the government and I'm here to help!"
.

[Jacqui]

Paperless is fun when the power's out! :D

True, and no one ever thinks about it until it's too late.

:cheers:

[Johns]

Paperless is fun when the power's out! :D

And what good is a file cabinet if the power's out, and there are no lights to read by...or do exams by ?

If power's out, you're out anyway.

[For-Life]

If I were a resident of Canada a statement like that would scare the ever-loving crap out of me. While you may not have anything to hide from the taxpayers and strive to be "transparent" in all of your doings you are certainly accountable to them and do have an obligation to maintain the confidentiality of their personal information or are things that different up North. I guess that civil servants and apparatchiks are the same the world over.

"I'm from the government and I'm here to help!"
.

I do not have their personal information. I do not have anything that should remain confidential.

EVERYTHING I do is accessible through freedom of information. What I do in the office is accountable to taxpayers.

[opticianbart]

Don't we need to keep prescriptions on file?

Scan them in, that's what I plan on doing when I have my own shop, I'd give the original back to the patient - it belongs to them anyway.

True, and no one ever thinks about it until it's too late.

yup, and then you realize you don't remember your paper backup system and you're really in trouble.

[For-Life]

Well that is the big thing too. If you have all of your paperless files saved on one computer, it is not really save. But neither are drawers that are subseptable to floods and fire. But, if you have your paperless files backed up and on an external server, they are always there.

[kaypaula]

I'm amazed at the amount of paper we still use in our "paperless" office

Paula

[Striderswife]

I'm amazed at the amount of paper we still use in our "paperless" office

Paula

I agree. I think it'd be hard to go 100% paperless. I still print out my orders at the time they're placed. Yeah, they get shredded when the glasses are dispensed, but I don't have a computer in my lab, where I keep the trays until the jobs come in. I have to have a place to write down notes along the way (even though I'm expected to put those notes in the computer, too, which is a huge hassle when I just want to get from one task to the next). I've been able to cut down about 85% of my paper usage since I started here two years ago, but I don't think I could ever go without.