We are currently looking for a electronic means of storing our documents i.e. reports, service manuals etc. Has anyone any expeirence of some good systems (not to expensive) that can do the job?

Ask any of the government departments, they should be able to help!!

I would start off by keeping things dead simple, Mike. What's wrong with storing Word files in one directory, .pdf's in another (etc.)? After all, that's what PC's are for (well, at least that's what they used to be for)!

Later on, if you're keen, find a database manager that you like (eg, Access, FoxPro ... even some old dBASE for Windows) to either contain the actual data, or "point" to it.

Keep it simple, Mate, or else you'll end up in the mire like G.Frown and Co.!

Is this something you'd store on a local PC? Or perhaps to have the documents available on an intranet?

If it's the latter - will it be an NHS server? (I suspect they are mostly Windows based.) If it's not Windows - there's a heck of a lot of good open-source software out there.

Mike,
There are companies out there who will scan archive and index documents for you. Our Trust is heading in that direction. Old records are scanned and you are given CDs with the image of the document plus an indexing and search facility.
These can be put on a central server if you want.
Have a word with the patient records department they are usually quite up on records management.
It is a simple task to do yourself just scan the document and store it in a logical file system - easy but time consuming.
Robert

We scan all service docs here & store as a pdf. No special software, other than the adobe writer, required.

Get Office 2007 on one pc....then just install the free 'save as pdf or xps' plugin from Msoft

Then you can convert word, excel, everything to pdf and store somewhere on your server


saves time in scanning, 'cos you are saving it in pdf format

Mike
The human eye and hand combined with paper make a search method that's really hard to beat. If you are going all electronic you will need software that can search for text WITHIN stored documents. Opening and closing PDF files on screen while you look for information would be a nightmare.

Marc

Its called "Windows" isn't it?

Ed

... or, at least, Adobe Reader.