ACCOUNTABLE DOCUMENTS | Introduction

Accountable Documents are any business critical documents for which the enterprise may have potential legal or financial liability.  With the rise of corporate governance, greater governmental oversight and the need to provide greater indemnification to all types of enterprises, business has changed, fundamentally and permanently.  But the way in which businesses manage the task of Accountable Documents has not changed very much at all.  The old solutions no longer fit the new requirements.  Because of this there are inefficiencies of both human and financial resources, and management does not have the controls required in today’s environment.

The needs for Business Practices and Procedures have substantially increased over the last several years.

The ability for more people to share the same information has become much easier.

More persons have Internet access- doing more work faster, with less support and administrative help.

More persons are taking responsibility for customer relations.

But the systems we use to manage Accountable Documents have not kept pace with the increasing demand.

Enterprises choose methods of delivery that ensure the ability to prove delivery of the document.

The number of next-day deliveries has continued to decline over the last five years.

The emphasis has been placed on the method of delivery and not the ability to retrieve the required information.  While timeliness and cost are important considerations, the ability to quickly and efficiently retrieve the information has gone largely overlooked.

Most enterprises have substantial indirect cost associated with the retrieval and retention of Accountable Documents.

With the availability of Intranet and Internet anyone can originate and prepare an Accountable Document for delivery.

The originator is responsible for creating the document and preparing it for delivery.  They may be severely time-constrained.  Almost certainly they are not particularly interested in the delivery method as a business activity.  Getting something out the door and making sure that it arrives on time is the task.  No one has asked them to consider the best business practice for delivery of the document.

Accountable Documents uses a very high percentage of time-definite delivery services.  This is a part of the origination process where different services have dramatically different cost - where business practices and procedures can have an enormous impact on cost.

Finally, Accountable Document Management is under-served by technology.  By and large, it is accomplished with independent systems for each method of delivery.

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