“Where did it go? It was here yesterday. Wait. Here it is. But it looks a lot like the draft I just sent my team members yesterday. I don’t remember when this change was made. Who made this change? Why is document tracking so difficult?”

We have all seen it before. Desk space is being invaded by papers and drafts of rather important information that is in a rather unidentifiable order. When it comes to information, businesses know that time is money. Businesses do not want to spend money for hours spent on manual document tracking, which is why most business are searching out document tracking software that keeps all of your drafts, reports, and other important informational documents in order. Document tracking software has literally rescued business from drowning in an innavigable sea of documents.

So, what is document tracking and how do I find the right software to make it happen? You can start by searching “document tracking” on a search engine, and you will find about 167 million pages indexed on document tracking. The good news is that information and products to get your business started on effective document tracking is available. The bad news is that all of that information can be difficult to sift through in order to find the document tracking software that fits your business needs.

Document Tracking

Whether your business specializes in potato chips or automobiles, your business will have departments and teams that work together with management, investors, and clients to produce reports on the market, the budget, the product, the sales, or other important information, and document tracking is the glue that keeps a report together. These reports are meant to bring all parties on to the same page with respect to how the company is running and needs to run.

As these teams and departments compile information and develop reports and presentations, several drafts are sent back and forth between parties and that is when document tracking gets sticky. The desktop, outlook, and the hard drive could very quickly get filled with numerous drafts under numerous titles, leaving you with more questions than answers. Who? What? When? Where? And how? Repeat through your mind as you look over this complex collection of documents. Whether manual or electronic filing has been your method, electronic document tracking can answer all of your document tacking questions.

Let’s begin by chiseling down your 167 million choices by examining software that will meet your businesses document tracking needs.

Digital Thread

As you search through the torrent of document tracking software available today you will notice a technology which propels some document tracking software ahead of the rest. This technology is called Digital Thread. Document tracking with Digital Thread means that any document can be tracked through its various edits by a tag in the metadata of the document. As the drafts of the document are sent back and forth, you will always be informed as to the who’s, what’s, when’s, where’s, and how’s of the document and its changes.

Digital Signature

The Digital Thread has successfully overcome the challenge of document tracking, and now Digital Signature comes into play by displaying in your outlook or whenever you open a document, the who’s, what’s, when’s, where’s, and how’s of the document and its drafts. Document tracking enables you to know exactly what you are looking for right when you open the document.

Version History

Often times a visual map or a family tree of your document simplifies the document tracking process. Version history puts all of the document tracking pieces together in a genealogy of drafts, which describes the who’s, what’s, when’s, where’s, and how’s of the document tracking process.

Joe Miller is specialist in online advertising. For more information on document tracking, please visit NextPage.com.

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