| Overlooking Critical Hardware Considerations | | | | We would suggest besides scalability that high |
| A server can be the solid foundation of a document | | | | availability, data-backup, and disaster recovery plans |
| capture system, or it can be the thorn in the side for | | | | should be important factors to consider when |
| a company and renders a document capture system | | | | purchasing hardware and are a small price to pay in |
| virtually useless. A successful software | | | | the long run for maintaining business continuity. When |
| implementation is dependent on properly chosen and | | | | your environment for your document capture |
| configured hardware, and a system for capture is no | | | | system is a pilot project with only a few users, a |
| different. So when you're looking at purchasing | | | | server crash won't create too much turmoil among |
| hardware, a little bit of planning can go a long way | | | | the few users who are working on it. However, |
| toward a successful data capture implementation. | | | | when an entire organization depends on the |
| And, although every company's server configuration | | | | information and resources available on the data |
| and specs can be different, depending on the size | | | | capture server, downtime has a significant cost. |
| and scope of their data capture implementation, | | | | Having hardware that provides high availability - for |
| there are some items that should be considered, | | | | instance up-time of 99% or better - will allow for |
| regardless of the size of the project. | | | | peace of mind. And data back-up as well as disaster |
| Scalability: Almost any data capture or document | | | | recovery plans will as well. Maybe you don't need all |
| management consultant will tell you that scalability is | | | | three at once, but you need to be aware of all three |
| one of the most important, and often overlooked, | | | | when budgeting and purchasing hardware for your |
| factors when considering document management or | | | | data capture system. |
| data capture hardware. After a successful document | | | | We all know of projects that should have succeeded, |
| capture system is implemented and rolled out to | | | | could have succeeded, and might have succeeded |
| production, you have to respond with a higher level | | | | but were bogged down with server problems. |
| of server service as more users and documents tax | | | | Without a well-planned server strategy at the core |
| the processing performance and take up memory. | | | | of your data capture system, any return on |
| Many servers can reach new levels of performance | | | | investment will be much harder to realize. You should |
| easily if you add more resources, such as processors, | | | | plan on spending a lot of time choosing and setting |
| disk space, and memory. Other servers can be | | | | up your server hardware strategy and you should |
| upgraded to new higher-performance servers without | | | | make sure to budget appropriately, keeping in mind |
| changing any of the software. Our advice is that it is | | | | scalability and business continuity. You will find it much |
| far better to install a server that is at the low end of | | | | less expensive in the long run if you plan carefully. |
| its capabilities than one that's at the top end -- but | | | | Make sure to purchase a server or servers that will |
| make sure that your system is scalable. This allows | | | | perform reliably and will be scalable to support all the |
| you to respond to increased usage by adding | | | | users, documents, and functionality that you |
| hardware resources quickly. For instance, you can | | | | anticipate your data capture system will handle over |
| increase server performance simply by adding more | | | | time. |
| CPU or memory to support the increasing number of | | | | Look for our next article on Third of Five Key Data |
| capture stations. In a nutshell, hardware scalability is | | | | Capture Implementation Mistakes: Not Choosing |
| the key to your long term data capture system | | | | Wisely When Deciding on a Thick or Thin Client |
| viability. | | | | Solution. |
| High availability, Backup, and Disaster Recovery Plans: | | | | |