Starting an office from scratch
January 21, 2011 9:27 AM Subscribe
Helping a startup company set up home office. Right now it's 5-6 employees, with 4 on-site. Have questions regarding office machines.
I am assisting a businessman in starting up his company from a home office, eventually to be moved to a larger office space as the company grows. My role is to create systems for document filing, information retrieval (in-office and remote), create templates and tending to all the office needs. I am looking for recommendations/ideas on a couple areas:
1. I checked previous AskMes for business card scanner recommendations. Looks like CardScan is most favorited. I have about 100+ cards that need to be scanned for now, with more to come. The primary user has Outlook (with Windows Vista) on laptop and uses an iPhone as well. Is it possible to scan all the cards to a machine, then dump the data into Outlook and iPhone contacts lists?
2. I'll eventually need a database program that can be accessed by all (in-office and remote). Am thinking that Access would be a good place to start, but have no real experience with databases. Thoughts?
My previous experience has been with larger companies that have existing infrastructure in place (servers, office machines, database programs, etc). All I have to work with are paper documents and employees that use laptops and cell phones, and travel globally. I know where I'm going with regard to other office machines (MFP, phones, business cards etc). I hope my questions are clear to you, because they certainly are not to me!
Any experiences, thoughts and recommendations are most appreciated!
I am assisting a businessman in starting up his company from a home office, eventually to be moved to a larger office space as the company grows. My role is to create systems for document filing, information retrieval (in-office and remote), create templates and tending to all the office needs. I am looking for recommendations/ideas on a couple areas:
1. I checked previous AskMes for business card scanner recommendations. Looks like CardScan is most favorited. I have about 100+ cards that need to be scanned for now, with more to come. The primary user has Outlook (with Windows Vista) on laptop and uses an iPhone as well. Is it possible to scan all the cards to a machine, then dump the data into Outlook and iPhone contacts lists?
2. I'll eventually need a database program that can be accessed by all (in-office and remote). Am thinking that Access would be a good place to start, but have no real experience with databases. Thoughts?
My previous experience has been with larger companies that have existing infrastructure in place (servers, office machines, database programs, etc). All I have to work with are paper documents and employees that use laptops and cell phones, and travel globally. I know where I'm going with regard to other office machines (MFP, phones, business cards etc). I hope my questions are clear to you, because they certainly are not to me!
Any experiences, thoughts and recommendations are most appreciated!
Best answer: Seconding the suggestion to scan everything. If anyone ever works remotely, and even if not, it is so much easier.
1. Yes. You can sync CardScan with Outlook, then sync the iPhone with Outlook.
2. What are you going to use the database for?
posted by robinpME at 11:09 AM on January 21, 2011
1. Yes. You can sync CardScan with Outlook, then sync the iPhone with Outlook.
2. What are you going to use the database for?
posted by robinpME at 11:09 AM on January 21, 2011
Best answer: Don't over-engineer a solution. More importantly, don't solve problems you don't have. Don't set your solutions in stone. Use what you have now and iterate to eliminate sticking points and problems.
Mirror the basic layout between the physical and electronic file system. Scan EVERYTHING you keep, even if you must/should keep the physical copy. Make a note in the electronic file that the original still exists in the physical files.
Get a good document scanner, such as an Epson Workforce Pro GT-S50 or the Fujitsu SnapScan s1500. Get a not sucky P&S camera, such as a Canon Powershot g12, to photograph those things that can't be scanned easily. Don't bother with a dedicated business card scanners. If the included business card software (which is usually a lite version of the bigger products) that is included with these good scanners isn't enough, upgrade the software.
Start considering now how you are going to do shared calendars and such. Your options are basically hosted Zimbra, hosted Exchange, and Google Apps for Business.
Setup offsite backup using Jungledisk, Carbonite, or something similar. Backups should included regular import friendly dumps of all binary databases (i.e. Outlook or Quickbooks data).
posted by fief at 11:22 AM on January 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
Mirror the basic layout between the physical and electronic file system. Scan EVERYTHING you keep, even if you must/should keep the physical copy. Make a note in the electronic file that the original still exists in the physical files.
Get a good document scanner, such as an Epson Workforce Pro GT-S50 or the Fujitsu SnapScan s1500. Get a not sucky P&S camera, such as a Canon Powershot g12, to photograph those things that can't be scanned easily. Don't bother with a dedicated business card scanners. If the included business card software (which is usually a lite version of the bigger products) that is included with these good scanners isn't enough, upgrade the software.
Start considering now how you are going to do shared calendars and such. Your options are basically hosted Zimbra, hosted Exchange, and Google Apps for Business.
Setup offsite backup using Jungledisk, Carbonite, or something similar. Backups should included regular import friendly dumps of all binary databases (i.e. Outlook or Quickbooks data).
posted by fief at 11:22 AM on January 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Very helpful! Glad to hear that CardScan can work with both Outlook and iPhone.
Agree with the scan suggestion, as I like to have backups for my backups. I can't tell you the number of times that we wasted massive time and energy looking for something. Right now all the company hard copy documents have been sorted into three cardboard storage boxes, to be scanned at a later date.
Database will be for just about everything: documents, employee files (will have to be a restricted section, if such a thing exists), and the like. I envision it as similar to a shared server. Again, I have no experience at building this from the ground up - at my last job (15 employees), we had a shared server where everything was kept and was accessible for everyone. Current company will eventually move to this model, but for now I want a place where all company documents and files can be stored and accessed.
I'm looking at FileMaker as a starting point.
posted by sundrop at 11:22 AM on January 21, 2011
Agree with the scan suggestion, as I like to have backups for my backups. I can't tell you the number of times that we wasted massive time and energy looking for something. Right now all the company hard copy documents have been sorted into three cardboard storage boxes, to be scanned at a later date.
Database will be for just about everything: documents, employee files (will have to be a restricted section, if such a thing exists), and the like. I envision it as similar to a shared server. Again, I have no experience at building this from the ground up - at my last job (15 employees), we had a shared server where everything was kept and was accessible for everyone. Current company will eventually move to this model, but for now I want a place where all company documents and files can be stored and accessed.
I'm looking at FileMaker as a starting point.
posted by sundrop at 11:22 AM on January 21, 2011
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The ability to share such a system in seconds makes all the difference in the world. You can modify the naming terms to tag the paper copies in boxes or whatever as well, but really do get all things as images for clarity and speed.
posted by Freedomboy at 10:44 AM on January 21, 2011