PRSPCT-L 7/13/98 Survey

Paperless Office Questionnaire: The Results
53 responses/39 of which were from colleges/universities

(Check all that apply)
(Note: Not everyone answered all of the questions)

1. Forms for reports

Do you use

27___a. pre-formatted forms created by your office using a word processor?

21___b. forms provided by a database (BlackBaud, BSR, etc.)?

33___c. do you use both narrative and pre-formatted reports?

5____d. do you use narrative reports only?

Do you

17___a. send your reports to clients via email?

20___b. send proactive articles/newsletters to clients via email?

33___c. accept research requests via email?

9____d. None of the above (added later)

Do you store

30___a. documents in electronic word-processor files?

18___b. documents in a database (BlackBaud, BSR, etc.)?

 46 __c. both electronically and in hard copy files?

 2_____d. hard copy files only?

Do you

2____a. scan and store your files electronically?

18___b. plan to move to scanned document storage?

32___c. have no current plans for using scanning technology?

 PRO PAPERLESS

"Working at a large, state-supported university, we are very fortunate to
have wonderful computer systems and support. Our transition to more
electronic information (collection, collation, and dissemination) has
enabled us to cut our turn-around time, and to provide much more
information than we were previously able to do. In turn, this has
immeasurably improved our relationships with our fund-raisers and
central staff members. Because of this, we've seen more information
flowing *into* our offices from our fundraisers, as well as the increase
in information going out of our office. Yea!:)" Education

 "We're in the process of selecting an imaging vendor and we want to do this
foundation wide - not just in research.  We've completed our inventory and
have a draft of the retention schedule yet to be approved.  I look forward
to the ideas from your session." Education
 
"I'd love to be able to scan newspaper clippings into [a development database] -
hope it will be possible then to pitch the yellowing paper, and to retrieve
the article and print all or part of it as a part of the profile....
I'm attempting to store PRSPCT-L hints on disc, rather than on paper;
I'm storing web page addresses in a word processed file rather than on
paper; I only print email when I need to keep a copy for a file or as a
reminder to DO something after which I pitch the paper. In general, though,
I'm not sure we'll ever get even close to paperless." Medicine

" The whole advancement division  is in the process of a technology overhaul.
We've received all new hardware and are in the process of a conversion to the
web-based [database.] If you ask me these questions in 2 years many of the No's
will be Yes's... I would love to move to an almost paperless office, but that dream is
several years off.  Also many of our staff are not technologically
proficient enough to make it work.  There's something about hard copy
that is difficult to give up for some." Education

"I work for a private liberal arts college and we are converting to [a development
database.] Part of the package deal is free imaging software. Once we get
the software installed, we will have to purchase a scanner and another
computer workstation and be trained to use it so we can teach student
workers to scan alumni documents for us.  All in all, it's a long road
before us. I have begun sending DOs profiles through e-mail and send a lot
of alumni/donor update information by e-mail.  This is very popular here." Education
 
"My personal opinion is that we should move toward A [paperless office.] However,
my organization and superiors may feel differently.  There is a
comfort-level with storing data in hardcopy files. I am not sure
 we will ever become totally paperless!...In addition to using Email to send research
documents, we also have a shared Network Drive, which allows all users to access
information stored there. This has cut down on the amount of work we fax or
photocopy.  In addition, if we have an event, instead of circulating
umpteen copies of the invite list, we say look on the Shared Drive to
for a list of the invitees.  Sure cuts down on paper!" Education

 "We are hoping to START moving toward a paperless office maybe within
the next 5 years, but probably no sooner.  We've been converting from an
[old] database ...to [a development database], and will probably see what
it's like before we drag the DODs (kicking and screaming) into the next
millennium." Education

Re: Email
"We have too many different versions of email and word processing software among
development officers for this to work at the moment.  And we even have a couple of hold outs
on [non-IBM standard machines].  But we are working to get all development officers on [groupware.]" Education

"We are planning to move toward scanning and sending documents
electronically. We will keep a hard copy when we are fully electronic
but plan to do majority via e-mediums." Medicine

"We now have call reports available in our database (the tracking module).
How does one help people transition from hard copy to electronically
submitted reports.  Some are resistant to change.  They like to have the
hard copy cluttering the files (which as a researcher, means that the piece
of paper can get lost and if I want to read the call report I have to get
up and find the file).  I'm trying to encourage people to use this function
siting stuffed files, etc.  Maybe you might consider this question during
your talk." Education

"We'd like to move towards a less-paper office, which I guess would be
rather different than a paperless office." Education

"My research bios are a pre-formatted report with fields into which
standard info can be dropped from our data base.  The report then offers
me ample space to add narrative and non-standard data base information
through my word processor.  The final report is stored as a computer
document directly connected to our database, with an additional paper/hard
copy and any supporting articles etc stored in a hard file.  In this way,
the report is electronically available to many (with viewing privileges)
and is easy to update.  I do not anticipate a paperless office any time
soon..." Education

"The biggest leap I've been able to make is to have everyday type
documents, requests, contact reports, etc... e-mailed to me.  This
keeps paper down alot, and when I print these off to keep in a log or
to file, they actually come out looking more standardized than before
since the e-mailer prints things off in a particular config." Education
 
 
 

CON PAPERLESS
 
"The "paperless office" idea, will not fly as long as people doing research
and managing the records are serving development officers and volunteers who
are not as computer literate as they are.I can produce nicely arranged profiles
off the database but have to "pretty them up" in WP.
The development office files and keeps the most recent profiles and for a
time assumed they were the most up to date !!!! They now know to use these
as a starting point only and to ask for a database printout. Good luck !" Other

 "Optical scanning was carried out by [a development officer]... who
has since left.  And left a mess.  No documentation exists and very little
thought was given to indexing for easy retrieval....Currently, a file of newspaper clippings & contact reports or even microfiche of these documents (heaven help me that I
should say microfiche is easier!!) is easier to scan through than what we
currently have scanned.  This is someone else's nightmare and not mine at the moment ...
I've kept everything I could in paper until the optical scanning situation is in
better shape." Education
 
 "Paperless would be wonderful, but our Development officers are too leery
about information that has been lost due to server crashing and data
becoming irretrievable.  We have had significant turn-over in our computer
services department...So, some of our Development officers even keep hard
copies of e-mail!  (No kidding.)..." Education

 "I don't necessarily agree with the organizations decision to scan gift
records into the mainframe.  I would prefer to see most records transfer to
microfiche.  I believe in the long run, the microfiche will be much more
flexible to constantly changing organizational needs and also the
technology doesn't change as quickly as with computer records.
I believe a good example of this is our recent technological upgrade to
[new software products].  Prior to this moment, the organization had been
using [another word processor] and developed our research forms in [it.].
 Well now those forms don't convert perfectly in [the new software.]... We are going
to have mounds of work to reformat [hundreds] of profiles, forms and other necessary
paper work. Talk about doubling the work load.
Additionally, with scanned records, I don't believe you can update portions
of a scanned file, therefore, what use to take a delete key and notation at
the end to the file as to what was done is now going to require the
development of a new profile and time waiting to have the new one scanned
in to replace the older version." Education
 
"I am very skeptical of the paperless office.  Most people I talk with want
to read and mark up hard copies.  Also...I had three catastrophic
hard disk failures; there is no way that I will rely on electronic storage
for my most important documents." Business Information Provider

 "Actually, I try to do a little sales pitch for scanning/microfiche.  One
problem is Trust documents.   The auditors like us to keep those
originals.  But I do not see how scanning could compromise the integrity
of those documents.  The answer to that would be a good item of info you
could pass on to your audience....[We are] Headed by a technocrat, we are still
mired in a morass of manypapers.  This is due, in part, to fear of not finding, need
for security (a la nest-building), need to cya." Medicine

" I don't think I'll be able to wean my colleagues completely [of paper], and I'm
already in the midst of a  titanic struggle to get them to take advantage of the
resources we  have.  (It gives me that sinking feeling.)  I'm striving toward a
 "less paper" office." Education

"I BELIEVE A "PAPERLESS" OFFICE WILL NEVER BE SUCCESSFUL.  I BELIEVE A
COMBINATION OF HARD-COPY AND ELECTRONIC IS THE ONLY OPTION.  THE TOP REASONS FOR ME ARE:  1. COMPUTERS ARE NOT RELIABLE,EVEN THE BEST SYSTEMS CRASH AND INFORMATION IS LOST  2.  MY ACHING EYES.  READING A SCREEN ALL DAY DESTROYS VISION.  I TRY TO MINIMIZE THIS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE." Education

"I research prospects for a national organization....Some do not have e mail capability
internally and none have e mail connections with the home offices. We do not control the
donor database; it is handled by a direct mail firm and is supposed to be connected with the standard database used by most chapters via an interface that has not worked for over a year.  We have no database at the national office, because technically, we have no donors.  All donors give to chapters.  As you might imagine, we are a paperful office." Medicine

"A truly paperless office can be quite an expensive undertaking at its
inception.  We currently do not have the budget to begin scanning nor
do we have the necessary "memory" within our network." Education

"I have been toying with the idea of going toward a "paperless
office" for quite awhile now.  However, when our main fileserver
crashed..., and we were without access to any of our
electronic files [for a considerable time]-I made a decision to continue to
use hard copy files in addition to electronic ones.  Our server is
still being worked on and is somewhat "unstable" to date - and I've
learned the value of having everything in hard copy files as well as
on the computer! " Education