Standardisation of document management systems brings benefits to ministries

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Document management solutionIn the past, each Hungarian ministry had its own document management system. A total of eight different systems featuring various versions and configurations were being used. This proved difficult when it came to the sharing and archiving of documents. A project was initiated to standardise communication between ministries and the maintenance of these systems in order to reduce the workload and the time taken to extract or archive documents.A solution for the entire governmentThe system, known as EKEIDR, is a government-wide solution to the problem of mixed systems and has brought about a change in the working methods within the ministries of Hungary. The old system, while operational, was far from perfect. It was difficult to use as it meant having to handle different management systems across various government departments. New software, document management procedures and regulations were introduced to reduce the burden on the 500-strong documentation staff, who handled up to 2.5 million registered documents annually.In addition to the time-saving aspect of better document handling, one of the major benefits of EKEIDR is that any document registered, signed or digitised at one ministry can now be transmitted to any other ministry without the requirement of re-registration, a major stumbling block of the old system.Total investment and EU fundingTotal investment for the project “Standard central electronic file and document management (EKEIDR)” is HUF 941 451 625 (approx. EUR 2 990 338), of which the EU’s European Regional Development Fund is contributing HUF 800 233 881 (approx. EUR 2 542 001) from the Operational Programme “Electronic Administration Operational Programme” for the 2007 to 2013 programming period.