The integrated software, called DocuShare® Records Manager, will make it easier for businesses to comply with government and industry regulations, legislation and standards that relate to the safeguarding of content and documents. These include U.S. Department of Defense 5015.2, a government standard covering all records management applications; Sarbanes-Oxley requirements; and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which addresses the security of health data.

"Government regulations increasingly mandate strict record retention policies. Because of these requirements, records management is quickly becoming a crucial part of content lifecycle, and it is necessary for businesses to reduce and manage the liability and risk of costly and time-consuming compliance initiatives and litigation," said Julie Rahal, IDC's document and records management research analyst.

"A recent IDC study showed 43 percent of companies plan to implement records management software in the next 12 months or beyond to help comply with government regulations. Records management software is being seen as an integral part of an emerging compliance infrastructure."

A preview of DocuShare Records Manager - an add-on component to Xerox DocuShare™ - is being shown here at AIIM Expo 2004 and On Demand Conference & Exposition at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Xerox booth 2501. The software can help workers in any organization easily and accurately declare and classify company documents such as patient records, customer invoices, e-mails, and scanned images as legally binding records.

The simplified process of declaring and classifying records makes it easier for businesses to deal with the increased need for corporate accountability. Depending on system configuration, office workers or a designated records administrator can easily declare and classify documents from desktop and e-mail applications, through the DocuShare Web interface, or through workflows, scanners and multifunction devices.

Documents of record can remain protected in their original DocuShare locations for ongoing access by a broad audience, or they can be moved to a central archive server for more restricted access. In all cases, once documents are declared as legal records, editing authority is granted only to designated records management administrators.

"We believe records management solutions can only be effective if the tools are broadly available, easy to use, and do not require significant changes in the way people work," said David Smith, vice president and general manager, Xerox DocuShare Business Unit. "With our records management system, people won't waste time searching for files because they'll be easy to find and always in one consistent location."

DocuShare Records Manager will also help customers effectively cope with the overload of information on their servers and eliminate errors made through manual processes by automating reporting, archiving and records retention policies. It provides an electronic records solution for users on all desktop software. Unlike competitive systems, it is not limited to Microsoft Windows-based client or server configurations.

Organizations already using DocuShare will need only minimal training for DocuShare Records Manager because it has the same user interface. While suitable for smaller organizations, DocuShare Records Manager can also easily be deployed to a large number of users and can be implemented either on the same physical server as DocuShare, or on a separate server for wider use across the enterprise. DocuShare Records Manager makes it easier for enterprises to comply with regulations because all levels of office workers can easily use the tool, rather than limiting availability to records management experts.

DocuShare Records Manager is expected to be available during the second half of 2004 through select Xerox resellers.