My Home Office Takes On The Paper-less Challenge

My home office takes on the paper-less challenge

My home office was once a prime candidate for the paper-less challenge. Over the course of the last two years we have gradually converted all our files to digital media. Originally this was a major under taking. We had to scan hundreds of documents into the system, and then perform backups to insure the safety of these files for years to come. This was phase one

Phase two was converting all our paperwork to computer format. While not difficult to achieve it was tedious and time consuming. We used Microsoft Word to create all our documents. For our home inspection software we went with a simple program that installed into word and operated very much the same way a macro does.

For billing we went to Office Max and purchased a copy of QuickBooks Pro, which we customized for our particular needs. Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Publisher handle all our photo editing and publishing issues. Microsoft Outlook handles all our client/business contact information eliminating the need to store business cards or rolodexes. Everything we need is in one quick and easy to access spot.

We take all our pictures using digital cameras, which plug directly into the computers and transfer the photos to the hard drive. There’s never a need to print anything. Both incoming and outgoing faxes are handle via the computer again eliminating the need for print.

Having more than one inspector in the family and wanting to make life as easy and comfortable as possible we took it one step further and networked the entire house. So everyone has his or her own notebook, digital camera and smart phone, which networks into the main systems in the office and can be accessed from anywhere.

To avoid the possibility of data loss two separate external hard drives back up data on the main system independently and automatically every 2 hours. Another way to look at is Drive A will back up at 12 while Drive B will back up at 1 guaranteeing a consistent fresh backup.

The last item to take into consideration was the dreaded power failures or outages common to our area. Battery backups on all systems keep the machines running for enough time to allow for them to be physically turned off by someone in the house. 

"This post is written as a submission to the ActiveRain & Kodak Paper-less Challenge contest.  I have the chance to win the high speed KODAK SCANMATE i1120 Scanner, great for helping real estate professionals reduce their stacks of paper by scanning contracts, photos and business cards in seconds."