PAPER? SO PASSE.

Byline: Sherri Buri McDonald The Register-Guard

If you think you're buried in paperwork, imagine being Cindy Simpson, manager of patient financial services for Eugene-based Oregon Medical Labs.

The medical lab division of PeaceHealth processes lab work for about 5,000 patients a day. And the financial documents for all those patients have to live somewhere.

OML keeps the information for seven years, in accordance with standard industry practice, Simpson said.

OML used to store the records on microfiche until five years ago, when it looked for an easier alternative and found Coburg-based DocuTrak Imaging Inc.

DocuTrak picks up the documents daily, scans them and stores them on CD-ROMs, which OML uses to load the information on its server.

"It's wonderful technology," Simpson said. "They've totally sped up our process in trying to find the documents we need to see. It's saved us many, many hours per day.

"It's saved us quite a bit of storage space as well," she added.

A growing number of offices nationwide are discovering the advantages of turning paper records into electronic files: greater convenience, quicker retrieval, and no need to keep all those boxes of musty paperwork.

Some 95 percent of organizations recently surveyed by AIIM, a Maryland-based industry association, said they currently use technology to convert paper documents into electronic images.

At the same time, however, the sheer volume of paperwork that the average office handles is increasing by 25 percent a year, said Ted Walkup, who owns DocuTrak with Carolyn McHorse and founder Richard Harris.

As a result, many organizations - even those with their own imaging systems - find that they could use some help managing their fast-growing piles of paperwork.

That's where firms such as DocuTrak step in.

The 6-year-old company prepares and scans documents for customers at its scanning service center in Coburg. It also develops and sells software that enables organizations to do the work themselves.

Having its own software product sets DocuTrak apart from its competitors, which resell software developed by others, said marketing manager Angelo Seminary.

That allows DocuTrak to offer a powerful, easy-to-use solution at an affordable price, he said. DocuTrak's basic software package costs $1,800.

Plus, if customers call the company technical support, they talk to a local representative, not an agent outside the country, McHorse said.

Other vendors offer similar services, but DocuTrak "is the only company we can find in town that offers a full-service scanning center and our own software product," Seminary said.

DocuTrak clients said that they appreciate the company's customer service, attention to detail - such as handling of confidential documents - and quick turnaround.

"They do a good job for us," said Julie Wyant, accounts payable supervisor at Bear Creek Corp., the Medford-based parent company of Harry & David and Jackson & Perkins. "They have good customer service and they're very conscientious about their work," she said.

For the past five years, DocuTrak has scanned older invoices for Bear Creek that Bear Creek's own imaging software doesn't handle easily, Wyant said.

The company has about six steady clients, including Oregon Medical Labs, Bear Creek, Pepsi Co., the University of Oregon telecommunications office and the Salem-based Oregon School Boards Association, an association for school board members in Oregon.

Most of these clients heard about DocuTrak through word of mouth, or saw its listing in the phone book.

Kathy Knock, management information specialist for the Oregon School Boards Association, called DocuTrak last spring after finding it in the yellow pages. She wanted to scan 20 years' worth of school district bargaining contracts contained in 20 boxes stacked in a storage closet.

"The staff has been really happy with being able to reference it electronically," Knock said.

It has eliminated wasted time searching for a missing file and it allows multiple people to look at the document at the same time, she said.

"Scanning the information makes it much easier to access and to know that we even have it," Knock said.

"If you have staff turnover, you start forgetting what's even in the storage closet," she said.

Part of the storage space that formerly held the old documents is now being renovated into offices.

Mary Wedmore, UO telecommunications accounting administrator, is another DocuTrak client who's grateful for the space freed up by scanning paperwork onto CD-ROM.

Her department, which handles phone service on campus, is required by law to keep accounts payable invoices for at least three years.

Now one year's worth of invoices fits on a CD-ROM, Wedmore said.

"I have an 8-foot-by-10-foot office, and one year's worth of documents would take a considerable piece of it," she said.

As a privately held company, DocuTrak does not disclose financial figures. It is making money, though, the owners said. And they look forward to continued growth, as they prepare to move to bigger, more visible offices in Eugene.

The company has five full-time employees, including the owners, and 10 to 15 part-timers, depending on the number of ongoing projects.

Harris founded the company in his Coburg home six years ago with one computer and scanner.

DOCUTRAK IMAGING INC.

Turning paper documents

into electronic files

Founder: Richard Harris

Owners: Richard Harris, Ted Walkup and Carolyn McHorse

Headquarters: Coburg; planning to move to Eugene

Employees: Five full-time, plus 10-15 part-time

Financial figures: Not disclosed

On the Web: www.docutrakimaging.com

CAPTION(S):

Docutrak's Brianna Archuleta converts paper documents to electronic files. The company plans to move to a larger office in Eugene. Docutrak is owned by (from left) Ted Walkup, Richard Harris and Carolyn McHorse.