Postcard from Bishkek

Today, the fourth Thursday in October, is a another one of those special days: Paper Free Day.

It’s the fourth time that AIIM (the Association for Information and Image Management – a global, non-profit organization that provides independent research, education and certification programs for people that they term “information professionals”), have organized such a day.

It’s a day with which I have a lot of sympathy.

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Although that’s the title of the day the emphasis of the campaign is really best summed up as: “Let us learn to use paper efficiently!”; to demonstrate by citing examples of how, and with what technologies, each organization can contribute to the conservation of natural resources whilst improving it’s efficiency and effectiveness … bring benefits to both nature and also to business.

Although it is simple to think the day is all about saving trees … it’s not … or, at least, not exclusively … it’s also about improving processes, productivity, cost savings, customer service & engagement, the reduction of risks … AIIM claims that its research aims to show how less paper in the workplace can deliver significant benefits.

They claim, for example, that their findings show:

• over the past 20 years, paper consumption increased by about 26%
• eliminating paper from processes can improve the responsiveness of customer service by 300 percent.
  They argue that moving content to PCs and tablets has the added advantage of helping companies adopt mobile-enabled processes and eliminate elapsed time, lost forms, poor data and re-keying.   To effectively mobile-enable processes and reduce reliance on paper, data should be captured as close  as possible to the point of origin, which makes information easily available to whomever needs it, wherever they are, in the shortest time possible.
• saving or recycling a ton of paper allows you to “save” the 17 trees, 26,000 liters of water, 3 cubic meter of land, 240 liters of fuel and 4000 kW/h of electricity.

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In a “previous life” I was a teacher of Computing and Information Technology and one year I wrote to an exam board with a comment about one of the questions on an exam paper which I considered to be badly worded, vague and even misleading.  I got an interesting reply … thanking me for my interest, pointing out that although the question had passed a scrutiny committee, I did, perhaps, have a point and the examiners would take my comments into consideration when looking at the papers submitted by candidates.

Then came the sting in the tail … would I be interested in writing questions for the exam? … or, at least, consider participating in the examinations process.   Spurred on by this suggestion, when I saw an advert for applications to be a marker, I wrote off and applied together with my CV.  I wasn’t expecting to be successful, (after all, my degree was in Theology and the Psychology of Education), so I was surprised when I was invited to join a team of examiners and go on a training course.  That was the start of a long and varied work over several years as an examiner … and at several different levels.

It was fascinating work, but I almost queered my pitch in the first year.  The question paper on a Computer Studies paper asked candidates to name three things that would expect to find in an “electronic office” – 3 marks.  We were told to accept answers like telephone, an electric typewriter (but not just “typewriter” on its own) and a photocopier.  I was incensed.  This wasn’t an answer suitable for a Computer Studies paper … although I conceded that it might have been appropriate for a Business Studies or Office Studies examination, but the phrase Electronic Office was already widely used to refer to things like Word Processors, Spreadsheets, Databases, E-mail … and maybe Internet Browsers or Graphics packages … and so on.  If we accepted answers like Telephone and electric typewriter then we should accept Mouse, Keyboard and Monitor, Printer, Modem and Switchboard … basically almost anything  … which would mean that candidates could get almost certainly get three marks simply for writing an answer in the space provided.  It did nothing to test the candidates knowledge and understanding of the subject.

The discussion was long and heated … and all over just three percent … but, for me, it was a point of principle.  I lost that argument … and another one, although we didn’t spend as long on it.  The question on the exam paper was “Give three advantages of using computers in offices (3 marks)”.  One of the Chief Examiner’s specimen answers was “Saves paper”.

I wasn’t convinced then – and I am definitely not convinced now.

If anything, I think that computers have actually increased the amount of paper produced … as

• people print drafts to see what they look like … and then
• make changes and print the latest version …
• get the layout and the margins wrong so end up printing another copy.  It’s so easy to edit on a computer and you just have to “press a button” to get a copy … it’s painless and a great temptation to “over edit”;
• accounting systems and so forth will always require printed copies
• … and so on

It may well be that computers have introduced innovations which have enabled us to do far more than we used to be able to do, using electronic documents to exchange information, (for example over the internet, by email, SMS messages, electronic books and readers like Kindle and Nook, … and so forth …), many of which are never printed … so, in that way at least, the Chief examiner may have had a point  …

The fact remains that we use an awful lot of paper … and this usage is a “built in” part of the systems that have origins that predate the development of Information Technology …

For example … when we set out to buy something it requires some pieces of paper …

• a request which has to be approved
• a petty cash slip recording the fact that the cash has been dispersed from the kassa
• a receipt from the supplier for the money handed over as part of the purchase
• an accounting slip to record the fact that money was dispersed and it’s use has been properly and duly accounted for

Even a bank transaction requires paper …

• two copies of a payment order (one for the bank and one for our records);
• an accounting slip to record the bank charges levied for making the transaction  - two copies, one for the bank’s records and one for us),
• regular statements and a reester (register)

If there is Value Added Tax, (VAT), involved then at least two more pieces of paper are produced – two copies of the VAT invoice, (one for the supplier and one for the purchaser), which can be checked by the tax authorities to ensure that the government are receiving the appropriate income for the budget.  But there is even more because the system seems to be designed by paper manufacturers as a “job creation scheme” requiring more and more reports to make the system work.

There is a call for lots of printouts of transaction registers or reports – “… hey, it is so easy to produce reports and they may be extremely helpful for checking (auditing) or for planning purposes … so let’s do it.”

A few years ago I counted that my accountant had to produce almost four hundred reports for the authorities … monthly reports, quarterly reports, annual reports … many of them several pages long.  In addition to gathering the information and formulating the report in the proscribed format, (which all takes time), she also had to go to the office and queue in order to see an official and hand it over, getting a stamp on her copy to confirm that she had actually done so.

To be fair, the situation changes from year to year – some reports are discontinued … but others are added.  Also, there is now the possibility to send some of the reports to the authorities in electronic format … by email … but that also presents potential problems.

It’s also ignoring the possible presence of a contract, a doverrenost (power of attorney authorizing someone to receive the goods – and even to receive a copy of the VAT invoice), a delivery note to record the fact that the goods have been accepted into the assets or the stock owned by the company and an inventory card to record it’s presence and eventual disposal.

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Every year we have to provide certain authorities copies of our basic documents: our company charter, a copy of our certificate of registrations with the Ministry of Justice, the tax authorities, the social fund … and some other documents, (for example a letter from the tax authorities saying that we have no debts before the budget)..  They are put into a physical file which is used to hold data about our company for the coming year.

I once said to an official. “Why do you need a new copy? …  there have been no changes, they are the same as last year” …  His answer was that last year’s copies were put into the archive … and so they needed new ones for this year.  OK – I could see some logic in that, but it did seem to be “over kill”

I am not sure that I saw the logic behind the next situation, which is one of my favourite stories about the mindless bureaucracy that calls for duplication of copies … I had been elected as president for the Kyrgyz Association of Tour Operators and we set about establishing an office for the organization.  Of course, we needed a telephone and internet access … so the General Secretary and I trotted off to the offices of one of the service providers and sat in a queue for our turn to see the official who would open the necessary accounts for us.

She needed a copy of the Charter, certificates of this, that and the other … and, fortunately we had all that ready and prepared.  As she named one document we placed the copy in front of her – she checked it, ticked a box on the form and moved on.  So far, so good.  We now had a telephone line arranged and would be connected within a couple of days.

“We also need internet access”, we said.  ”oh,” we were told, “that’s a different department – you need to go over there”, she said pointing to another desk on the other side of the rather large hall in which we were sitting.

“Oh, OK”, we said and trotted off to join another queue.  When it was our turn, the clerk asked what he could do for us … we told him that we wanted to arrange an internet connection. n “No problem,” he said, “but first we need …” and started to go through the same list of documents.  ”You’ve got them …”, I said.  He looked at me as if I was crazy … “No, I haven’t.”  ”Yes, you have – they are over there …” I said pointing to the official we had just given them to.  ”Oh no, he said, that a different department … we need a copy as well.”

“You have got to be kidding … just check that they are all there and put a note in the file to say where they can be found.”   “Sorry, but I need copies”, was all that he said.  So I responded, “We are talking about internet access – information technology in the twenty first century – and you filing system is stuck in the nineteenth century.  This does NOT fill me with confidence.”  He wouldn’t nudge from his position, so I said “Forget it – we’ll see if we can find a service provider who has made the transition to the modern world.”

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I accept that some paperwork is necessary … and I do seem to accumulate a lot.  Once, of my friends sat in my office and looked at the piles of paper on my desk and commented on how I obviously “loved paper”.  I assured him that it wasn’t true … but I needed all the paper in order to do my work.

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Tags: Business, Calendar