Regularly, information workers print multi-page documents that are not immediately removed from the printer after printing. Where there are shared printers, this is as more common as is the race to the printer to get the documents “as they are printed.” Co-workers or temps may also use the printer or pass the worker’s printer where the documents are vulnerable for various amounts of time.
The absence of a reliable and straightforward method of document identification results in insecure and vulnerable information. In the event a document is misappropriated or misused, the consequences can be minor or catastrophic.
This situation is only too familiar in any number of companies and recurs every hour of every day. Paper documents are printed for review, collaboration, sharing or dissemination. The startling fact is that they are all too often printed without any type of identification indicating the intent or purpose of the document. For over a hundred years, a common practice was to use a rubber stamp in the top margin of the page. That was, and mostly is, the most common form of paper document management.
The most effective method of dealing with paper and PDF document management is to identify and label the document at the time it is printed. In the case of a PDF, the document marking should be done at the time it is created from Word. This requires both a method that is easily implemented and a policy requiring the action. If the PDF is not labeled or identified when it is created from Word, it requires a manual use manipulation and a PDF editing program to mark or stamp the document. Moreover, if the user wants to mark only selected pages of the PDF, each must be done individually which can be a tedious process.
As to the method, the document identification process must be thorough and capable of marking all the documents’ pages with appropriate and/or necessary marking that is unalterable. The method must also be able to accept user-input to ensure that the marking is wholly appropriate for the document and handle extraordinary situations where truly custom stamps or legends are required.
Stamps that are not embedded in the text of a document are not too far away from the rubber-stamp-in-the-margin that is a process over a hundred years old. Combining stamps and text in a fashion which precludes removal is essential. Familiar menu-driven applications without cryptic commands will be the most accepted and thus, the most effective at maintaining the paper document identification policy.
Visible watermarks, while good for intra-office work and controlled-print environments, are not the most secure form of document identification. The visible watermark, if in shaded gray, can be almost instantly removed by a contrast setting on any number of copy machines with that setting. Color watermarks are a little more secure method, but still are subject to removal in a similar manner.
Tags: custom rubber stamp, document security, legal, paper document management
