ABSTRACT
The most important component of any data management system is the data in it. Manual and automated entry, importing, and careful checking are critical components in ensuring that the data in the system can be trusted, at least to the level of its intended use. For many data management projects, the bulk of the work is finding, organizing, and inputting the data, and then keeping up with importing new data as it comes along. The cost of implementing the technology to store the data should be secondary. The EDMS can be a great time-saver, and should more than pay for its cost in the time saved and greater quality achieved using an organized database system. The time savings and quality improvement will be much greater if the EDMS facilitates efficient data importing and checking.
