An example for the use of Document Inventory is at a bank. When a customer wants to open a new current account, they are required to produce certain pieces of documentation. For example, they might need to produce two pieces of documentation from this list:

• passport
• birth certificate
• driving licence

and then two other pieces of documentation from the following list:

• a recent electricity bill
• a recent gas bill
• a recent telephone bill
• a recent water bill

Each of these documents can expire. For example, the customer’s passport might expire in a year’s time and the electricity bill might be too old to be relevant in 3 months’ time.

When a customer applies to open a current account and brings in some of the documentation, the documentation can be scanned and added to DataStoreDSX. When the customer returns to the bank to complete the application, the banker can search DataStoreDSX and determine which documents have been presented and are still valid, which documents have expired (and must be replaced) and which documents are still missing.

The above example describes the documents needed when opening a current account. But there could be another set of required documents for a customer opening a mortgage account or a savings account. Some of the documents required for these accounts might be the same. For example, a passport might be required for all three accounts. If the passport is stored in DataStoreDSX and has not expired and a customer wants to open a different type of account, they do not need to present the passport again as it is already in the system.