Document Management
Document Management or a document management system (DMS) is a computer system (or set of computer programs) used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. The term has some overlap with the concepts of Content Management Systems and is often viewed as a component of Enterprise Content Management Systems and related to Digital Asset Management, Document imaging, Workflow systems and Records Management systems.
Payback of document management – questions that are answered by using EDMS:
- Location – Where will documents be stored? Where will people need to go to access documents? Physical journeys to filing cabinets and file rooms are analogous to the onscreen navigation required to use a document management system.
- Filing – How will documents be filed? What methods will be used to organize or index the documents to assist in later retrieval? Document management systems will typically use a database to store filing information.
- Retrieval – How will documents be found? Typically, retrieval encompasses both browsing through documents and searching for specific information.
- Security – How will documents be kept secure? How will unauthorized personnel be prevented from reading, modifying or destroying documents?
- Disaster Recovery – How can documents be recovered in case of destruction from fires, floods or natural disasters?
- Retention period – How long should documents be kept, i.e. retained? As organizations grow and regulations increase, informal guidelines for keeping various types of documents give way to more formal Records Management practices.
- Archiving – How can documents be preserved for future readability?
- Distribution – How can documents be available to the people that need them?
- Workflow – If documents need to pass from one person to another, what are the rules for how their work should flow?
- Creation – How are documents created? This question becomes important when multiple people need to collaborate, and the logistics of version control and authoring arise.
- Authentication – Is there a way to vouch for the authenticity of a document?