Catalysts Limited

KnowledgeTree have issued a useful info sheet on what, in their view, constitutes 'Document Management' and they also give a 10 point checklist for any business considering investing in a system.

Their core definition is "Document Management is the control of an organisation's documents and their lifecycle, including how and when documents are created, reviewed, published, utilised, retained and destroyed."

The KT info goes on to cover the planning steps needed before a document management system can be bought. They suggest that "a well-designed document management system is flexible enough to support rigid workflows around document and other record creation, retention and destruction, thus ensuring that you meet your legal obligations, as well as a more loosely structured environment that may better support collaboration.

"The document management system will not only store your documents but will also importantly provide you with easy access to your documents, whether this be via a powerful search mechanism, tagging and tag clouds, or an easy to use document browse interface. A modern document management software system will allow you to share documents within your repository via email, direct web links or RSS feeds.

"The software will support the easy mapping of your organisation or industry's standard document types and metadata (information about the documents) into the repository. The system will also provide you with a powerful but easy to use mechanism to control who accesses which documents, whether they are allowed to edit the documents and whether the documents may be emailed out of the document repository. The system will also provide your organisation with access to your documents via familiar interfaces, be they web-based or from within common office productivity applications."

And finally KnowledgeTree offer this checklist of 10 points to refine the system spec.

1. Is the software easy to use, presenting user interface and filing concepts familiar to users?
2. Does it allow you to meet your organisation's goals and fit your culture? i.e. The software's workflow capabilities should have the flexibility to provide you with tight control over your document lifecycle or a more loosely structured system.
3. Is the software accessible from existing tools such as web browsers, Office productivity applications and email applications (such as Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook), and the Windows Explorer?
4. Is the software available in a form that makes best sense to your organisation, whether you need the document management software installed on your own network or would like to purchase the "Software as a Service" and leverage the vendor's infrastructure?
5. Document management is a long-term commitment: ascertain whether the software you choose to utilise will lock you in indefinitely, or whether you have access to the software's source code and the freedom to choose how you utilise the software.
6. If you intend on installing the software on your own network, it should support the technology you already utilise within your enterprise, whether this be Microsoft Windows or Linux server software, Directory Servers or storage devices.
7. The software should have lightweight, modern web and graphical user interfaces that work well over your Intranet, Virtual Private Network and even Internet, allowing your remote users efficient access to the document repository.
8. The software should allow you to secure your documents in the repository, whether this is through a fine-grained but intuitive access control system, standards-based SSL/TLS encryption of communications to the server software, or the encryption of documents within the repository itself.
9. The software should provide support for common tools used for the volume digitisation of paper documents and integration with other devices that generate digital documents such as fax servers.
10. If you intend on integrating the document management system with other software within your enterprise (for example CRM and ERP software), the software should have an ecosystem of pre-built 3rd-party application connectors and strong, standards-based integration technologies and developer APIs that support further integration (such as WebDAV, SOAP Web Services, JSON, and XML interfaces).