Document Management System Planning-How to Make It Paperless in a Smart Way

Document management system is a term often used in sales offices. Often, the term and electronic document management system are used interchangeably as if they refer to the same method of storing and retrieving documents. The truth is that they are not.

Both have to do with managing business documents. However, only the Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) can monitor and manage the entire document life cycle. There is a big difference between the two.

The Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) is a fully integrated system of software, hardware, and defined processes for creating, capturing, storing, retrieving, distributing, and retaining documents in a centralized repository. Manage your schedule.

This is quite different from simple document management (DM), which has several EDMS components in the application environment, but it rarely integrates the hardware and methods used throughout the document management process.

The EDMS centralized repository contains servers, but you can also use a third-party vendor that provides storage over the Internet. Either way, all documents are stored in a centralized repository. The most common misconception between the two is the misunderstanding of the related process. EDMS includes the entire document lifecycle of a business, including but not limited to capture, indexing, access, retrieval, workflow, distribution, storage, and retention schedules.

A simple system that includes document management on a centralized server is often considered an EDMS. This can only be considered if the centralized server can manage the document from the time it is created and throughout the document’s life cycle.

In fact, most so-called “document management” software applications fall far short of a true electronic document management system (EDMS). Hardware devices that claim to have EDMS embedded (copiers, scanners, multifunction printers, also known as MFPs) may be mistakenly interpreted as EDMS. Copiers often have a way to store and retrieve documents and can play a role within EDMS, but they rarely have the ability to act as a centralized document repository for the entire organization.

The key to understanding EDMS is to understand what DM is not. EDMS includes all aspects of capture, indexing, access, retrieval, workflow, distribution, storage, and retention, whether in a centralized repository, website, or a combination of both.

Document management often only describes where your organization’s documents are stored and retrieved. Keep in mind that EDMS can monitor and maintain documents in native file formats, including MS Office files, audio files, video files, and many other file formats.

Electronic document management systems can perform a number of tasks, including: Authentication-EDMS provides a way to verify the authenticity of a particular user logged on to the system to access documents in a company’s repository.

Capture-EDMS can capture documents electronically through scanning or by pushing digital files to one or more repositories at the same time in native file format.

Indexing-EDMS can be manually configured to complete a task called “indexing”, which sorts one or more documents and pushes them to the correct location in the repository.

Workflow-In most companies, a particular document goes through multiple locations before the file is approved. EDMS can establish and manage document routing rules and provide a roadmap for where documents are located in the workflow process.