Archive for Document Management System

Document Management System (DMS) is No Longer a Luxury, it’s a Necessity

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The air in Ms. Patel’s law office was thick with the scent of old paper and desperation. Mountains of files, some yellowed with age and others precariously balanced, threatened to avalanche at any moment. Sarah, a young paralegal, scurried through the labyrinth, her brow furrowed. “Ms. Patel, I can’t find the Johnson case deposition anywhere!” she exclaimed, frustration lacing her voice.
Ms. Patel, a seasoned lawyer with a mane of silver hair and a gaze that could pierce through steel, sighed. Yet another casualty of their archaic filing system. “Just keep looking, Sarah. We need it for the hearing tomorrow.” The search continued, Sarah weaving through the jungle of folders, each one a potential time bomb of missing documents. Hours bled into one another, and as dawn painted the sky, defeat hung heavy in the air. The Johnson case deposition remained missing.
The hearing was a disaster. Ms. Patel, a formidable lawyer in her field, was forced to improvise, her case weakened by the missing piece. Later, slumped in her office, Ms. Patel faced the harsh reality – their system was failing them.
“We need a change, Sarah,” she declared, her voice resolute. “A document management system (DMS) is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity.”
The transition wasn’t easy. Skepticism ran deep, especially among the old guard. “We’ve always managed with paper,” grumbled Mr. Jones, a senior partner. But Ms. Patel persisted. She organized training sessions, highlighting the benefits of a DMS – faster document retrieval, improved organization, secure storage, and enhanced collaboration.
The first few weeks were bumpy, but slowly, a digital oasis began to bloom. Files were scanned and uploaded, meticulously tagged and categorized. The team marveled at the ease of retrieval. A simple keyword search replaced hours of frantic searching. With the Johnson case file readily accessible with a few clicks, future hearings were a breeze. Ms. Patel could now prepare meticulously, her arguments backed by readily available evidence.
The benefits went beyond efficiency. Version control ensured everyone worked with the latest document revisions, eliminating confusion and wasted time. Collaboration soared as lawyers could seamlessly share documents with colleagues, fostering a more cohesive team dynamic. Stress levels plummeted, replaced by a sense of order and control.
The once chaotic law office transformed into a hive of focused productivity. The air now buzzed with the whirring of computers, not the frantic shuffling of paper. Ms. Patel surveyed the transformed landscape with a satisfied smile. The document management system wasn’t just about managing documents; it was about streamlining the entire legal experience, from client intake to courtroom victory. It was a revolution in their law firm, a testament to the power of digital solutions in fostering a healthier, more efficient work environment.

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Document Management System Vs Enterprise Content Management System

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DCM ECM

One of the questions we often hear from clients is this: what is the difference between a DMS (document management software) system and an ECM (enterprise content management) system? Both are types of software are used for document storage capabilities, and both help organizations create a smarter way of organizing and accessing information in a digital format. However, the terms DMS and ECM are not interchangeable. On the contrary, these two types of document repositories have several notable differences that organizations should consider before choosing one or the other as a means of managing unstructured digital data.

What is a Document Management Software System (DMS)?

DMS systems are basically software that stores, tracks and manages electronic documents. You might think of it as a digital filing cabinet with increased security, and typically, it’s a simpler solution for most businesses that is easier to use and requires less management. DMS is used primarily to digitize and archive files and track and manage new documents throughout their lifecycle, as they are written, revised, and updated.

DMS is the core solution to the problem of helping companies organize, access, retain and safeguard their documents. However, it may only address the document management needs of big companies.

What is an Enterprise Content Management System (ECM)?

ECM systems are more like a formalized means for storing and managing an organization’s process documentation and other content. Some even look at it as a super-sized, high-power DMS. Think of it as an intelligent being able to automatically recognize the content within documents and “know” where/whom to send it to. It manages different types of content, and can also help with email management, imaging, digital asset management, document-centric collaboration, and business process management.

Essentially, ECMs help configures high volumes of unstructured information, especially for larger organizations that can accommodate a much higher price and that need a higher level of content management.

Platform Commonalities

While document management software systems (DMS) and enterprise content management (ECM) platforms are inherently different, they also bear a number of commonalities. Both platforms provide fully centralized storage of files and information in a digital format. An ECM system is technically just a more advanced, feature-heavy DMS, with applications for more demanding or specialized functions for certain industries or organizations.

By digitizing company files and documents, both types of software can help companies go paperless, make files accessible from anywhere, provide disaster recovery and superb security, and support easy file collaboration between multiple users.

Of course, specific features vary between different document management systems and enterprise content management platforms. However, quality enterprise-ready versions of both software should include features such as:

Storage system templates,

Indexing,

Workflow,

Versioning,

Audit trails,

Mobile access,

Encryption for files at rest and in transit,

Advanced system search options.

Outside of these features, both DMS and ECM should also provide the following benefits:

Accessibility, streamlined processes, and great security features,

SaaS technology,

Shared indexing, workflow, versioning, and audit trails,

Add-on tools and modules in most packages,

Fully centralized storage of files in digital format,

Provide disaster recovery,

Cost savings,

Help companies go paperless,

Templates,

Unbound by storage geography,

Benefit the environment,

Sold by organizations with integration technology,

Facilitate green technology,

Designed to consider retention regulations,

Some freeware ECM or DMS programs won’t come with all of these features, which can be a convincing argument for a paid or subscription-based service.

DMS vs. ECM: The Differences Between the Platforms

Despite their similarities, document management software systems and enterprise content management platforms also have several significant differences.

DMS software is essentially the less advanced version of enterprise content management. DMS programs are used specifically to store, track, and manage electronic documents, with the major focus being on structured documents like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, or PDF files. Enterprises typically use document management software to digitize their filing systems and go paperless. DMS systems are usually outfitted with OCR (optical character recognition), making it easy to use the programs to create editable digital versions of your print files.

Providing a similar structure to a filing cabinet—except in digital format and with stronger security and organization principles—DMS programs are useful to organizations because they simplify the entire process of document management. With DMS, you have easy digital control of the entire life cycle of every document in your library, from the creation stage to revisions and updates, all the way to document retention and ongoing file accessibility. You can even automate certain business processes with document management systems, such as archiving or deletion of client documents after specific periods of time.

An enterprise content management system, as mentioned previously, is a more advanced form of DMS technology. An ECM system is an advanced means of storing and managing an organization’s process documentation and other content. These systems can be used to do everything DMS can (digitizing documents, organizing files into an easily searchable filing system, etc.), but are more advanced and powerful.

One of the major contrasts between DMS and ECM software is that while a DMS system is used mainly to organize “structured” Word or PDF documents, ECM can manage images, graphics, website content, emails, video and audio files, rich media assets, and more. In other words, ECM systems are a more comprehensive means of managing all of a company’s digital assets on a multimedia level.

More than just including document management software that can handle alternative media files, enterprise content management systems are also more intelligent programs than document management systems. ECM programs actually measure information in addition to storing it. They manage unstructured data by themselves, working more as an independent office manager or staff member than as simple productivity tools. ECM systems include a number of different tools and strategies that they use to automate your filing system in unique and effective ways. An enterprise content management program can analyze content and determine where it needs to be stored in your system, or whom it needs to be sent to (and when). ECM platforms also provide offline access, superior security, stricter government compliance, and greater integration and scalability features than DMS.

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Compliance-Based Enterprise Content Management Solution – docEdge DMS

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Compliance-Based Enterprise Content Management Solution

Now more than ever, businesses are affected by state and federal regulations for compliance, particularly in regard to information security, sharing, and retention. Failing to meet these requirements may lead to breaches of contracts, sanctions, and much more. While it’s a serious issue for any business, regulatory compliance impacts large enterprises especially—since the bigger the company is, the more regulations it has to adhere to. Over the years, enterprises have looked to document management systems to ease this compliance burden.

To help narrow your own search for such tools, we look at some of the most wide-reaching compliance regulations and enterprise content management solutions that can help to meet these compliance requirements.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)

According to the GLBA, customer data must be protected from any threats that could result in unauthorized disclosure, misuse, modification, or deletion under any circumstances. This federal law is applicable to financial institutions, such as commercial banks, security firms, insurance companies, and more. In regard to document management, GLBA requirements include access control, data backup, Stress-free auditing, tracking of all modifications to files, and automated alerts.

docEdge DMS maintains 50,000 major versions and 511 minor versions for each document and keeps track of all changes made to a document, including time and the initiator. It also provides a complete audit trail of all document-driven collaboration, generates automated notifications when sharing sensitive information, as well as document retention.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)

SOX serves to provide transparency and accountability within an organization’s financial reporting. It affects publicly traded companies, public accounting firms, auditors, brokers, and securities analysts. The Act requires financial reports and statements to be accessible, accurate, and without any omissions. It also stipulates retention periods for various financial documents (e.g., retention of five years for invoices).

To meet SOX requirements, docEdge DMS a document collaboration solution enables version control and allows users to compare any two published versions of a document. It also tracks document approvals and changes made since a user last looked at it.

International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001

ISO 9001 is applicable to all companies providing products or services to customers and its main requirements for document management are: reviewing and approvals before distribution, detecting and tracking changes, ensuring confidentiality, and support of different formats (e.g., PDF, text, spreadsheets, etc.).

docEdge DMS, a web-based compliance and Enterprise Content Management Solution, supports reviewing, automated workflows, versioning, and tracking changes in documents. It ensures data confidentiality by using private folders and permission levels.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

SEC regulations are applicable to financial services, such as brokers, dealers, and exchange members, as well as other public companies. SEC rules cover such documents as asset and liability ledgers, income ledgers, customer account ledgers, securities records, trial balance sheets, etc. The SEC has the following requirements: data encryption, automated retention of documents, document versioning, user permission levels, undeletable and unalterable audit trails, and data backup.

In docEdge DMS, all documents and records are easily accessible for the duration of their existence in the system unless document deletion periods are specified by the admin. All documents can be retrieved and downloaded by authorized users. docEdge DMS has a built-in version control capability, which allows users to store and retrieve different versions of documents. Also, docEdge DMS maintains an undeletable and unalterable audit trail of any activities related to a document.

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)

PCI DSS was developed to protect businesses and their customers against payment card theft and fraud. PCI DSS is applicable to all companies that accept, store, and transmit payment card information. PCI DSS requirements include protecting cardholder data, encrypting transmission of cardholder data across public networks, restricting access to cardholder data, tracking and monitoring all access to network resources and cardholder data, developing and maintaining secure systems and applications, etc.

docEdge DMS, a Enterprise Content Management Solution by PERICENT, ensures the security of cardholder data. It provides automatic SSL/TLS encryption of all uploaded or downloaded data. SecureDrawer supports user groups to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

HIPAA was established to protect the privacy of individuals receiving healthcare and guides almost all information circulating in the healthcare industry. The Act is applicable to employers and all healthcare providers that transmit employee/patient information electronically for claims, benefit eligibility, referral authorizations, etc. The main HIPAA requirements for document management are access control, protection against unauthorized modification/deletion of documents, audit trail tracking, version control, etc.

To ensure HIPAA compliance, docEdge DMS, an Enterprise Content Management Solution, supports permission levels for individuals or user groups, thus, restricting access to sensitive information. It gives an instant email notification when someone tries to access, modify, or delete any documents. docEdge DMS also provides versioning and audit trail tracking, which helps to determine who accesses or modifies healthcare information.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

FDA compliance affects food and drug manufacturers, traders, and wholesalers. In terms of document management, FDA requirements include guidelines and regulations regarding copying, access control, permissions, records protection, audit logs and tracking, version control, and electronic signatures.

docEdge DMS’s Enterprise Content Management Software provides access to files only to authorized users, depending on an assigned permission level. It stores all versions of all files and records, and documents are easily retrievable due to assigned metadata. It also supports an audit trail that is secure and can’t be modified. The audit trail includes user ID, date and time stamp, action is taken, document name, type, etc. docEdge DMS also helps to manage electronic signatures that are linked to a specific version of a document and cannot be deleted, copied, or transferred to falsify an electronic record.

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Difference Between Cloud vs On-Premise Document Management

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Difference Between Cloud vs On-Premise Document Management

Cloud vs On-Premise document management is one of the most hotly debated IT topics of the 21st Century. Many people are still unsure about the differences between cloud-based, on-premise, and online document management software (DMS).

Today, we’ll discuss the differences between online and on-premise DMS. This will help prospective and existing users decide which model is best for them and how each DMS model can benefit their organization.

Misconceptions about Cloud vs On-Premise Document Management

Clouds, also known as hosted services or SaaS, are not new. It can actually be traced back to commercial computing which took place over 20 years ago.

It’s not as tangible as the name ‘cloud’ suggests. The cloud is actually a global infrastructure that occupies many tangible spaces (highly encrypted information centers) around the globe, which integrates the increased security, collaboration, and storage bandwidth required in many industries.

On-premise document management software is not as common as it seems. However, there is one misconception. This misconception is that organizations need to have an on-site IT team in order to use the DMS.

Most document management vendors provide services through resellers or training programs that remove an organization’s IT staff from the list of requirements.

Differences between Cloud Vs On-Premises DMS

Data Migration

Cloud vs. premise document management is misplaced fear in DMS Implementation. The data migration differences between online DMS and on-premise DMS are key differentiators.

After an organization has migrated its data and content to the cloud, it will remain there. This is advantageous for two reasons: data migration can be expensive and time-consuming. On-premise DMS may require additional data migrations depending on the organization’s IT strategy. This is especially true since organizations that purchase document management software on-premises tend to change their systems every 5-10 years.

Functionality

Cloud-based solutions are able to function in-browser over the internet. This is important for many reasons. These days almost any information device can access the Internet. However, on-premise DMS access to organizational storage, collaboration features, and other functions remain tied to the software’s origin/point of installation. Without analyzing the limitations of on-premise solutions, cloud vs. on-premise document management cannot really be distinguished.

The cloud can overcome issues of desktop compatibility that are sometimes present in niche operating systems (niche, not within Windows).

Cloud-based online DMS are, without any serious criticism, far more functional than their on-premise counterparts. This is especially true because it can be accessed via mobile apps and consumer-grade laptops (such as Mac), which are increasingly becoming popular in the enterprise.

Pricing

While many are aware of the price differences between cloud-based DMS and on-premise DMS, few people understand the long-term differences. As always, price and value must be considered together.

This is the biggest difference between cloud and on-premise document management solutions. There are two sides to this coin: there are easy ways to measure the expenses and there are more complex methods that can be used to calculate the benefits.

Although the initial cost of cloud computing is lower than the other options based on simple calculations, organizations will see a return on investment if they use both the cloud-based DMS and the on-premise DMS. This is because each technology allows them to go paperless.

It is important to note that organizations will spend more electricity with an on-premise solution. On-premise solutions are better suited for rural offices because they have fewer Internet access options.

Information Technology Considerations

Companies must install the licensed software on their computers and network in order to use the document management system. It is their responsibility to maintain the current version of the software. Some software providers may charge extra fees for updating. The organization must not only purchase the software, but also the hardware required for storage and processing. They also have to pay to power the hardware.

Companies must ensure that their data and software are safe from physical and security threats to computers, networks, or databases. Organizations with on-premise document management require IT staff to manage hardware, software, security, and data.

While cloud-based DMS products can be used online to sync and integrate with an organization’s existing IT infrastructure, it doesn’t mean that they are easier to implement on-site solutions.

While server management is done within the company with on-site solutions, vendors can and often will provide services to ensure that the DMS runs smoothly.

Accessibility

Cloud allows you to access more servers without taking up significant space. Because it is more easily accessible from more places, the cloud has a higher temporal capacity to connect more people during mission-critical times.

Cloud-based solutions are more expensive in bandwidth, as we’ll see. On the other hand, on-premise DMS will work with a terminal server. There are many differences between cloud and on-premise document management, but the cloud offers more accessibility than the on-premise options.

Bandwidth and Services

Bandwidth is critical for data migration. An on-premise solution allows bandwidth to be used only by your pre-existing network. On-premises can be more reliable than the cloud. While there may be less bandwidth than you want with the cloud, on-premises is more likely to offer more bandwidth, even though it requires more electricity and power. This dichotomy splits the cloud vs. premise document management parameters.

As a service investment, the cloud will only require some consulting services, but software upgrades that require on-premise solutions might require technical support. This can sometimes slow down the usual speed of operations.

Intuitiveness

DMS novices are often more comfortable understanding on-premise solutions. The cloud, however, is a web-based technology that allows for greater customization and can make the solution easier to understand.

On-premises, despite the intuitiveness and simplicity of the cloud, is a technology that has been around for some time. It can be compared to the intuitiveness and ease of use of the Windows software interface.

Despite the differences, both DMS modes allow for software integration that makes processes easier to integrate with existing tech infrastructure.

Implementation

While implementation times will vary greatly from one organization to another, the cloud is faster than any other because many of the implementation steps can be completed easily by DMS vendors with cloud-based solutions. This makes it easier to understand cloud vs. on-premise document management.

Pre-existing infrastructure will also affect the time it takes to implement. Pre-existing cloud applications will make it more difficult to implement on the premises.

Last words

Because of its many benefits, cloud computing is becoming more popular. Cloud computing can reduce workloads and help companies manage their budgets.

Risk managers see unauthorized access to sensitive and regulated information as a serious concern. Even though remote access allows users to log in from anywhere, it can seem risky. However, for those who don’t need to comply with storage regulations on their premises, a cloud provider capable of providing secure authentication should suffice.

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