DMS (Document Management System) / electronic Document Management

An electronic Document Management System (DMS) – better: computer-assisted Document Management – encompasses the features of digital archiving and supports managing electronic documents.

Techniques and functions

A Document Management System typically integrates different techniques in the context of Document Management. Document scanners and a sophisticated OCR (Optical Character Recognition) are needed to digitalise paper-based documents.

The COLD procedure offers a possibility to convert print media into a suitable format and the subsequent archive import. A DMS forms an integral digital archive for documents, receipts, graphics, e-mails etc.

Additional information regarding the documents, such as type of document, creation date, deposited tags or the complete text, are placed into a database. Based on this information documents can later be looked and called up at any time.

Furthermore, an electronic Document Management System not only archives, but also manages information. This includes the automatic or manual distribution of documents to specific case workers, access control, document annotations, document processing, linking, history and other functions.

Document Management Systems also support workflows, which allows to make the documents available to the respective authority for further processing in the chronologically correct order. To guarantee safety while accessing the documents, every DMS has corresponding rights management. They set the access authorization for each user or user group.

A DMS supports the entire life cycle of a document, from its creation over archiving, research, processing and lastly also the deletion of the document. Today a DMS is often a component of a superior ECM or is part of a PLM strategy.

Major advantages of a DMS in a business operation

• fast access to documents and information
• availability of company knowledge
• higher productiveness
• fewer lost documents
• redundancy of distributing copies
• independent access to documents, even when they are "in process"
• minor space requirement
• substantial redundancy monotonous storage tasks
• transparency of information usage
• realising and supervision of QM guidelines

Further functions, such as active working on a document, CheckIn/Out procedures and version control, turn Document Management into Enterprise Content Management, which can cover most requirements of the PLM or the QM handbook. Today, electronic Document Management is often already an essential part of business software. Some Document Management Systems are webbased and store all documents and information in the Cloud. But usually electronic Document Management takes place on the applying company's internal IT infrastructure (Server, LAN, Clients).

bitfarm-Archiv DMS is a modern open-source Document Management System that offers all of these advantages. At the same time users do not need extensive schooling thanks to its intuitive user interface. The flexible adaptability - that has no rival among the available systems - and the many sophisticated functions developed in practice to be put into practice leaves nothing to be desired. The lack of licence expenditures makes this solution very economical and offers a high Return on Invest as opposed to other products.

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