Screenshots Enterprise Edition

Commercial Documents

In many companies, archiving of commercial documents, beside the general document archiving, is an important part of daily routine. On one hand it is about revision-safe archiving, correct indexing and the fast retrieval. On the other hand also processing of documents is done with a DMS in many enterprises and institutions. E.g. incoming invoice workflow, which automatically sends the documents to the appropriate team member and defines tasks such as checking or approval.

In this example, workflow tasks are defined with a right click. Alternatively, pending tasks can also be actively sent to the user, e.g. by e-mail or as a system tray pop-up. Mixed workflow scenarios are also possible, depending on what makes more sense in individual cases.

bitfarm-Archiv Document Management not only captures and archives scanned documents, but also imports internally generated digital documents from ERP systems. By a set of rules defined by you, the DMS decides which team member receives newly imported documents in their workflow. The indexing of many documents can also be done automatically.

Warehouse / Goods Receipt

It often makes sense to capture documents at the place where they produced. Early capture makes information quickly available to all user groups involved. Documents can be found in the DMS even if they are still being processed. In this example, all delivery notes are recorded as soon as the delivery has been received. Here, the warehouse staff can immediately provide all important information that is later used in invoice verification. The status of the delivery is configured with a mandatory multiple selection field. You can make multiple selections.

Via the delivery note number, the document is automatically linked with the invoice later, so that you can always call up the entire transaction with just one click. Another case where documents links come in handy are several delivery notes connected to a collective invoice.

The shipping department benefits from simple document entry. Receipts and delivery documents from freight forwarders and parcel services are scanned with just one click. Manual indexing is not necessary here, as text recognition makes it easy to find the shipment number.

Edit Original Documents

Working with office documents is an important part of the overall concept of our document management system. bitfarm-Archiv offers the necessary tools to create, edit and distribute documentation, contract templates or correspondence.

Versioning as a component of the Enterprise edition saves different states of each document.Just click the "Original file" button and further editing, e.g. in MS Word can be made. As can be seen on the screenshot, older versions can also be displayed and used as a template for a new document. The box shows the current processing status.

Check-in and check-out allow exclusive write access and prevent conflicts. The admin also has an overview of all checked out documents and can point out to the users if the check-in was forgotten.

Working in a team

In order to meet QM guidelines, the workflow functions of the bitfarm DMS can be used to implement a 4- or 6-eyes principle. Each document must enter an inspection and approval workflow. Example III shows a typical field configuration with which this is implemented. You can also define a document lifetime, if exceeded they need to be updated or become invalid. By means of corresponding queries, each user can see which work is due (example IV.).

A document is visible only to a small group during the creation and editing process. When released, it's published to a larger group and replaces the predecessor document, which can be marked as "obsolete". Only when a new version has been released it is available for all authorized users.

The hit list can be adjusted individually. Position, size, columns, filters and sorting are automatically saved. Lists can be exported with one click to Excel, Open-Office or CSV for further evaluation.

The Resubmission

For task management, different queries (see above) are available not only in each archive and for each user, but the resubmission/task list can also be used to implement document processes. Documents can be placed in your own task list or assigned to somebody else with a single click. For this purpose, there is a favorites function to forward frequently recurring processes to the corresponding persons. programd workflows of the DMS automatically fill the task list of the respective users. For example, a change to a document that a user has subscribed to can trigger a workflow for another team member.The same is possible with a workflow from contract management or a pending invoice verification.

A great feature of the resubmission/task list is it does not require action by the user, but reports automatically as soon as new tasks are due. Of course notifications do work even when a user has closed their bitfarm client. A tray icon regularly informs about new tasks.

Tasks can also be forwarded. The controller function enables both, the person forwarding the task and the originator to see the task state. If the set time limit is exceeded, an escalation notification is automatically sent to the controller. Absence functions also make it possible to forward the information to deputies in the event of vacation or illness. Alternatively, tasks can be delegated to groups.

Traceability

bitfarm-Archiv DMS stores an "incorruptible" history of all actions for each document (Example VI).

It shows which user has attached a note or changed field values, who has edited a document, printed it or sent it by e-mail, how a workflow went and even which user has viewed a document (if configured).

Administration

A typical use case for bitfarm-Archiv are administrations of all kinds. A wide variety of documents accumulate which have to be stored in a structured and revision-proof manner, quick access guaranteed. The necessary data and authorization structures can be easily created, copied into sub-areas and inherited.

For contract management, the Enterprise version offers several special functions that record contract data and allow dedicated evaluations. Workflows automatically submit contracts to the employee or group responsible if a possible termination date is imminent. In this way, running costs can be minimized by cancelling contracts that are no longer required in good time.

E-Mail Archiving

E-mails have become indispensable and important documents which need to be archived with the same care as other documents.

For this bitfarm-Archiv DMS offers several possibilities. Order-related e-mails, or e-mails with a project reference, can be archived directly from Outlook into bitfarm, and immediately linked to the related project files. Automatic e-mail archiving is possible by connecting POP3 or IMAP4 accounts to archive directly into DMS archives.

Archived e-mails are displayed with the viewer like any other document. If necessary, the "Original file" button can be used to open and process the e-mail with your e-mail client. E-mails can be linked to projects or attachments.

It is possible to redact selected areas of a document. For example, prices or other sensitive information in an e-mail can be blackened. In addition, documents can be signed and/or stamped and then sent as PDFs.

Image Archive

Images, pictures and layouts can be archived with bitfarm. Our DMS supports not only the common image formats but also a number of formats from the design sector such as Adobe Illustrator.

If necessary, images are automatically resized if accidentally uploaded as very large files from digital cameras. This guarantees a sensible use of storage space. Where high resolutions are desired, bitfarm-Archiv DMS naturally retains them. EXIF data can also be automatically read from images and stored in fields, which makes this data accessible at high speed through the database.

Additional File Formats

Although they extend the term "document", bitfarm-Archiv DMS can also archive movies or mp3 files. For example, an artist agency manages applications, correspondence and performance demos all linked together in bitfarm-Archiv. De facto any file, even executable programs or program code can be put into the system (if the administrator allows it). This is used, for example, in mechanical engineering, where a machine and its documents also include control programs.

Working With Multiple Documents

If it is necessary to view or edit several documents in parallel, a double-click is sufficient to open the document in a separate window. You can zoom or edit graphic layers (notes, stamps, markers, etc.). The window is independent of the viewer and can be positioned e.g. on a second screen.

Any number of such editor windows can be opened in parallel. The editor also allows access to the "private annotations", a graphical infolayer that is available for every user on every document and cannot be viewed by other users - unless they are invited to do so.