What is a Document Management System (DMS)?

Document management means different things to different people. We tend to use the term document management loosely. It has been used to describe anything from paper on a desk to files in a secured electronic vault. For our purposes, document management is defined as a systematic method for storing, locating, and keeping track of information that is valuable to a business. The key characteristics of a Document Management System are the ability to manage information, to collaborate when creating information, to distribute the information, and to allow secure access to the greatest number of people.

And what goes into these document management systems? Just about anything. For ease here, I refer to documents as being in a Document Management System. But what is a document? A document can be a word processing file, a spreadsheet, a project management schedule, a graphics file, a CAD or engineering drawing, paper scanned as an image, a slideshow presentation, audio and even video, or any similar item that can be contained in an electronic file.

Some Document Management Systems allow you to manage external items that aren't electronic files. For example, you could manage and track a shared overhead projector or laptop computer, the physical copies of a book or magazine, and so forth, just by keeping meta-data on it.

I think of a Document Management System as a super efficient electronic secretary and librarian. Wouldn't we all love to have our own secretary? Remember the old movies where a secretary could make or break someone's career by her competence or incompetence? How freeing it would be to have an efficient secretary! You could concentrate on doing your job; you could build and improve on existing work; you wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel. Important papers would seldom be misplaced. Your worth would be obvious to the company. (You wouldn't be buried, literally and figuratively!)

Is this a dream world? One key function a secretary provided was to figure out how to classify and file a document. In effect, he would attach to it key information that described the document. This could be information about who wrote it, was it regarding billing or sales, who is the client, and so forth. Today, this same type of information, or meta-data, needs to be associated with every document a company produces. Meta-data is data that describes data. One example of meta-data is the content of Summary Info or Properties dialog boxes in Microsoft Office applications. These dialog boxes, similar to the Summary Info dialog box shown in Figure 9.3, let the user add meta-data about the documents, presentations, or spreadsheets.

In some Document Management Systems, meta-data is referred to as properties, attributes, or custom variables. If the information describes the document, then it is meta-data.

The importance of meta-data cannot be overemphasized. If meta-data is available for documents, it provides an easy way to search for the document because the search can be narrowed down. Meta-data is the online way of classifying information, of putting documents into folders. But the best part is you don't have to make difficult choices: Should this go in my correspondence folder or my ABC Company folder? You can identify it both ways with meta-data because you're not limited to putting one piece of paper in one manila file folder.

Meta-data, however, has a potential problem of its own. If no corporate standards for meta-data exist, there might arise as many different approaches to classifying information as there are users. When groups share documents, basic standards will help users find information quickly. Allowing one leader to define meta-data for a group will keep things consistent.

What you need in your Document Management System depends on your goals, which might include the following:

• sharing information throughout the company
• collaborating better and reusing existing work
• improving how technical writing professionals create and maintain documents

These goals aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, but may lead you to select one system over another because its strengths more closely match your goals. For example, a Document Management System that is very easy-to-use is better suited for sharing information than a sophisticated system designed for technical writers creating SGML documents.

The next one describes the basic functionality of a Document Management System. The High-Level Requirements Checklist in Part II gives a laundry list of all the different types of functionality to consider for a Document Management System.

What Types of Systems Are Out There?

If we take the basic functions of a Document Management System, we can compare various systems that provide these functions. You may be surprised to find that you probably already have and use some form of document management.

Basic Functions

From our definition we learned that we want to put in, take out, and keep versions; view status; keep secure, ensure accuracy, obtain approval; work together when scattered throughout an office or anywhere in the world; and distribute the information by sending it out or by letting people come in and get it. Those are the basic functions of a Document Management System.

Comparison Table

Table 1 below classifies Document Management Systems into general categories. Names of actual products are listed at the end of the chapter to help you start your research for the products that will best suit the needs of your It. Please be aware that these products are continually evolving with new features as existing applications come out with new versions and new products are frequently added to the software market.