Thousands of files were created as personal computers entered businesses, making physical management very difficult. As a result, companies began creating document management systems to handle the electronic files used by enterprises, such as word documents, spreadsheets, and PDF files, to create what was once known as a “paperless office.”
A document management system is software that allows an organization to collect, conveniently store, manage, and retrieve digital documents. It offers the features businesses require to digitize documents and automate business procedures.
In today’s digital environment, businesses are constantly looking for ways to effectively manage their digital documents to process information and acquire deeper insights to aid in making better business decisions.
The International Data Center estimates that knowledge workers spend 30% of their working day hunting for information. Relying on antiquated methods to recover documents in the modern environment is ineffective and can cost your business a lot of money. That’s where a good document management system comes in handy since it significantly reduces the time needed to find papers, increasing overall productivity.
What are document management systems responsible for?
- Several techniques of capture
Automatically capturing data from business papers is one of the top functions of document management systems.
Paper-based documents can be converted to digital format and kept in document repositories by the system. Additionally, it enables the automated acquisition and extraction of helpful data through a variety of channels, including
- High-volume, automated scanning
- Imaging (Tiff, JPEG, PDF, GIF).
- Processing forms.
- With the aid of top-notch OCR.
- Handwriting recognition when typing.
- Code bar.
- Emails
- Indexing & Classification of Documents
Another crucial characteristic is the automatic document indexing and document classification capabilities of Document Management Software.
For simpler retrieval, an electronic document management system (EDMS) should be able to categorize collected data and extract information from their content automatically.
Automatically determining the type of information based on the content of documents is called document categorization (invoice, letter, drawing, etc.)
- Controlling document versions
Document version control is one of the most important functions of a document management system. Employees risk losing information or working on an outdated file version without it. Solutions for enterprise document management will make it possible to
- Produce numerous iterations of a regulated document.
- Lock the relevant data when editing to prevent overwriting changes.
- Keep track of what was accomplished and who changed things.
- Check to see that staff are still using the most recent version
- The capability to go back in time if necessary
- Support the minor and major versioning principles for a controlled document.
- Optimized Workflow
All firms nowadays rely heavily on documents; therefore, Workflow Automation Software related procedures like approvals and information requests would undoubtedly enhance daily operations and lead to lower costs, happier customers, and more productive workers.
The approval process for various operations, such as leave requests, purchase orders, and invoicing, can be automated using an EDMS workflow.
- Adaptation to Microsoft Office and Office 365
The most popular method for team members to share files and interact is still email. Therefore, the ability to immediately import data to your DMS from Outlook, Word, and Excel is crucial.
A document management system should offer MS Office add-ons so that users may quickly and easily save their material into the EDMS.
Conclusion:
A document management system (DMS) is a tool for receiving, managing and storing documents to reduce paper use. In addition, most can maintain track of the multiple revisions made and changed by different users (history tracking).
