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A document management system (DMS) is a computer system (or set of computer programs) used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. Document management systems commonly provide storage, versioning, metadata, security, as well as indexing and retrieval capabilities. The term has some overlap with the concepts of Content Management Systems and is often viewed as a component of Enterprise Content Management Systems and related to Digital Asset Management.
Overview Whether formalized or informal, based on a computer system or performed manually, most offices need some sort of system to address the following questions related to managing documents: Storage: Where will we keep our documents? How much can we spend to store them? Retrieval: How can people find needed documents? How much time can be spent looking for them? Filing:How do we organize our documents? How do we ensure documents are filed appropriately? Security:How do we protect against the loss, tampering or destruction of documents? How do we keep sensitive information hidden? Archival:How do we ensure the readability of documents in the future? How can we protect our documents against fires, floods or natural disasters? Retention:How do we decide what documents to retain? How long should they be kept? How do we remove them afterwards? Distribution:How do we get documents into the hands of people who need them? How much can we spend to distribute the documents? Workflow:If documents need to pass from one person to another, what are the rules for how their work should flow? Creation:If more than one person is involved in creating a document, how will the people collaborate? In order to provide more efficient and cost effective answers to these questions, a document management system generally contains various components and features as described below. Document management systems have some overlap with Content Management Systems, Enterprise Content Management Systems, Digital Asset Management, Document imaging, Workflow systems and Records Management systems. History Beginning in the 1980s, a number of vendors began developing systems to manage paper-based documents. Initially designed to offer mainly document imaging-level capture, storage, indexing and retrieval capabilities, the applications grew to encompass electronic documents, collaboration tools, security, and auditing capabilities... • • • Components Document management systems commonly provide storage, versioning, metadata, security, as well as indexing and retrieval capabilities. Here is a description of these components. See also | ||||||||
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