I know lots about "electronic document management" (EDM) software.
I need a lot more information about the scope of your operation to make a meaningful suggestion.
Make sure you know and understand the difference between "document sharing" and "document management."
Here's a brief summary to start you off:
Document Management Software
Background:
An organization wants to improve efficiency of document management by “grafting” a program over current legacy files and all newly-created files which will provide the following minimum benefits:
a) Ease of Search & Retrieval (on different fields/characteristics)
b) Ensure only the most recent revision is available on standard Search menu
c) Automate the procedure of notifying pertinent parties a document is ready for redlining
d) Maintain an audit trail for the status of documents (released or waiting for checking/approval [and by whom])
e) Allow “full preview” of documents without opening native programs – i.e. AutoCAD documents can be viewed without latest revision of AutoCAD being resident on user’s computer.
f) Permit “group printing” of documents, regardless of native file format.
g) Maintain up to 30 security levels on any document, determining whether user has authority to create, modify, redline, view, print, copy, etc.
How do they work?
The primary feature of Document Control Software is a relational database which manipulates very small files called “metatags”, which relate to certain attributes of documents. Basic attributes are file name, revision level, author, topic, key words, type of file format, etc. which are used for field headings in the database.
By querying the database, a user retrieves a “menu” of documents which meet the search criteria. Self-contained viewing software permits a user to view and print documents, regardless of the native file format. The views can be scrolled, zoomed, and cropped (i.e. user can print an enlarged detail of a document.)
Users who have redline authority can markup documents without invoking the native file program (the redlines are saved as “overlays” in separate files without changing the original document.)
Users who have checking/approval/redline authority can be automatically notified via email when a document is ready for their review. The program will track when and whether the review is completed and maintain an audit trail for “real time” status reports on any or all documents in the review process.
By keying on the attribute “Revision level”, the program can ensure only the most recent, authorized revision is available to most users, reserving authority to view “superseded” documents to special categories of users.
An important consideration in grafting legacy documents into the new system is choosing fields pertinent to the organization. Many documents, like autocad and word documents have features which provide automatic tags (create date, author, department, etc.) [click on "properties" under File in a Word document to get an idea of already available fields.]
The problem is most users write documents which still show "valued customer" as the author because they have never explored the Properties feature.
An expense to consider is going back into each legacy document and adding the meta tags which allow for sorting and retrieval.
I hope this helps - there are many consultants like me who would come in and give your organization background on choosing the best brand for your organization. Caution is "Are they truly independent or do they have bias toward one brand?"-Wes Bucey, Quality Manager
Congratulations and good luck..
