There are numerous document management systems on the market, and every company has different needs and objectives, so understanding the selection criteria and making a checklist is crucial in the decision-making process.
How to Select a Document Management System
:Criteria and Checklist
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How to Select a Document Management System
Where’s your Pain?
Focusing on addressing your primary “pain points” yields the most satisfaction and productivity with whatever product you select and positions you for the best return on investment. Common problems organizations without robust document management systems experience include:
Searching
Users either can’t find documents they are looking for at all, or it takes a significant amount of time to find desired documents Organization
The existing document storage system is unorganized, making it difficult to know where to put new documents and hard to find existing documents
Versioning
Users store multiple copies of documents, so when they later find documents, there is confusion as to what is the right version Security
Existing systems don’t handle security adequately, ensuring only the right users (authorized users) can view, edit, or share important intellectual property
Workflow
Current work processes are leaky and inefficient, allowing important work to fall through the cracks or make tracking timely progression difficult
Access
Users don’t have online access to needed documents outside the office, on the production floor, or at third-party locations; or vendors/contractors and customers don’t have access to important documents Sharing
Because files reside in different locations, users either don’t know about needed documents or have limited access to them; or document versions are not synched causing confusion and rework
Retention
The company is buried in old documents, but can’t delete files because they don’t know the good from the bad.
Organizations may have one or several
“pain points” related to their current state
of document management.
Instituting a formal document management system
can resolve most, if not all, of these pains.
And often can elevate a company’s productivity.
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What Software Architecture?
While virtually all vendors now offer some web capabilities, the web features of some older “Client-Server”
products are too “light” to be useful. Web-based solutions enable a full set of document management features without the need for installed client software. Web-based document management is great for organizations with geographically distributed users, users who travel, or to enable external user
collaboration (with vendors, customers, or suppliers).
What Document Types?
If your document management issues are primarily business oriented, then important document types include memos, email, invoices, purchase orders, etc., and important files include Microsoft Office (docs, ppt, xls) and Adobe (pdf). If files are electronically generated you have a significant advantage of directly managing digital data. If you have a large volume of paper files, or paper documents are sent to you on a regular basis (such as invoices or purchase orders), your document management system needs to include well-defined scanned data capture features.
Business or Engineering?
If your document management issues revolve around engineering content, such as preliminary design data, detailed design files, 2D CAD, 3D CAD models, calculations, design notes, schematics, manufacturing instructions, etc., then advanced capabilities to handle these unique engineering data management requirements are a must.
Some of these features include:
CAD file support for major
2D/3D CAD products such as AutoCAD, Inventor, MicroStation, and SolidWorks
This includes important features such as reference file detection, reference linkage in the database, and serving up correct reference files upon check-out and check-in
Title Block Integration, which is the automatic capture of file properties displayed in the CAD properties dialog or drawing title block
Direct check-out/in of CAD files within the CAD applications
Integrated high performance engineering file viewer (web-based)
Large (wide format) scanned drawings can be displayed
CAD file vector display with layer control is available
Extensive engineering markups
Configurable markup feature for various engineering disciplines with markup text input and symbol support, automatic markup notifications, etc.
NOT ALL DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS CAN HANDLE ENGINEERING
DRAWINGS AND DOCUMENTS, CAD
GENERATED FILES REQUIRE SPECIAL
HANDLING
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Engineering drawing transmittals
Transmittal letters generated automatically through customized transmittal templates and populated with files selected for distribution
Transmittal of mixed file sets, including CAD, Office and scanned files
Auto-conversion of sets to PDF and email links to transmitted files
An integrated engineering batch printing (plotting) subsystem
Complex engineering/CAD plotting support without downloading individual files
Single click plotting to engineering (wide format) printers, anywhere on the network
Direct plotting support for any engineering printing device
Saved print sets for easy re-printing of large batch print jobs.
Beyond document management basics?
Document management systems provide significant benefits in document organization, security, search, version control, view, print and convenient access for users throughout an organization. Once users find documents, they perform the work they do with those documents, often in traditional ways established over many years by their organizations.
Technologies like Document Workflow and Lifecycle offer opportunities for organizations to leverage the benefits of Document Management Software. Workflow moves organizations beyond the benefits of organized document storage and retrieval and enables business process improvements in the work processes completed by users with their documents.
Companies should review their business processes and understand if implementation of integrated Workflows and/or document Lifecycles can yield efficiency benefits and improve system ROI through this type of automation.
Integrated Workflow modules
Automation of flowchart-based, schedule-driven work processes such as document review and approvals, engineering change requests, and document release approval
Routing of documents through highly configurable review and approval processes
Automation of actions with/to documents based on predefined conditions, such as approval status, revision conditions, etc.
Document Lifecycle modules
Automatic categorization of documents based on type/category/intended use
Lifecycle state rules that automate actions performed on documents as documents change from one lifecycle state to another, including:
Change to a document's metadata (such as an approval status value)
Modification of a document's security settings
Copy or move of documents from one location to another
Delete or archive documents.
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General System Features
Store and manage any document or file type
Totally web-based
Choice of web-server software
Database software included
Explore and search functions for documents
Unlimited projects
Project templates
Highly scalable.
Security Features
Multiple/robust data access security
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) implementation
Security for mobile device access
Configurable user interfaces, based on security profiles.
Document Management Features
Document attributes (metadata) for fast search and print
Simple searching features
Advanced search options
Full text search (documents and metadata)
Automatic metadata propagation
Rapid indexing for scanned documents.
Extensive Revision Control System
Configurable revision naming schemas
Multiple revision schemas
Upload not dependent on revision order
Optional major and minor revisions tracking and display
Engineering release and change management
Linked file families (e.g., major/minor/published)
Authorized check-out and check-in
Automatic new revision detection
Complete revision history
Complete audit trail feature set.
Integration Features
Automated CSV searches
Bulk document uploading
Selective search using URLs
No proprietary data storage (files still available even if database is down)
Automatic data acquisition
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that are simple and easy to configure.
Collaboration Features
Multiple document display options
Extensive markup tool set
Custom symbols in markups
Event subsystem notifications
Measurement tool for distances and area
Electronic "sticky notes"
Project news.
Mobile Device Access
Mobile device independent
Download of any drawing or document for offline viewing
Touch to select and pinch-push to zoom
Easy access to recently viewed documents
View, pan, and zoom CAD drawing files without needing CAD software
Fully secure using user access profiles from document management system.
Multi-Site Synchronization (if required)
File synchronization across multiple locations
View of folders and documents across the organization, not just the local server
Security and access control over home server documents on remote locations
Management of synchronization behavior (where, how, and when synch occurs)
Directionality of synching.
KEY FEATURES CHECK LIST
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Configuration Features
Configurable user interfaces
Configurable search user interface
Automatic launching of any application.
Enterprise Batch Printing
Batch plotting management
Server-side plot processing
Print/Plot to any networked device
Configurable print destinations
Highly configurable printing options
One-click printing
Save and reprint set printing
Conditional document stamping
Print requests and direct printing.
Electronic Distribution
URL linking
Transmittals subsystem
Encapsulations - field markup upload.
CAD/PDM Features (if required)
CAD software support
Browser-based CAD features
Title block integration
Dynamic CAD reference file support
Automatic reference file updating
High performance, integrated viewer, not requiring additional licenses.
KEY FEATURES CHECK LIST
6 Provided by eQuorum | Summary
The decision of which document management solution is best for you is comprised of many factors; the company environment, its document profile, its workflows, and other company-specific dynamics.
eQuorum has offered a web-based, reliable, highly configurable, and affordable document management solution for almost 20 years.
Due to ImageSite’s robust feature set and ability to be configured per the specifications of the customer it meets the needs of many organizations, especially those with many different file types and more than one location.
ImageSite is also easy to deploy as a web- based system, not requiring any client-based (individual computer) software be installed.
Quick and painless implementation allows for faster access to system benefits and increases project ROI.
For more information on ImageSite features click www.equorum.com/products .
eQuorum is an engineering document management software provider offering cloud, on-premise, and hybrid solutions for companies with a large number of files, files types, or locations. It’s solutions have been utilized over the last 17 years by some of the country’s best known manufacturing, engineering services, and utilities companies, as well as major universities and government agencies.