How to Select Document Management Software

An easy to follow reference guide for companies looking to buy a document management system

By Pankaj Taneja, Consultant, HyperOffice

With information pulsating through every nook and cranny of an organization -Reports, records, memos, contracts, agreements, graphs, data files, policy documents, images – document management is critical to all organizations. Two conceptual essentials of a document management system are – people should have easy access to the right information at the right time, and they should be able to conveniently work together on information. To put these in practice however, especially considering the fact that employees are distibuted over diverse locations and often on the road, a system needs to have many specific features. The advantages of using a document management system for your business are:-

1)       Easy access to information when you need it.
2)       The knowledge assets of your company are stored & organized for present and future needs.
3)       Hassle free legal compliance
4)       Increased productivity because people can remotely collaborate on information.

Select Type of System

There are different types of systems available depending on the size of your organization and its needs. You first need to decide which is most suitable for your context.
Try: For mega corporations with highly specific needs and huge budgets, and which are ready to dedicate in-house servers and staff, enterprise systems like Documentum are suitable. For mid to large scale organizations, which are ready to face the development and maintenance of open source software, Knowledge Tree is an option. For small to mid sized organizations, modern web based solutions are suitable because they require no in-house staff and effort, and offer flexibility and a large range of features. HyperOffice is a good web based solution, in that it has powerful document management capabilities, and has many integrated tools (intranet, email, calendars, projects) which tie well with document management.

Draw a Features List

Based on your company's needs, come up with a list of "must have" features, and a list of "good to have" features. The first list will be the bare minimum you expect from your system, and the second list will be those features for which you may shell out extra, depending on the cost benefit ratio. You can read on to see what features the author of this article feels are essential from a small to mid sized business context.
Try: You may need to do a little research to see the range of features offered by various document management systems, and which are the ones relevant to your context. Some easy to follow resources are Online Document Sharing Reviews, & DocManage.

Check for "Must Have" Features

Every document management solution should have certain basics to be truly called as such. Make sure you go through the solution and see that these features are included.
Try: Centralized storage is important for manageability of documents, and reduction of duplication. Remote access ensures that files are accessible no matter what office location employees are at or even when traveling. Collaboration features like versioning, document locking, commenting, change notifications, & audit trails ensure that people can work together on documents effectively. Access permissions ensure that administrators can finely manage who can see what information and what they can do with it. Automatic backups ensure that there is no risk of critical business information being lost.

How Secure is the Application

Security is a top consideration because data critical to the company will be parsing through the document management system.
Try: Password protection is the first level and bare minimum security measure. Look out for providers who encrypt data using the SSL 128 bit encryption standard to safeguard data. Automatic backups ensure that your data is always backed up in case of loss. Anti virus and Anti Spam may be relevant depending on the type of software and where it is hosted.

Get Shortlisting

Now that you have defined your needs and know exactly what you want from your solution, its about time u start looking around for applications themselves.
Try: Browse well known directories like Web-Based-Software. The SAAS option is particularly beneficial for smaller companies. It allows them to get the power of big business solutions at reasonable monthly costs. Moreover it also saves them from the hassles of setting up, updating and maintaining the solution.

Look for "integrated solutions" because a document management system never works in isolation.
The system should offer some scheduling and project management capabilities so that tasks can be set up and resource documents be linked to different milestones.
The ability to attach contacts and documents let you keep tabs on what information is associated with what employee, partner or client.