What is... Document Management

Document management is a generic title covering all the means by which files are organised, stored, retrieved, and archived for long-term retention.

At the simplest level, this would entail the use of filing cabinets in an office environment, progressing to off-site archiving as volumes increased and the files became less current.

Paper filing suffers from three key shortcomings: space is at a premium in most business environments, and paper storage space is totally non-productive; paper archives take time to administer and operate, and retrieval time, and therefore cost, is usually substantial (although mostly hidden); security is generally at a minimum, with no safeguards on misfiling, loss of files, or catastrophic destruction in, say, a major fire or flood.

Storing documents as electronic files overcomes all the shortcomings of a paper archive in one hit. Filing space is more or less eliminated , document retrieval time is as long as it takes to key in a document or file reference on a PC keyboard, and files can be backed up either as part of existing IT procedures, or on portable media such as CD- or DVD-ROM, stored in fireproof cabinets or in some remote location, at very little additional expense. Modern work flow systems allow electronic data to be captured at source, and made available immediately to network or intranet users no matter how large the organisation.

Finally, electronic files can be archived on a web server for immediate access across the internet.