Document management solutions have been available to businesses of all sizes since the 1980s. Also known as a document management system (DMS), these solutions have transformed into modern, tech-savvy tools that allow users to process and manage paperless documents efficiently and easily.

The goal of this blog is to provide you with knowledge about document management and how it can benefit your business. How your documents are captured, stored, and retrieved are crucial to the day-to-day life of your business, so you’ve already made the right first step by investigating document management solutions. Software to manage your internal documents has become an important element of the content services that are available today, helping businesses of all sizes become more efficient and productive. Understanding how document management works and even its limitations will help your business take the next step to incorporate the right solution for your unique industry and workflows.

How Does Document Management Work?

Document management works through the utilization of computer systems and software. It is used to store, process, and manage paperless documents, or the electronic versions of text and images your business uses in its day-to-day work. The hardcopy content being processed and managed is usually captured through a scanner, transforming the piece to an electronic document. Document management works by using specific software to scan hardcopy documents to your internal network, accurately and systematically store them, and provide easy retrieval of those electronic versions of your documents when you need to access them.

Features and Benefits

There are several reasons why incorporating document management software into your business toolkit makes sense. Consider the following:

  1. Upload and Create – You can create documents as well as upload photos and images through fax, email, or scanning.
  2. Document Searching – a document management system provides you with the ability to search through stored documents. With this, you can browse the full text or search through the metadata.
  3. Document Classification – Categorize and classify paperless documents for easy retrieval with what we refer to as “user-defined metadata fields.”
  4. Document Editing – This is a key collaboration feature of the system. This works with a check-in and check-out process, and the available software solutions allow you to inline edit.
  5. Document Viewing – The system allows you to view any content (texts and images) as part of the specific document file. There are solution providers that have built-in viewers in their system.
  6. Document Check-in – With document management, you can conduct simultaneous editing. Through this, the process is seamless and organized, and documents cannot be overwritten because they are locked.
  7. Roll-Back and Version Viewing– This is the ability given to the user to restore a previous version of the document. This is a nice benefit because errors are common, and mistakes can be easily edited.
  8. Version Control – Document management lets you view all of the changes that have been made to your document.
  9. Document Workflows – This aspect of document management provides you with workflow capabilities. It’s an important factor when automating document-centric processes.
  10. Document Sharing – Management systems allow a user to share electronic documents easily with other users. This sharing can be done both internally and externally, which makes it very convenient for your team and customers alike.
  11. Security and Audit – With this feature, administrators can determine which team members have access to specific files and can easily track who has accessed which specific documents for audit purposes.
  12. Scanning Capability – The system’s foundation is built on scanning paper-based documents and converting them into electronic documents like TIFF and PDFs.
  13. Document Storage – This is another core function of document management. The system itself can be used as a channel to serve as document storage where users can classify and categorize documents for easy retrieval.

 

More Information on Document Management Systems

Numerous organizations use this system in a lot of ways. Instead of having paper-based filing cabinets, the system is an electronic replacement. Your office will save space because all of your documents are piled up in a digital space, rather than requiring physical space in your office. It’s also a great tool to help maintain regulatory compliance.

Document management is a simple tool that governs, organizes, and controls any content found in the documents. It serves as the precursor to the more popular content management system today. It comes with some basic functionalities that play a crucial role in processing and managing content.

Because of the ability to check-in, check out and lock content, there can be proper coordination during the actualization of multi-faceted, collaborative work involved in document editing. The different versions remain intact and can be viewed anytime a user wants. If a user needs to see a previous version, it is easily accessible to them.

Conclusion

Modern document management systems put all of your digitized data at your fingertips. They include a wide range of scope, coverage, size, and capabilities. These systems are beneficial for SMBs and large scale enterprises alike. It’s important to keep in mind that partnering with a document management system provider allows for businesses to seamlessly incorporate the software as a tool in a business’s arsenal and provides huge benefits to those who integrate it into their workflows.

 

Contact Modern Office Methods today for more information about adding a document management solution to your Ohio area business.