#opensource document management system

Government regulations require that companies working in certain industries control their documents. These industries include accounting (e.g., 8th EU Directive, Sarbanes–Oxley Act), food safety (e.g., Food Safety Modernization Act), ISO (mentioned above), medical device manufacturing (FDA), manufacture of blood, human cells, and tissue products (FDA), Healthcare (JCAHO), and Information technology (ITIL). Particular industries are also held to a higher level of documentation control, for privacy, warranty and insurance purposes. For example, in the construction industry, it is common that project documentation is held on record and adequately controlled for warranty periods ranging on average for 5-10 years.

Documents stored in a

document management system

— such as procedures, work instructions, and policy statements—provide evidence of documents under control. Failing to comply could cause fines, the loss of business, or damage to a business's reputation.

The following are important aspects of document control:

Reviewing and approving  documents prior to release

Reviews and approvals

Ensuring changes and revisions are clearly identified

Ensuring that relevant versions  of applicable documents are available at their “points of use”

Ensuring that documents remain  legible and identifiable

Ensuring that external   documents like customer supplied documents or supplier manuals are   identified and controlled

Preventing “unintended” use of   obsolete documents

Documentmanagement system commonly provide storage, versioning, metadata, security, as well as indexing and retrieval capabilities. Here is a description of these components:

Metadata :     Metadata  is typically stored for each document. Metadata may, for example, include the  date the document will be stored and the identity of the user storing it. The  DMS may also extract metadata from the document automatically or prompt the  user to add metadata. Some systems also use optical character recognition on  scanned images, or perform text extraction on electronic documents. The  resulting extracted text can be used to assist users in locating documents by  identifying probable keywords or providing for full text search capability,  or can be used on its own. Extracted text can also be stored as a component  of metadata, stored with the image, or separately as a source for searching  document collections.

Integration :

Many  document management systems attempt to integrate document management directly  into other applications, so that users may retrieve existing documents directly  from the document management system repository, make changes, and save the  changed document back to the repository as a new version, all without leaving  the application. Such integration is commonly available for office suites and  e-mail or collaboration/groupware software. Integration often uses open  standards such as ODMA, LDAP, WebDAV and SOAP to allow integration with other  software and compliance with internal controls. 

Capture :

Capture  primarily involves accepting and processing images of paper documents from scanners  or multifunction printers. Optical character recognition (OCR) software is  often used, whether integrated into the hardware or as stand-alone software,  in order to convert digital images into machine readable text. Optical mark  recognition (OMR) software is sometimes used to extract values of check-boxes  or bubbles. Capture may also involve accepting electronic documents and other  computer-based files.

    Validation :  Visual  validation registration system and important data. E.g. document failures,  missing signatures, misspelled names, this can be printed on paper documents  or images on paper.

Indexing :   Indexing  tracks electronic documents. Indexing may be as simple as keeping track of  unique document identifiers; but often it takes a more complex form, providing classification through the documents' metadata or even through word indexes extracted from the documents' contents. Indexing exists mainly to support retrieval. One area of critical importance for rapid retrieval is the creation of an index topology.

Storage :

Store  electronic documents. Storage of the documents often includes management of  those same documents; where they are stored, for how long, migration of the  documents from one storage media to another (hierarchical storage management)  and eventual document destruction.

Retrieval : Retrieve  the electronic documents from the storage. Although the notion of retrieving  a particular document is simple, retrieval in the electronic context can be  quite complex and powerful. Simple retrieval of individual documents can be  supported by allowing the user to specify the unique document identifier, and  having the system use the basic index (or a non-indexed query on its data  store) to retrieve the document. More flexible retrieval allows the user to  specify partial search terms involving the document identifier and/or parts  of the expected metadata. This would typically return a list of documents which match the user's search terms. Some systems provide the capability to specify a Boolean expression containing multiple keywords or example phrases expected to exist within the documents' contents. The retrieval for this kind  of query may be supported by previously built indexes, or may perform more time-consuming searches through the documents' contents to return a list of the potentially relevant documents.

 Distribution :  A  published document for distribution has to be in a format that can not be  easily altered. As a common practice in law regulated industries, an original  master copy of the document is usually never used for distribution other than  archiving. If a document is to be distributed electronically in a regulatory  environment, then the equipment tasking the job has to be quality endorsed  AND validated. Similarly quality endorsed electronic distribution carriers  have   to be used. This approach applies to both of the systems by which the  document is to be inter-exchanged, if the integrity of the document is highly  in demand.    

Security : Document  security is vital in many document management applications. Compliance  requirements for certain documents can be quite complex depending on the type  of documents. For instance, in the United States, the Health Insurance  Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements dictate that medical  documents have certain security requirements. Some document management  systems have a rights management module that allows an administrator to give  access to documents based on type to only certain people or groups of people.  Document marking at the time of printing or PDF-creation is an essential  element to preclude alteration or unintended use.

Workflow :  Workflow  is a complex process and some document management systems have a built-in  workflow module. There are different types of workflow. Usage depends on the  environment to which the electronic document management system (EDMS) is  applied. Manual workflow requires a user to view the document and decide whom  to send it to. Rules-based workflow allows an administrator to create a rule  that dictates the flow of the document through an organization: for instance,  an invoice passes through an approval process and then is routed to the  accounts-payable department. Dynamic rules allow for branches to be created in  a workflow process. A simple example would be to enter an invoice amount and  if the amount is lower than a certain set amount, it follows different routes  through the organization. Advanced workflow mechanisms can manipulate content  or signal external processes while these rules are in effect.     Collaboration: Collaboration  should be inherent in an EDMS. In its basic form, collaborative EDMS should  allow documents to be retrieved and worked on by an authorized user. Access  should be blocked to other users while work is being performed on the  document. Other advanced forms of collaboration act in real time, allowing  multiple users to view and modify (or markup) documents at the same time. The  resulting document is comprehensive, including all users additions.  Collaboration within Document Management Systems stores the various markups  by each individual user during the collaboration session, allowing document  history to be monitored.

Versioning :

Versioning  is a process by which documents are checked in or out of the document  management system, allowing users to retrieve previous versions and to  continue work from a selected point. Versioning is useful for documents that  change over time and require updating, but it may be necessary to go back to  or reference a previous copy.

Searching : Searching  finds documents and folders using template attributes or full text search. Documents  can be searched using various attributes and document content.  

Publishing : Publishing  a document involves the procedures of proofreading, peer or public reviewing,  authorizing, printing and approving etc. Those steps ensure prudence and  logical thinking. Any careless handling may result in the inaccuracy of the  document and therefore mislead or upset its users and readers. In law  regulated industries, some of the procedures have to be completed as  evidenced by their corresponding signatures and the date(s) on which the  document was signed. Refer to the ISO divisions of ICS 01.140.40 and  35.240.30 for further information. The  published document should be in a format that is not easily altered without a  specific knowledge or tools, and yet it is read-only or portable.

Reproduction :