ERP Software

Enterprise Document Management Software

In order to stay in compliance with all industry regulations and government regulations, businesses need to maintain control over a secure location for their documents. These documents, however, cannot be locked away in such a manner that they are not instantly accessible when they need to be produced. The answer to this challenge has been Enterprise Document Management Software. An Enterprise Document Management Software system is a set of computer programs that are utilized in order to keep track of and to store images of paper documents and electronic documents. Enterprise document management software systems manage the paper and electronic documents of a company, keeping them secure, yet also able to be sited in case there is a compliance audit or a legal request.

EDMS started sometime in the 1980s. Aware of the need to keep better track of paper documents, software designers began to develop appropriate software systems. Initially, this software worked only for paper documents, although soon photographs and prints were able to be included, also. The second generation of EDMSs was able to handle electronic documents. This meant a business could also track and store documents and files which did not exist in hard copy because they were being actually created on a computer. Sometime later, these software systems became known as the way to handle image file formats such as faxes.Enterprise Document Management Software eventually came to encompass all file formats which could be stored on a network, such as include email, faxes, instant messages, PowerPoint presentations, collaborative software entries, and multimedia.

Once document management software systems began to flood the market, businesses had to answer certain questions before selecting one for purchase. Some of these questions pertained to the data itself.  For example, how long should documents be stored? How were changes in documents to be handled? How could the information on the documents be kept secure? And, Was it possible to recover documents, if something happened to the software? The answers to these questions are important and still timely because the nature of EDMS continues to evolve.

In fact, in 2010, Digital Management, Inc made known a deal it had made with the Department of Commerce Office of General Counsel to design a new Enterprise Document Management System which promised to improve (as quoted from their announcement): “the quality, consistency, and timeliness of matter, project, and assignment information used and reported across OGC.” And, under the terms of the contract, the new software yet to be developed would be a document management system that would interface with information technology systems already in place.

Written by :

kristine H