In the simplest terms, a Document Management System (DMS) is software that helps a company track the life of electronic documents. Tracking documents can be as simple as just check-in/check-out control and version tracking functionality.  Or, it can also include tracking all the actions made on a document by a user while accessing the DMS, such as when they e-mail a document, print it, save it, edit it, etc. In the past only large corporations were able to afford a DMS solution and some of them even wrote their own ones internally. In addition, old DMS solutions did not take into account the full life of a document. Now even small companies can afford to implement a DMS, if your business is dependent on document production and retention there is no reason for your business not to take advantage of this technology.

• Analysis and Design
• Implementation
• Training
• Support
• Integration
• Imaging

Evaluation and appraisal:

Here at CompuLogiX Systems we can help you make the decision on whether or not you need a Document Management System. We can also detail the benefits of a DMS to your management team and propose which product will best fit your needs and be cost effective for your company. Once your management team approves the initial analysis and proposal of a certain product we help you with the procurement and licensing of the software and on designing the implementation, rolling it out and training your users on the product and its features. Lastly we will help you in moving your current documents to the new DMS and we will also support and maintain it going forward. One of the best ways to convince your management team, and your company, that a solution such as a DMS is worthwhile is to conduct a pilot program within your company. A "pilot program", allows for a smaller version of the project to be implemented within the company. Pilot programs are identical to a full implementation of the project, but only to a subset of the business, say an area or division or group. This program can point out any major problems that may happen if a large implementation was to be done.

Analysis and Design

One of, if not the, the most important steps in implementing an application or any type of system correctly. In this step we meet with your management team, staff and any others to gather all the details about their current process, whether manual or electronic. We then map those steps and details to features (a fancy word for a digital step within a software) of the application, a DMS in this case, and we make note of how the new process differs or is similar to the old process. Taking detailed notes now, will save time when the training material is developed.

Implementation

Training

Support and maintenance

Integration

Does your company use Contact Management or Project Management software for its projects or customer tracking? Does this software integrate a Document Management System to keep track of the mailings (documents, e-mail, faxes and images) generated for a specific project or customer? With our services we can help you integrate a DMS, whether it is a new DMS or an existing in-house solution. Does your bread and butter software require a DMS? Does it already have a "water down" version of a DMS and you want to upgrade to a full DMS? Do you want to manage your documents (emails, faxes and images) as part of your main business software?

Imaging

As mentioned above, previous DMS solutions did not take into consideration all the phases of a document's life. Now, with the advances in imaging solutions, paper which was generated (printed) by the digital editor (MS Word, WordPerfect, etc) can be stored back into a DMS after being signed or stamped by manual processes. These solutions allow for a document's life to continue to be tracked even after the document has been printed. One obvious benefit to imaging paper documents is the savings in file cabinet space. But, this is not the only benefit, by far! Another very important benefit is the ease of providing a disaster recovery solution for your paper images. By having these images digitally stored, they can be duplicated to a disaster recovery site on the other side of the nation or the world if needed. If your business uses one of the newer digital "all-in-one" copiers, it already has the capability to image paper, all it probably needs is a way to route the image to a DMS. Our experience in this area is with the product from a company called eCopy. eCopy has several products which allow paper to be scanned, routed and stored through out your computer network and further allows for those images to be stored in a DMS.