Document Management System: Things to consider

If you are somebody born before 1990, you surely must have come across places stuffed with loads of books, files and paperwork; one such place may have been the good old library from your past memory. Unlike swanky intranet enabled digital libraries of today, the ones you may have visited must have been a place filled with loads of books sprayed with pungent chemicals. Nostalgic, is it not? Being hailed as a temple of knowledge, those libraries would be a serene place to concentrate and deliberate upon topics and issues. A library would and still gets benchmarked depending upon the number of titles (distinct books) available for reading.

In earlier days, the number of books in a library would have a direct co-relation with its total physical size. As years have passed, many libraries have expanded their knowledge-base of books without requiring additional space; all thanks to the ongoing digital revolution.

The wave of digitization has not only affected libraries but also paper-dependent institutions like banks, universities, schools, examination bodies, government services, ticketing systems, offices etc. While paper based data management is still in use, it is rapidly being replaced by electronic medium. This new trend of digitization has clearly re-engineered the ways we undertake document management in our day to day lives.

In older offices we used to find documents lined in a specific order with proper labels on their files/folders and an impeccable referencing system that linked documents in any customized and standardized alphanumeric tag format. While times have changed and older systems have started getting obsolete, the age old methodology of document management has not just prevailed but adapted and evolved in a better way.

Paper based documents are still prevalent in many processes, albeit in lower proportions as compared to earlier times. There are also many instances of document processing from a physical form to a digital form or vice-versa. We now have numerous sophisticated systems which provide us with a plethora of options to save documents or re-process them in different digital formats.

Documents – usually considered a static source of information have now become dynamic in nature, thanks to the development of IT based systems. This has resulted into creation of its own unique sets of challenges and opportunities.

One can only imagine as to how important a Document Management System (DMS) would be, considering that there are at least 18 standalone ISO standards (as of December 2017) that deal with “Information and Documentation”. While it may not be possible to pour out all 18 standards out here, some of the key aspects that one should consider while developing, updating or deploying a DMS are:

• Identify types of documents in use: Not all offices utilize only electronic documentation methodology. Most places utilize a mixed type of documentation format with certain redundancies i.e. same document available in physical as well as electronic format. While accounting systems have matured to accept digital documents for regulatory audits, there still remains a dependence upon the good old paper documentation system. It is very important to identify the types of documents in circulation and storage. This will help you plan your next step.
• Understand the future requirements: One need to consider the current as well as future requirements of business processes for planning and executing a DMS. For example: for decades there was a requirement for companies to hold documented information in a physical format. However, very recently government agencies around the world have started requiring filing of data in digital format and even requesting digital copies to attest the same. Most industry pundits predict that Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) is the future of current DMS.
• Enlist management support: If your workplace in consideration has been a usual paper trail transaction environment, then the amount of effort that you may have to put in for transitioning the system into an electronic one would be phenomenal. This would require enlisting support of all relevant stakeholders and also inclusion of training to help in this transition.
• Understanding the process flow: There should be a clearly defined approach (recommending utilization of flowcharts) towards DMS. An individual detailed flowchart of processes such as document creation, approval, storage, retrieval, modification and decommissioning would be quite essential to elaborate the core elements of DMS. Steps in these processes may vary for different organizations; however one should ensure that a feedback loop-system is integrated within these processes.
• Visibly identify documents in draft stage: Many a times organizations are humbled with the shear amount of different document formats that are created on a need basis. These documents albeit not approved somehow make their way within the system resulting into conflicts for administration. It is very important to safeguard the system from addition of any unauthorized new document format, policy, procedure or record.
• Undertake document segregation: Depending upon the type of document in consideration, there should be a mechanism in place to segregate the relevant document. Segregation here does not refer to their format of document but rather to the type of document i.e. Policy, Procedure, Work Instructions, Records etc. Another level of segregation would be as per the departments in which these documents would be applicable/utilized.
• Standardize document referencing for their identification: Documents need to be indexed/referenced for retrieval and usability purposes. This referencing should complement the pre-defined documents structure within the archive. These days’ barcodes and QR codes are also being used to complement electronic data capturing, referencing or authentication.
• Operational definitions and conflict management in DMS: Organizations should ensure that the relevant definitions and operational definition understanding provided in any document be exactly the same throughout the entire organization. Unless dictated by statutory laws of different regions to require a different usage and understanding, no conflicted definitions should be provided and the difference should be properly evaluated in a centralized repository. All documents spanning across an organization (including its subsidiaries) should be evaluated for any conflict of understanding and application. All conflicts should be addressed on an immediate basis.
• Set user access levels and controls: An enterprise may have documents of varying significance and usage. One should take a note that not all documents are usable by everyone. Sometimes enterprises have documents stored which may significantly impact its business processes. An organization should not just limit access to sensitive documents but also ensure that irrelevant documents are not being made available to the end users.
• Periodic document review: An organization should undertake a time-bound review system against all the documents in place. It is imperative of the organization to ensure that relevant updated approved documents are made available through any of the intranet / document procurement systems in place. One of the most discouraging practices in DMS is not having a time-bound revision date and instead replacing it with the text stating “As and when required”. While records will never have an associated review date against them – policies, procedures and work instructions should definitely have one. One of the suggested best practices is to undertake document review at-least once per year. This practice can be complemented by usage of automatic notification system that will prompt you for a document review from time to time.
• Controlling Document Distribution: Documents are made available through various mediums. It is often required that documents be printed and circulated with the system. Such a circulation of document may seem appropriate for time being; however the same may be detrimental to organization health if obsolete documents remain in circulation. This thus requires a comprehensive policy on document decommissioning as well as declaring documents in uncontrolled environment with a disclaimer of the same being uncontrolled copies.
• Document Security, Storage and Backup: With advancement in documentation practices, certain aspects of documentation which required signatory authentication may have become weak. Similarly documents in master storage may get manipulated. This can impact business continuity plans and at times jeopardize business operations. Seal and signatories may safeguard physical documents from being altered while digital signatures, password protection and document edit controls with restricted access can help in safeguarding digital documents. Apart from master document storage, organizations can leverage upon secure cloud backup technology to ensure that IT based risks are addressed. Since 60% of documents are required to be stored for extended period of time, this backup should be scheduled and undertaken on a periodic basis depending upon the risks involved.
• Undertake an ISMS audit: This is very crucial in case you are following an EDMS system. An Information Security Management System (ISMS) audit helps in assessing the current level of security associated with your EDMS, find potential vulnerabilities and undertake patching of these vulnerabilities.
• Utilize emerging trends: Few of the emerging trends which are relevant with DMS or EDMS are utilization of metadata to tag information against a document, documenting modifications or even setting up audit trail against the document. Matured EDMS utilizing organizations usually have data stored in relational database. Some of these systems have matured to utilize Object Oriented Database (OODB). Such a complex system then requires an expert level testing and operational handling of the EDMS. An EDMS can be supplemented/guided by an automated workflow system; this feature saves time and effort by undertaking a pre-assigned action once a workflow is initiated.

Benefits of implementing an EDMS:

For those who are new to this concept, let me make you aware that implementation of EDMS helps in:

1. Saving of precious physical storage space
2. Helps to rapidly locate documents
3. Eliminates the infrastructure spend on things such as file cabinets
4. Prevents misplacing or loss of recorded data
5. Makes electronic documents available across multiple locations at the same time
6. EDMS is especially favored by those who are conscious of environment since it helps in eliminating the requirement for paper based documentation.