The term "document management" and "paperless office" is the subject of countless articles and books. Everyone wants to achieve this lofty goal but not everyone understands what the terms really mean. Before you can embark on the journey of achieving total document management, it's important that you have a good basic knowledge of the terms and concepts that go with it.
Once you start investigating the various software solutions that are available you're going to run into some document management abbreviations, acronyms, and general terms that you might not be familiar with. Here is a "cheat sheet" that will help you to understand the material that you'll encounter as well as the conversations that you'll be having with document management solution providers.
Electronic Document Capture (EDC)
This is the generic term that refers to the entire process of converting paper documents into their electronic equivalents. It covers concepts such as scanning, text recognition, image conversion and indexing for later retrieval. In other words, it is a catchall phrase for the entire document management process.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
OCR is a process that recognizes the printed words that are present on a physical document. OCR is generally used when processing documents that are printed in "normal" printer or typewriter fonts.
Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR)
This process is similar to OCR but is generally capable of also processing certain handwritten documents on special forms. It can also recognize and process "tick marks" and bar codes.
Electronic Document Management System (EDMS)
Sometimes referred to as Document Management (DM) or Document Management System (DMS), this term encompasses not just the electronic conversion of paper documents, but the management of electronically created documents including word processing and email. EDMS systems are used to locate and display documents as well as to maintain different versions of the source document.
Electronic Record Management System (ERMS)
Also known as Record Management (RM) or Record management System (RMS), this term refers to systems that are used to insure that important records such as payroll, human resources, patient records, contracts, etc, are stored and available during their useful lifetime.
Web Content Management (WCM)
Also called a Content Management Systems (CMS), this term refers to software that is used to store and publish content to a web site. A CMS separates the web content from the underlying HTML design so that any authorized person can publish or remove content from a web site without having to know HTML.
Workflow Management (WFM)
WFM systems are used to management document preparation in a structured environment where certain preparation, review, or approval steps have to be done in a defined order. WFM systems direct the documents to the correct people, in the correct order, until the entire process has been completed.
Knowledge Management (KM)
These systems are used to make the total legacy "knowledge" of an organization available to everyone. KM systems eliminate the need for employees to "reinvent the wheel" when dealing with questions, processes, or any other issue that has already been dealt with by someone in the organization. A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) system is a good example of a valuable KM system.
Now that you have an understanding of the basic terms that you will encounter, your next step is to determine the type of document management system that best meets your requirements. After that you can begin the process of identifying the available solutions and pick the one that meets your organization's needs.
Cavyl Stewart is the owner of http://www.find-small-business-software.com. Never again slave away at boring tasks inexpensive software can do twice as fast. Find out how by subscribing to her exclusive free 100% orginal content ecourse:"Discover 52 ways to do more with software," by sending a blank email to: http://www.find-small-business-software.com.
Northbrook Cadillac Deville rentals .. Lockport Chicago limo O’HareMicrosoft CRM was designed to be easily customizable. Microsoft CRM... Read More
It would be easy to think, like most people apparently... Read More
TikiWiki is open source software - it is written in... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has several options to enable... Read More
You turn on your computer, and it doesn't look quite... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions CRM proved to be reliable solution in... Read More
The COSMIC FP (function point) software quality metric, is no... Read More
This article is for advanced Microsoft CRM SDK C# developers.... Read More
Find out why Spyware Removal from computers is important and... Read More
Scrapbooks are very popular these days. I think that almost... Read More
We don't think about mainframe software pricing anymore, we just... Read More
Once upon a time not so long ago, there was... Read More
Need software to record your voice, streaming audio or musical... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has I'd say end user... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains, Navision, Solomon and Axapta are Microsoft Business... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains was designed back in the... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains is main Microsoft Business Solutions product, targeted... Read More
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a strategy and processes used... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions ? Great Plains is designed to meet... Read More
Fundraising software lets you connect with donors in a way... Read More
We all already got used to computer monitoring both at... Read More
Do you remember that frustrating feeling when you find an... Read More
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Hawaii (HMSA) found itself... Read More
Adware is a type of Spyware program that displays some... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is very good fit for... Read More
Beason Mercedes Benz s500 rentals ..Finally, you have some time to personalize your desktop with... Read More
Microsoft bought Navision, Denmark based software development company, along with... Read More
Mike Dunville* had a decision to make. As the new... Read More
If you copy something from a Web site or elsewhere...... Read More
Shareware is software that you can try before you buy;... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is written in Great Plains... Read More
While paper labeling CDs and DVDs may appear to be... Read More
MSN messenger is a pretty cool invention. I mean I'm... Read More
Before being able to choose a secure Internet communication system,... Read More
.NET platform does not support multiple inheritance. Do not confuse... Read More
DBxtra goes ASPGetting to the information hidden within corporate databases... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions CRM and IBM Lotus Notes Domino, being... Read More
Great Plains Inventory Management (IV) module gives your business a... Read More
Since Version 8.0 Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains & Great... Read More
Introduction to C++Why Learn C++?C++ may at first seem like... Read More
What is Groupware?Have you ever had to manage document collaboration... Read More
Program Flow is what you think it is. How the... Read More
When you own a small business, time is money. And... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Navision serves both European and American megamarkets.... Read More
Finding the best spyware removers to detect and remove spyware... Read More
Handling character strings in Java is supported through two final... Read More
Current Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has more that 10... Read More
In our small article we'll consider Microsoft Business Solutions Great... Read More
In the new era of internet marketing the problem of... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions CRM is web-based CRM application, deploying all... Read More
Software |