What is an Electronic Document Management System

Businesses have discovered software that can help them deal with everyday redundancy and tedious operations. By utilising the features of an electronic document management system (EDMS), businesses can streamline their operations to be on the right trajectory towards growth.

What Is an Electronic Document Management System?

An EDMS is a management software used to build, store, organise, and retrieve documents in various formats. It comes with features that enable users to track and manage business documents in a centralised database. The software digitally stores original documents.

From the centralised database, users can connect and initiate record management, such as enterprise content management (ECM).

Some people assume electronic document management systems and enterprise content management are the same, but they are not. While they share many features, EDMS differs from EMS.

The former is used to archive dynamic digital documents in asset-heavy organisations, while the latter allows users to store documents that require few adjustments in a central repository to be accessed by permitted parties.

How an Electronic Document Management System Works

• Allows document sharing between clients
• Eases collaboration between groups or team members
• Tracks history and system activity

EDMS Features

1. Easy-to-Configure Workflows and Navigation

   Accessing workflow information on an EDMS is easy. Workflow information can be streamlined to be optimally efficient. More so, an EDMS simplifies collaboration to ensure that everyone clearly understands the project and is on board.

2. Multi-Site Capabilities

   Team members nowadays work across multiple platforms and devices. EDMS have mobile cloud deployment capabilities that make content management and data-integrity maintenance feasible across various platforms and devices. Users and businesses benefit greatly from this feature.

3. Collaboration Tools

   An EDMS has collaboration tools to enable groups and team members to modify documents and streamline decision-making. EDMS come with collaboration tools such as text boxes, redactions, annotations, and many more.

   These features are among those that make this management system highly appealing.

4. Easy Document Search and Location

   EDMS makes it easy to quickly locate a document when needed. With metadata and hierarchical functionalities, you can track any document among the many in the repository, which can be pivotal for a business decision-making process.

   

EDMS Benefits

1. Increased Data Integrity

   An EDMS improves the integrity of data stored in its repository. By connecting to relevant data sources such as a CRM and CMMS, users can retain the information stored.

   Businesses can use the information stored on this management system to resolve common issues, such as incomplete or out-of-date information.

2. Minimised Search Time

   Users do not need to spend much time on an EDMS searching for a document. Data and information are easily accessible. The system is designed such that, from a single source of truth, all important information searched for is available quickly.

3. Enhanced Data Control and Security

   An organisation’s data and information can be sensitive, so it needs to be guarded properly. It can be difficult or even impossible to achieve complete control and security with a paper-based storage system.

   An EDMS’s traceability and regulatory features ensure that your documents are as safe as possible.

   
4. Fewer Management Costs

   An EDMS organises and stores documents for a very low price. Paper document management can be time-consuming and expensive, depending on the management duration.

   Within the electronic space of an EDMS, documents management is easy. Users can store as many files as they want without breaking the bank.

5. Consistent Content Management

   Getting authors to adhere to the latest formats when editing a paper document can be daunting. An EDMS automatically provides templates and ensures all newly formatted documents are updated to the latest standards.

   It automatically updates all published documents to keep them uniform and conform to the stipulated guidelines.

6. Strong Backup System

   Storing documents on traditional computers doesn’t guarantee that they are backed up properly. All the saved files could be lost to a system crash. On an EDMS, the documents are saved in a central cloud database, ensuring that the documents are properly backed up and can be retrieved at any time.

Final Takeaways

In the 21st century, businesses are changing the way they store and manage their documents, moving from paper to digital. Electronic document management solutions are the trend and key to efficiently managing documents.

Storing documents digitally so that stakeholders and employees can easily access them anytime boosts efficiency and business competitiveness.

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