All about electronic document management: definition, implementation and choosing the right software
Electronic document management, known as EDM, is a consequence of the dematerialisation of documents, which is currently being adopted as part of new business practices.
It's a fact that shelves are being freed from heavy, forgotten and dusty archives, which do not allow the information they contain to be used properly. But how do you organise your invoices, quotes, contracts and so on?
Here's a new method for storing, archiving and using your company's documentary resources in the best possible way.
Whether you're an entrepreneur or a manager, Appvizer will give you all the basics you need to know about electronic document management and its advantages, particularly in SaaS mode.
Welcome to the era of document management 2.0, the digital transition to collaborative working!
What is electronic document management? Definition and challenges
Definition of EDM
EDM is part of the enterprise content management family. It is also known as a Document Management System (DMS).
It is a computerised process designed to organise and manage information and electronic documents within an organisation.
The DMS is therefore involved in collaborative working processes, capitalisation and information exchange.
It also manages :
- access rights according to users and their functions,
- systems for :
- acquisition (mass digitisation of paper documents),
- indexing
- filing,
- information storage,
- document distribution,
- workflows.
Workflow: a process for automating the circulation and classification of information flows, in this case business rules, metadata, etc.
Metadata: data used to define or describe other data, in order to classify it appropriately.
In the past, a document management system was more often used in business sectors with a high volume of documentation (government services, finance, insurance or health sectors, for example). But it is now being extended to all businesses, including very small businesses and SMEs.
The challenges of EDM
The 2008 Law on the Modernisation of the Economy (LME) encourages good practice, such as the adoption of an electronic document management system by 2020, for private and public organisations of all sizes.
Its aim is to remove structural and regulatory barriers in the French economy.
The sheer volume of information and documents within organisations can quickly become unmanageable and can hamper productivity. That's why it's so important to centralise and standardise them, so that :
- facilitate internal work and communication,
- control costs and document delivery times,
- seamless customer relationship management (no loss of contractual or financial documents),
- enhanced use of information, as it is gradually added to by several employees or third parties,
- accounting and legal compliance in terms of archiving.
Dematerialisation reduces document processing costs by 91%.
Oodrive/Informatique news
Advantages of electronic document management
Advantage no. 1: a long-term solution
Paper gets damaged, lost or forgotten at the bottom of a drawer. In digital format, it is protected. There are even ultra-secure backup systems that guarantee duplication on several servers.
Advantage no. 2: a powerful search tool
It is possible to assign several characteristics to a document, using metadata, so that the search engine can find it via several access paths.
For example, an invoice can be found by typing in the name of the customer or the name of the product.
Advantage no. 3: structured filing
Documents are stored in a virtual library and are accessible to all thanks to the tree structure. The tree structure guides users through the organisation of folders, sub-folders and files.
Benefit no. 4: reduced costs, time savings
There's no need to print out everything and store it in space-consuming cardboard boxes - it's all done digitally! Not to mention that you save on human resources, electricity and machine maintenance.
Time is saved at every level: searching for documents, filing, distributing and automating certain tasks (indexing, etc.).
Benefit no. 5: collaborative working and traceability
Reworked files are updated in real time, with everyone working on the same documents, simultaneously, from multiple locations.
Earlier versions can be accessed via a history, with the date and name of the employee who made the changes, thanks to time stamping. This is known as versioning, and it prevents duplication.
Benefit no. 6: secure information assets
You can manage access rights to protect your information.
There are also integrated digital safes for indexing, retrieving and archiving sensitive files with evidential value, in a highly secure environment.
Although complementary, this tool does not intervene at the same point in a document's life cycle. The EDM deals with "live" files, while the safe deals with documents when they are no longer in use.
The disadvantages of electronic document management
The diversity of data
Nowadays, more and more data comes from multiple sources (web applications, electronic messaging, electronic forms, wikis, blogs, or rich media advertising including images, video and sound). This makes the challenges associated with EDM more complex in terms of archiving and indexing.
This is why electronic document management solutions are gradually evolving towards web content management systems (CMS).
A human and financial investment
There is a minimum investment to be made at the outset, in terms of internal organisation, possibly auditing, training or support, and the complete dematerialisation of existing paper documents.
Implementing an EDM requires a complete overhaul of the organisation and its habits if it is to be truly effective and as quick as possible.
57% of decision-makers identify the strong paper culture and fear of change as an obstacle to the digitisation of document processes.
Source Markess - juillet 2017
How do you go about setting up an EDM in your company?
Step 1: Gather your documents
Scan all your existing paper documents.
It's a tedious task, but a very important one. Once you've done it, you'll never need to do it again.
NB: thanks to LAD (Automatic Document Reading) technology, it is possible to extract information from scanned images, in particular using OCR (Optical Character Recognition), barcode recognition and ICR (Intelligent Character Recognition) techniques. This can save precious time.
What about original documents?
Standard NF Z 42-026 (May 2017) from AFNOR (Association française de normalisation), which backs up standard NF Z 42-013 (evolving towards archiving for the purposes of preservation of the durability and integrity of copies) focuses on the reliability of digital copies.
The destruction of paper originals becomes an option when :
- digitisation guarantees the reliability and integrity of digital copies,
- their long-term preservation is guaranteed in an Electronic Archiving System (EAS).
Step 2: process your documents
Index your digitised documents to facilitate search engine operations:
- by type (formal description of the document using its metadata such as author, title, source, date, etc.)
- by concepts or keywords.
Some software packages can do this for you automatically.
Step 3: Archive your documents
Archive them on the medium of your choice, taking care to respect the principles of :
- authenticity: copies are true copies, identical to the originals,
- Durability: your data can be used over the long term,
- confidentiality: your sensitive data is protected.
Step 4: organise document distribution
The EDM makes it possible to determine the distribution of documents within the company according to predefined procedures and working methods ( workflow).
To ensure that its implementation is useful and benefits everyone, distribute these procedures to all your employees.
Step 5: Make the most of your documents
Exploit your data. This is the analysis and exploitation of the company's big data content to transform it into indicators, trends, situations and then decisions.
Choosing the right EDM software
Criteria for making your choice
1. Compliance
You are responsible for your choice of software. Your company must comply with very specific storage and distribution procedures. Make sure that the solution you choose complies with ISO 9001 and the RGPD (General Data Protection Regulation).
This will reassure your partners, suppliers and customers, and give you peace of mind in the event of an audit.
2. Mobility and collaborative working
An efficient EDM system means you can consult your files at any time, wherever you are and whatever medium you have at hand (smartphone, tablet, computer).
A web application responds to new working practices thanks to the Internet (mobile working, teleworking, etc.) and enables greater responsiveness, as the document base is accessible to all employees.
3. Compatibility
You have no time or productivity to lose. Opting for an EDM should make your life easier, and its implementation should be simple and compatible with your other software.
The API [Applications Programming Interface] criterion is therefore something to look at closely.
These are application programming interfaces that enable :
- enable your EDM solution to evolve thanks to the functionality bricks that are available,
- offer better adaptation and synchronisation with your existing tools,
- promote easier and more successful adoption of the tool within the organisation.
💡 A few bonus tips:
- Carry out an audit and specifications: list your requirements according to the specific features of your business, the functionalities you are looking for, the users and the business tools you use. The solution you choose must blend in with the rest of your IT environment.
- Storage on a mailbox, a server or on a hard disk, with no consistent naming or tree structure, is as obsolete as paper archiving!
- Everyone is familiar with file storage and sharing services such as Google Drive or DropBox, but they are not designed to classify and archive files in an optimal and secure way.
- Opt for a support service. The tool is important, but the method and implementation even more so.
- Your EDM solution can be deployed on a local network or in the cloud [in SaaS mode] for greater flexibility.
Software selection
- 🛠 Dokmee is an advanced EDM, archiving and electronic data capture solution for all organisations, particularly SMEs and ETIs. It provides a software development kit that enables any business process management system to be integrated, and customer support is highly responsive to specific requests.
- 🛠 J-Doc is a user-friendly solution that focuses primarily on file sharing and transfer, with interesting EDM features. The software guarantees optimum confidentiality, with data hosted in France, as well as a digital safe.
- 🛠 Netframe is a tool designed to 'break down the silos' in companies. Its functionalities range from a corporate social network (CSN) and task management to a simple EDM, combining information sharing with a corporate knowledge structure. In particular, it offers time-stamping of documents and a document library.
- 🛠 Zeendoc is a French EDM in SaaS mode that lets you centralise and add value to all your administrative documents. The solution analyses them and then automatically archives them in the right place, allowing you to find them by keyword, share them and send them securely and traceably. Collaborate as a team thanks to chat mode comments and validation circuits, while controlling access rights.
Turn the page on paper!
Once again, think carefully about which tool is best suited to your business and your medium-term strategy.
A complete electronic document management system enhances and consolidates your information system. Combined with other business software or applications, it can meet broader needs, particularly in Business Process Management (BPM), communication or project management.
If you haven't yet embraced the dematerialisation of documents, make life easier for yourself and get into the digital age!
You'll have to do it sooner or later, and the productivity boost you'll get will confirm your decision.