A document management system is a system that you can use for storing, managing, receiving & tracking data to reduce paperwork & paper usage. In short, you can say that a document management system is a process that digitizes hard copies into soft copies to track, store, receive & manage electronic images, videos & documents, etc.
A document management system optimizes the work culture & speeds up workflow, helps to organize data, helps to track data, provides access & improves accuracy to the document. It also lets you access it from any part of the world & helps to ease up the process by retrieving data, enhances security, reduces storage space, and improves regulatory compliances.
In this article, I will briefly discuss why a document management system is important.
But first, you shall know how the document management system works.
Captures the Documents
Document management system lets you save the captured documents through a scanner. You can classify the documents by indexing; this is the simplest way to do it. A DMS helps to order number by adding a term to document metadata. It becomes easier for the document management system to find those documents later by using indexing. A document management system helps to capture emails, papers & external applications.
Retrieves & Distributes Documents
The document management helps to retrieve documents if you avail the feature of index search on any keyword search. The whole thing makes the document retrieval process easy & quick. FTP & Emails let you have the capacity to distribute documents.
Securing the Documents
The document management system provides security in two ways. It assimilates the version control & lets you control the access.
Eases the Availability of Document Information
A document management system helps you by retrieving & archiving files & if you use metadata, you gain access to documents. There are two types of information available through a DMS, i.e., structured & unstructured.
Manages Workflow
Employees can have access to documents by using DMS, even those to those who are not included in the workflow. The whole system makes the whole process easily accessible & transparent.
Importance of Document Management System
In this article, we will discuss the importance of a document management system.
- Reduces storage space: It takes many space & financial constraints to keep the documents as hard copies, i.e., files & folders. The document management system works to reduce the storage space and makes hard copies into soft copies. It saves a lot of space on the actual work floor to work.
- Eases retrieval process: The document management system works on storing, tracking, retrieving the data of a company. It makes the retrieval process faster & easier in such a way that if data are lost, it becomes easier to retrieve those through DMS by keyword search & indexing.
- Saves time: The document management system saves a lot of time for an organization that uses to spend a lot of time on data management. And it is evident that time is money. The organization can use the time in something productive like making service better & accessible for its client.
- Enhances security: DMS secures the data that needs to be protected. It provides better security to sensitive data. Also, it tracks & leaves information of who has accessed it, how it is modified, when it is accessed, etc. The document management system makes it manageable & transparent for the organization accessing such sensitive areas.
- Improves regulatory compliance: DMS improves regulatory compliance & manages data efficiently by reducing the risk of non-compliance. It also automates, classifies & stores sensitive data. Non-conformance & not abiding by the Govt. regulation can lead to revoking licenses, criminal liability & fines. In short, the document management system provides complex compliance requirements.
- Reduces manpower: DMS helps to keep the data that needs to be tracked, stored, and retrieved & reduces manpower. And the organization generates more profit in the long run by saving a lot of costs,
- Minimizes human error: Any organization can minimize errors by relying on DMS. It also saves a lot of time for the data that needs to be rectified.
- Saves environment: DMS saves the environment and keeps the data online & turns the soft copies that were earlier managed in papers which take a huge toll on the environment by cutting trees to make them.
- Improves workflow: The document management improves workflow & keeps data well planned with efficient movement. This whole process speeds up business & enhances the quality of work & workforce and keeps everything synced.
- Version control: The DMS keeps in controlling different versions of documents that are needed to be maintained differently. As different version controls need to be maintained in a different way to identify. It eliminates the chaos of finding a particular one.
These are a few importance of the document management system. If DMS is utilized in a correct way, it saves a lot of time & effort for the workforce. It also leads to the improvement of the organization as a whole.