Document management systems as a higher-level instance of organizational processes

Document management within organizational processes

Document management is the storage and management of documents and files within an organization. It encompasses the systematic processing of documents throughout their lifecycle, from creation or receipt to archiving or destruction.

From a certain company size, a Document management system (DMS) Today, it's virtually indispensable. Not only are the diversity of products, the number of employees, and areas of responsibility increasing within an organization, but so is the complexity of its structure. Every organization relies on making decisions transparent for itself and for others such as customers, contractual partners, suppliers, etc. Decisions become transparent through their traceability in documents.

Formal structures such as documents, guidelines, rules, goals, contracts, etc. make every decision-making process observable and verifiable. DMS organize this formal structure. One could also say: DMS organize the organization. To clarify this idea, it's worth taking a look at the basic elements of documents.

Elements of documents

• Physical properties: paper or file
• Formal characteristics: structure and design
• Order: Subject affiliation, order, version
• Content: Content reference
• Character: worthiness of archiving, retention obligation, legal character, processing options
• Time: Date created, last used
• Creator: Sender, Creator, Author
• User: Recipient, authorized editor, reader, last editor

This brief illustration shows how complex a formal structure can be. Since every document must be retrievable, a huge mountain of paper is created. This must be managed through a filing structure. A document management system can help with this. 

The relevant documents must be searched for in the DMS. This minimizes the time required for searching. For this, each individual document must first be registered and indexed. While this initially involves additional effort, the templates are already available. This allows an organization to increase its operational efficiency and reach a level of sophistication that would be impossible without a DMS.

You could also put it this way: Beyond a certain level of complexity, an organization would become obsessed with observing and understanding itself, as it would only be concerned with itself or its formal structure. In other words: Without a DMS, an immense amount of effort would be required, which would be so complex that it would require additional management to remain functional. Would you also like to optimize productivity and collaboration in your office with high-quality software systems? We are your competent service provider for all your computer system needs. Templates are then already standardized in the DMS. The elements mentioned above help with categorization. In addition to the various main elements, there are a multitude of distinguishing features of the documents. Commercial documents include, for example, business letters, receipts, tax-relevant data, and contract or business information. In addition, there are technical drawings, the management of libraries, and administrative files (archiving). Today, for every organizational decision (not including personnel decisions), a document must be created via a document management system and distributed to the partners involved.

Document management systems in everyday life

To illustrate, here's a brief example of what documents do for an organization in its day-to-day business: You can imagine a delivery note as making the contents of the delivery observable for the organization. Delivery notes are typically created by DMS.

Using the delivery note, the organization can verify whether the ordered goods have been delivered. The responsible employee accepts the goods and inspects them. The delivery note therefore serves a control function. This is ensured by the associated delivery number, which is entered into the system. This way, the organization knows that the delivery has been received.

Each delivery order begins with the creation of an order document and its transmission to the associated organizations and ends with the entry of the delivery confirmation. The employee assumes the task of making the delivery process visible to the organization.

Areas of application of DMS

• Commercial documents

Business letters, receipts, emails

• Doctors

Patient records

• Technical drawings

Technical document management

• Libraries

Catalog systems

• authorities

Files with file numbers

• Private households

Electronic filing for personal documents

DMS as organizer of the organization