Document Management Software Articles

Corporations produce millions of customer-facing documents every month and store them in document management software for subsequent online access and records management compliance. The ramifications on storage infrastructures are massive and continue to grow exponentially.

It is evident that enterprise storage needs have extended well beyond traditional compression solutions. And single-instance storage offers a viable option for organizations looking to drive down the costs of the physical storage requirements. In this guest article, Steve Jones from Xenos Group explains how.

Looking for guidance on how to develop and execute a successful GRC program? In this article Sumner Blount highlights 7 best practices that can lead you on the path to Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) success.

Lo! Is that another Software-as-a-Service content management solution we spy? It sure is. Perceptive Software (the people behind ImageNow) have just introduced their new SaaS ECM tool for invoice processing, contract management and electronic personnel files.

 What do you get when you mix an online storage service with customer relationship management superstar Salesforce.com? Integration that allows customers to access their files from directly within their CRM platform, that’s what.

Box.net (news, site) recently announced the launch of their handy new application, which also includes support for their OpenBox platform, granting users access to integrated services such as Zoho and eFax. Voila: 

Integration with Salesforce.com is nothing new, and Box.net's announcement demonstrates the growing trend toward providing applications on existing Software-as-a-Service platforms.  

Box.net is currently offering unlimited storage for companies that sign up for the service, and an Enterprise level account will run you about US$ 25 per month. 
 

The web content management space is not homogeneous. And while the recently released Open Source CMS Market Share Report clearly highlighted the ongoing dominance of LAMP-based content management systems — these systems are not the only game in town.

In this article I look at brand leaders who have chosen to build their content management software on the Java or .NET technology stacks. Systems with strong brand awareness and adoption rates include Alfresco, Jahia, Liferay and OpenCMS on the Java side, and DotNetNuke and Umbraco from the .NET camp.

In this article Computer Associates' Sumner Blount explains the four main principles of Lean GRC — highlighting how companies can leverage the concepts of Lean Manufacturing and Lean IT to help streamline compliance and risk management efforts across the enterprise.

What do you do if you run a small business, need a collaboration environment, but can’t afford SharePoint? Central Desktop (news, site) which provides a SaaS platform for small businesses, is offering such a solution to Intuit's Quickbook users by making it available through Intuit’s App Center.

For those not familiar with it, Central Desktop is a collaboration tool built on Web 2.0 technology for small business that is scalable and gives users a full range of collaboration tools including wikis, document sharing, task management and shared calendars.

Intuit’s App Center is an online market where users of Intuit’s business software Quickbooks Pro and Premier can trial and purchase applications that work directly out of Quickbooks.

While it is not clear how much users will be charged for using it on the IAC, Central Desktop has three different editions: Workgroup, Enterprise and Community.

There are a number of small differences between the three editions, but the only real difference is the pricing, which is based on the number of users. The Workgroup edition, which is for less than 25 users will cost up to US $99/ month, while the Enterprise edition for unlimited users costs US $10 per user/month. The community edition, again for more than 25 users, is US$ 3 month.

This is only the most recent addition to the Intuit platform. Earlier this month it went into partnership with Cabinet NG which extended Intuit’s own document management software.

For those interested in Central Desktop, if you sign up now you’ll get a full free15-day trial.
 

There are numerous knowledge management systems (KMS) out there not related to SharePoint, and even Sean Squires and Lincoln DeMaris, Microsoft Project Managers, admitted that Microsoft was not fully using SharePoint for their KMSs. Their goal was to use SharePoint 2010 offerings to build a brand new internal KMS with mainly OOTB solutions.

This session at the SharePoint Conference was based on a case study on one of several KMS at Microsoft. In a nutshell, it represents a repository of high-quality, field-ready content with case studies, white papers, marketing materials, etc., that allows Microsoft to engage with customers.

Cabinet NG (news, site) has just notched up another scalp with the announcement that it has gone into partnership with DataNet, a software provider for the not-for-profit and free medical services sector.

The partnership will see Cabinet NG’s document management software integrated into DataNet’s MedServices, which provides all levels of patient tracking including prescriptions, electronic medical records and scheduling from a single interface.

Combined with CNG-SAFE (Shared Access Filing Environment), DataNet will be able to utilize complete chart, document and workflow management in medical centres that are specifically for people who have no, or very little, medical insurance.

In addition to CA's release of GRC Manager 2.5, the world of GRC is chock-full of partnerships and inquiries.

What’s the government’s excuse now? That’s the question that will be on the minds of many at Alfresco, now that it’s official. Alfresco has achieved DoD 5015.2 certification — the first open source Enterprise CMS to do so.

The fanfare isn’t so much that Alfresco is the first, (although congrats, anyway!) but rather that after delivering what the G-Men said they wanted, it's time for the government types to start buying in.

Open Source is in Favor

The open source movement has gained considerable momentum in recent years and especially since the Obama Administration came to power. But Alfresco’s Chairman and CTO, John Newton, assures us that’s not what drove their ambition, and further that they've been working on this for quite some time (there are, one might note, Alfresco Records Management tutorials on YouTube dating from April 2008).

But are there any G-Men lined up at their door now since the certification was posted publicly? While no  one on the Alfresco team would say for sure, it is understood that three of the government’s largest agencies have shown interest. And let’s not forget about the non-government workers — rumor has it that they were slobbering over it at the recent ARMA conference.

On First Blush They Are Looking Good

The beauty of the DoD certification is that everyone is covered, and gets to share in the fun. For many, the DoD certification is standard checkbox when evaluating candidate records management solutions.

Thanks to Carlos Miguens, Alfresco's global training director, (and all around project manager guru for the DoD certification initiative), CMSWire was treated to a demo of the certified solution. And we can confidently say that it’s going to be hard to resist the temptation to go open source.

Alfresco Records Management - The File Plan

Bundled with Community and Enterprise Versions

Their Records Management Module was introduced with Alfresco Community 3.2 — so it's available both in the free community product and in the non-free enterprise version — and is built on the Alfresco Share/Surf platform. It sports the following components:

• a Forms system
• metadata management
• lifecycle management
• open import/export capabilities
• enhanced auditing
• improved workflow controls

With its simple but sophisticated UI and automated controls that let administrators set permissions, disposition and access across a single scalable repository, we reckon users will be able to effectively save time and cut costs.

Alfresco Records Management — Record (Document) Preview with Metadata

By enhancing the already sleek tools offered in Alfresco Community 3.2, the government-certified version is simple enough for novice records managers, yet powerful enough for the most savvy (hint, hint US Archives).

But will this be incentive enough to entice the government to address what some have called the massive hemorrhaging of the US government's electronic history? Here's three cheers to the records managers who say, "Yes we can!"

Note: If you want to learn more about Aflresco Records Management, you can tune into the company's upcoming webinar on Alfresco Records Management, running on October 29th at 11am Eastern time.

A new partnership between document management software vendor docStar (news, site)  and Fountains Spatial, a provider of geographic information systems(GIS) and services, has resulted in a new suite of products specifically targeted at the public sector that will manage documents according to geographic relevance.

A bit of a mouthful maybe, but what docStar MapConnect will do is to store and manage data and documents according to the geographical areas that the documents refer to.

Corporate intranets present a unique set of challenges for web applications. Intranets have to balance a number of utilitarian demands — single sign on, search, easy content management and flexible integration — with increasing demands to provide the kind of user experience offered by social networks, and rich media portals.

An intranet is no use if it's uninspiring or difficult to use. This is where Drupal and Alfresco — working together — come in handy.

The SharePoint Las Vegas conference is serious business. There have been and will be some serious announcements made over the course of it. However, there has been and will be announcements that just make you ask “How cool is that?!”

One of those is the beta launch of Capturx Forms for SharePoint from Adapx that will make automatic data ingestion into SharePoint 2010 as simple as signing you name. That’s because this is exactly what it does. It enables users to upload information into SharePoint as it is (manually) written using an electronic pen, via Bluetooth and a cell phone.

Ever dream of moving electronically stored information from one system to another seamlessly and while saving money? Today is your lucky day. CaseCentral and StoredIQ have formed an alliance in an effort to do just that.

Together, they will provide an integrated eDiscovery offering that ranges from identification, preservation, collection and processing of electronically stored information (ESI) through analysis, review, production and post-production re-use.

Maybe it's just all the good will that is floating around the SharePoint Las Vegas conference, or the lax marriage laws, but whatever it is another two companies have just announced they are getting together.

This union comes in the shape of Missouri-based KnowledgeLake (news, site), which provides scalable document imaging for SharePoint, and Dallas-based Global 360 a provider of business process and document management solutions.

StoredIQ has released the fifth generation of its Intelligent Information Management platform. The vendor hopes the updated version will enhance and simplify eDiscovery, records management, information governance and storage management processes.

Thanks to some innovative functionality, new scalable architecture and new user interface, customers should be able to improve workflows between legal and IT. That’s the idea anyway.

The SharePoint 2009 Conference kicked off officially yesterday with the keynotes from Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO and Jeff Teper, Corporate Vice President, Office Business Platform. If you had the time to listen to keynotes (which were streamed live), then you know Microsoft is expecting big things for SharePoint 2010 (news, site) — not just for the enterprise but also for the web.

Mimosa (news, site)—not to be confused with the plucky and oh-so-delicious beverage—recently announced Mimosa NearPoint's new support for SharePoint Server 2010. The  archiving solutions provider will be demonstrating their extension of information management for Microsoft's newest version of its document management platform at this year’s Microsoft SharePoint Conference, located in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

Says T.M. Ravi, CEO, Mimosa Systems:

This collaborative development has resulted in the most comprehensive archiving and data protection solution available to manage unstructured content of all types – email, files, and SharePoint Server – in a single, unified repository. This enables enterprises to optimize their storage costs, and data retention requirements so that they can more efficiently protect, archive, recover and discover data across the enterprise.

The conference is going until the 22nd of this month, so if you've still got time to head over to booth 607 and check out the freshness first hand. Check out our event listing for more details. 

Earlier this summer, PSIGEN Software (news, site)  and Atalasoft (news, site) announced that they were coming together to provide an image capture solution for SharePoint. There was a lot of cheering at the time as they said the combination of advanced capture and viewing technology would provide an affordable, feature rich option to a market with few alternatives.

Since then not a lot has been said about it — until yesterday at the SharePoint conference in Las Vegas when the companies jointly announced the release of the SharePoint Document Management bundle consisting of Atalasoft’s Vizit SP and PSIGEN’s PSI:Capture.