What is Document Management

Document Management is the control of a company's documents and their lifecycle, including how and when documents are created, reviewed, published, utilised, retained and destroyed.

In the past, document management was a challenge most likely tackled by larger organisations due to the sheer volume of documents they were required to manage. Document Management Software was also priced to fit larger organisations budgets.

Smaller organisations and teams are however increasingly requiring better control of their document lifecycle. Improving customer service, Global compliance requirements, geographically dispersed teams and a desire to more effectively manage knowledge, are all challenges faced by large and small organisations alike.

As a result, the Document Management Software you choose to deploy needs to fit your organisation's goals, culture, technology capabilities, and budget.

A well-designed document management system is flexible enough to support both rigid workflows around document and other record creation, retention and destruction, thus ensuring that you meet your legal obligations, as well as a more loosely structured environment that may better support collaboration.

The document management system will not only store your documents but will also importantly provide you with easy access to your documents, whether this be via a powerful search mechanism, indexing, or an easy to use document finder interface.

A modern document management software system will allow you to share documents within your electronic cabinets via email, direct web links or web portals.

The software will support the easy mapping of your organisation or industry's standard document types and information about the documents into the electronic cabinets.

When selecting the right document management software, the following may be useful to consider. The following questions and responses have been extracted from a recent Request For Information we received from a new client

• Is the software easy to use, presenting user interface and filing concepts familiar to users?
  Yes ARK-File utilises Microsoft technology and appears and functions as easy as Outlook, Word, Excel office tools
• Is the software accessible from existing tools such as Web Browsers, Office productivity applications and email applications (such as Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook), and the Windows Explorer.
  ARK-File is accessed via a button within Office productivity applications and email applications (such as Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook) the main product is simply a favourite link in Internet Explorer.
• The software should have lightweight, modern web and graphical user interfaces that work well over your Intranet, Virtual Private Network and even Internet, allowing our remote users efficient access to the document repository.
  ARK-File is accessed via a button within Office productivity applications and email applications (such as Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook) the main product is simply a favourite link in Internet Explorer. It utilises your existing security and IT infrastructure.
• The software should provide support for common tools used for the volume digitisation of paper documents and integration with other devices that generate digital documents such as fax servers.
  ARK-File has been integrated with industry standard volume digitisation products, such as the Fujitsu scanner range and industry leading fax servers, our customers are archiving thousands of faxes and documents week in week out.
• We intend integrating the document management system with other software within our enterprise (for example CRM and ERP software), the software should have a pre-built application connectors and strong, standards-based integration technologies and developer APIs that support further integration
  ARK-File has been integrated with industry standard connectors utilising database connectors or XML. We have integrated ARK-File to a number of customers bespoke systems