Document Management System

A document management system stores and organizes electronic documents and records for easy access and security. There are a number of benefits to using document management systems, not the least of which is convenience over dealing with a large volume of physical records. Content management software exists to facilitate the ease of access and security of these records for organizations with a number of records that could benefit from automation.

How do content management systems generally work?

There must be tags or other keywords to help make the documents searchable and findable when in storage. Most modern content management software will extract keywords automatically, although the individual using the content management software can also enter these keywords for convenience. In this way, the records can be categorized which is useful not just for data retrieval, but for some systems, data analysis. Records management systems will need higher levels of security and most of these systems will not only offer password protection, but also data encryption of the documents to prevent unauthorized access and the leak of personal or sensitive data.

Where are content management systems generally used?

Most government agencies will use document management services for records as these organizations frequently handle sensitive data as well as a large volume of records. The nature of this data, which will include personal information at times naturally, lends itself to a content management system. Federal law also mandates medical institutions that handle patient records must use a records management system to protect personal data. Libraries too will use content management systems for their catalogues. These content management systems will have more developed keyword and search options. The focus of these content management systems will be to make the data more accessible rather than more secure.

What are different types of content management systems?

A component content management system simplifies data by eliminating potential redundancies in the records. The data is standardized and available for multiple use my users of the content management system.

An enterprise content management system is used to store documents or essential content for organizations. This system can be used for contract management and other functions to help users of these systems have easy access to these documents. This leads to greater efficiency when documents need to be found. An example of when an enterprise content management will be useful is for real estate companies that handle a number of contracts. This contract management system will be able to find these contracts quickly for references. This is significantly more efficient than searching through physical records for the contract in question.