Edms

eXo has released the latest version of their Document Management System — DMS 2.5 — with improvements that offer users the ability to change unstructured content into structured content . This, the company says will be done across all the document processes that are capturing, managing, storing, preserving and delivering documents while at the same time securely distributing it. The kicker is that users can do this in the same way they might use File Explorer on Windows and File Finder on MacOSX.

Every school strives to offer the best level of service to students and applicants. The return on investment (ROI) from the implementation of a Web-based electronic document management (EDM) and workflow system to a document-intensive area like Admissions can benefit the entire institution. Submitted by Optical Image Technology

Historically, never the twain have met. But that is changing with Office and SharePoint 2007. In the next version of its ubiquitous software, Redmond intends to bake in some core records management services -- for those customers that want to use it. On the one hand, this is a big deal: historically RM has been associated with big document management implementations of the kind Microsoft doesn't touch. In theory, Microsoft could bring records management to the masses. In practice, it won't be easy, and I suspect many a SharePoint administrator will simply turn off RM services. Microsoft itself has a lot to learn here, but also, potentially, a lot to teach. Now you can track their thinking through a new blog, where SharePoint RM developers and internal Microsoft records managers promise to post. Worth watching...

Microsoft has announced an update to the mouthful "Microsoft Office SharePoint Server for Search 2007" -- which is now called "Search Server 2008", but is still the somewhat stripped-down version of the full search engine included in MOSS 2007. In addition to those two versions, however, Redmond now also offers Search Server 2008 Express -- a download available for free. So what's the catch? The "Express" version is fully featured, and has no document limit or any of the other usual crippling limitations. Of course, there is a such a thing as a free lunch: you'll have to buy a drink to go with it. In this case, if you want to use more than just one server for your search engine -- and high volume usage might quite quickly warrant scaling your infrastructure -- you'll have to shell out the money for the full version. By that time, you're probably already relying on your search engine and will have no alternative than to pay up

The Prizm Viewer provides powerful browser-based image display, annotation, manipulation, navigation, and printing of document images. View single and multi-page TIFF G3/G4, PDF, JPEG, BMP, PCX, DCX, CALS, JEDMICS image file formats and more, through Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers with exceptional image display speed and quality.

A records management strategy can dramatically improve your business processes by ensuring that information is accessible to authorized personnel at all times. Records are no longer duplicated, misplaced, or lost; and your organization can be assured that information will not be destroyed prematurely. Data that is housed in legacy systems is also available to organizations that use EDM as a component of their records management strategy. Submitted by Optical Image Technology

In 1998, Metro implemented their first electronic document management system (EDMS). However, they found it to be increasingly difficult to implement the system throughout the organization while attempting to maintain an enterprise-level document repository. Submitted by Captovation

According to CRN, a Microsoft executive, Chris Capossela, publicly confirmed what Redmond has been telling channel partners for some time: that MCMS will get folded into Sharepoint under the new "Office 12" roll-out scheduled for the end of 2006. Most interesting to me was the distinction Capossela made between the two products, "CMS is for running Internet sites, SharePoint for intranet sites and team collaboration." It's a useful bifurcation, but begs the question about whether you will need MCMS to manage ad-hoc web content on your Intranet.

Kinecta Federal Credit Union has nearly $4 billion in assets with 22 Member Service Centers (MSCs) located in Southern California. The credit union serves about 200,000 members nationwide. During a period of membership growth, the credit union realized it needed a new way to handle the paper associated with daily procedures such as file storage, records retention, and loan document processing. Kinecta implemented an integrated electronic document management system (EDMS). Used with permission from Integrated Solutions magazine

Michigan Millers' management recognized that an enterpriseimplementation of electronic document management (EDM) wouldaddress all of these challenges. They implemented a system that was flexible enough to adapt to new challenges in the business and scalable to grow with the company. Innovative vision, combined with their EDM solution — DocFinity, by Optical Image Technology, Inc. — allowed Michigan Millers to realize a return on investment (ROI) of which most insurers can only dream. Submitted by Optical Image Technology

Banking, mortgage, and finance industries have a long and complicated history with respect to their use of electronic document management (EDM). The relationship is perpetually evolving. Nowadays, lending institutions use EDM for automated workflow, secure storage and retrieval, loan documentation, streamlined loan processing, and improved customer service, among other practices. Submitted by Optical Image Technology

This article gives an overview of best practices, and practical considerations as you considerpurchasing and implementing an EDM solution. It provides a synopsis of typical componentsin an EDM suite and useful tips for choosing solid solutions that deliver what they promise. Italso outlines challenges and recommendations for evaluating vendor "best practices" and citesseveral reliable sources for information about industry-wide best practices in EDM. Submitted by Optical Image Technology

While the benefits of high-volume scanning in healthcare environments are generally well known, you may not appreciate what small, low-volume scanners can do. But Piedmont Hospital (Atlanta) realized a time savings of approximately 2 to 3 hours per day by scanning vital documents at the patient registration point with those small scanners.

By acquiring Relevance Technologies (www.relevance.com) and releasing a new easily deployable EDMS product with built-in integration, Documentum (www.documentum.com) has launched a strategy to deliver "knowledge chain management.""This acquisition helps to give us more in-depth knowledge of what's in the containers," said Larry Warnock, VP of marketing. Documentum's strength has always been in managing containers, he said, while Relevance's technology is useful in filtering that content and delivering what is relevant to the user. Warnock said that his company has been taking a long look at knowledge management and wanted to avoid entering the market by only changing words in brochures.

Our latest web content management technology research suggests that Big Blue is falling behind its major competitors in the Web CMS marketplace. To quote: IBM's Workplace Web Content Management (WWCM) product remains a generation behind, and it is conceivable that IBM may simply elect to acquire a WCM vendor to fill the gap. CMS Watch cautions that IBM WWCM customers may risk the kind of painful upgrade or even replacement of the kind endured by Microsoft Content Management Server (MCMS) licensees when Redmond rewrote that tool under SharePoint. Read more here.

While the benefits of high-volume scanning in healthcare environments are rather accepted, one doesn't leap to appreciate what small, low-volume scanners can do. ButPiedmont Hospital (Atlanta) realized the time savings of scanning vital documents at the very front end with those small scanners.

There are many benefits to the implementation of an e-mail archiving solution. Granted, the current commercial pressures for implementation revolve primarily around corporate compliance issues, but there are a number of other pressures, technical and otherwise, that make archiving of e-mails a good decision. Submitted by Redmap

The DocFinity suite from Optical Image Technology, Inc. (OIT), an industry-leading electronic document management (EDM) system that offers robust functionality and scalability at a very competitive price, was able to provide SCASD with a solution that saved time, money, and frustration. Submitted by Optical Image Technology

Microsoft was late to both the Web CMS and Portal marketplaces, and did not get either right at first, but now Redmond seems to be moving ahead rapidly. Big changes are planned this year, as previously reported (here, here, and here), and now the SharePoint engineering team has created its own public blog. Compared to other competing vendors, large and small, that are planning big changes for 2006 (e.g. major upgrades at IBM, Open Text, Synkron), Microsoft has embraced what some call "naked conversations." Some final advice: If you're a customer and unclear about the future of the products (WSS, SPS, and CMS), contact your Microsoft account team about release dates and beta availability. Find out more in the upcoming Enterprise Portals Report.

Optical Image Technology, Inc.'s (OIT) DocFinity Email Manager, a component of the DocFinity electronic document management system (EDMS), provides an automated way to store and log critical e-mail information using the DocFinity document management system. The DocFinity e-mail management module is an optional, add-on server application to the offered EDMS that provides e-mail archiving and retrieval capabilities.