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Document Management

von Priya Patel
Document management refers to systematically organizing, storing, and tracking electronic documents. Learn more about its workflow, types, and benefits.

What is document management?

Document management is the process of capturing, tracking, and storing electronic documents, such as word documents, PDFs, presentations, invoices, scanned images of paper documents, and other business documents.

Document management systems save a business time and money by providing centralized storage, access control and permissions, document security, audit trails, and streamlined workflows.

Some businesses use document management software to save, retrieve, and organize documents while allowing stakeholders to easily access them. The software improves reviewing and approval workflows, increasing the efficiency of administration teams. 

Standard document management systems include features like document storage, version access control, full-text search, and analytics. These features support workflows of enterprises, governmental and educational institutions, and other authorities working with massive volumes of paper-based or digital documents.

Types of document management

Business demands and requirements vary. Organizations choose a particular document management type based on them.

  • Enterprise content management (ECM): Enterprise content management (ECM) systems facilitate the process of capturing, storing, and organizing unstructured content in a centralized repository. ECM often is an umbrella term that sits above more narrowly defined document management systems, because it refers to the storage of any and all kinds of business information—scanned paper documents, digital files, emails, presentations, spreadsheets, etc.
  • Knowledge management: Knowledge management software supports an integrated approach to identifying, capturing, retrieving, and sharing information assets that have a strong focus on how to accomplish a task, how to handle a situation, how a process works, and how to get a job done. Offering employees the ability to access the right information at the right time allows for better decision making and efficiency.
  • Cloud content management: Cloud content management is the process of storing various types of content in the cloud, making it possible for teams to access information from anywhere and enabling collaboration. 
  • Record management preserves data and allows stakeholders to retrieve them when needed. Law, medicine, and government organizations primarily employ record management systems.
  • Workflow automation allows companies to automate repetitive tasks in the document management process, reducing errors while saving time. 
  • Document imaging converts paper documents into electronic files and data. 

Benefits of document management

Document management improves overall efficiency and security for organizations processing large volumes of data. Below are some benefits document management unveils for organizations. 

  • Time saving: Document management drastically improves document retrieval speeds, given the enormous amount of content circulating in a business. The metadata, tagging, and search features in document management systems allow for easy and accurate retrieval.
  • Security: Document management systems allow administrators to set access and permission rules for more secure sharing of business documents.
  • Space and resource reduction: Digitizing paper documents and storing them in these systems reduces the cost of paper, printing, and storage. 
  • Single source of truth: Content is constantly being replicated and edited, making it hard to keep track of the latest and most accurate information. Document management systems provide a full version history, so users know they are accessing the most up-to-date content.
  • Workflow improvements: Some solutions are equipped with data extraction and analysis functionality, allowing for information to automatically flow into other business processes, thus optimizing the use of stored information. 
  • Increased collaboration: Document management breaks content out of its silos and shares it across a business, allowing users to view, edit, comment on, and annotate the same content. 

Document management workflow

Document management workflow can be different for companies as they manage diverse records.

Document Management Workflow

Below is a standard workflow to manage documents that teams can use as a baseline to create their own.

  • Create a document: The document creation process involves understanding its goals, objectives, procedures, roles, and responsibilities. One may need to collaborate with writers or designers at this stage.
  • Evaluate and approve the document: For this stage, the team sends the document to their managers, who check its content and give approvals
  • Upload the document: The team uploads the record with as many tags as possible to a document management system.
  • Share the document: Once uploaded to the DMS, internal stakeholders get a notification to review. The team performs all reviews before publishing the document.

Basic elements of document management

Document management systems provide multiple functionalities, each with its own set of benefits for organizations. With the abundance of such functions, organizations need help deciding on the must-have and nice-to-have features. Here are a few general elements that are fundamental to effective document management practices:

  • Document capture: Document management begins with scanning paper documents or importing digital files into the central repository. OCR software is often utilized to analyze and automatically organize captured documents.
  • Storage: Businesses often have an overwhelming amount of data and content, so adequate storage space and storage capabilities are essential for document management.
  • Search options help users locate files through a broad range of search capabilities, such as searching by keywords, last modified date, and file type
  • Workflow: Along with simply storing documents, document management systems often have the ability to automate the routing of documents to various people and processes, eliminating bottlenecks and streamlining business workflows. 
  • Distribution: Document management helps to get the right information to the right people. Effective systems will regulate the sharing and distribution of documents and folders of documents to authorized people.
  • Accessibility controls allow only authorized users to easily access files. Access controls can be set based on a person, project, job role, and any criteria relevant to your organization. 
  • Integrations enable administrates to connect document management systems with other business software like customer relationship management (CRM) and email clients.
  • Mobile-friendliness allows employees to store and retrieve files remotely or on the go.

Document management use cases

Companies adopt document management for various purposes. Below are some of the use cases of document management in organizations. 

  • Product manuals: Every company provides a guidebook for the services or products it offers. They come in different forms and sizes. These guidebooks aim to educate internal and external users about the product. 
  • Guidelines: Project management best practices include branding guidelines, compliance requirements, and design standards. Most projects' first phase involves establishing guidelines and identifying a point of agreement. Document collaboration tools help in creating policies.
  • Personnel records: Security requirements vary depending on the document. Employee records are private and should only be accessible to approved members of top management and the HR team. An effective document management system uses access control to ensure that only authorized users can see confidential information.
  • Protocols: A protocol is a group of actions or behaviors an organization uses to carry out a specific activity. For example, to manage a marketing project, one must define goals and objectives and the policies and procedures required to achieve them.
  • Legal documents: Every legal record should be traceable. For example, a contract that has not been referenced for several years still needs to be preserved for use when there is a conflict between the parties who signed it. 

Document management best practices

Adopting the following best practices allows businesses to implement effective document management practices:

  • Clear and consistent folder and document naming structures: Consistent naming helps users find what they are looking for and reduces duplicate documents, reducing time spent on searching for files and overall confusion and frustration.
  • Rules for version control: The purpose of document management is to organize content in a way that reduces clutter and gets the right content to the right people. Having set rules for when a new version of a document should and should not be created helps to keep the system organized and effective. 
  • Set up workflow automation: Prioritizing which processes to automate should depend on which processes are business-critical and most align with business objectives. The next step is to set up automation rules and inform users of these workflows.

Document management vs. content management vs. records management

Document management manages structured data, such as word documents, PDFs, presentations, etc., for primarily compliance and workflow management purposes. It tracks and manages digital documents and scanned images of paper documents. It generalizes a document creation process and automates approval and quality assurance, improving the overall efficiency of departments with massive volumes of documents.

Content management, using content management software, handles both structured and unstructured data, such as web content (HTML and PDF files) and digital files for the primary purpose of storage, retrieval, and publishing of web content.

Records management typically deals with documents that are evidence of a transaction or a decision. It imposes legal obligations on an organization. Insurance claims or a legal contract can be classified as a record. 

Learn more about records management and understand how it contributes to an organization’s success.

Priya Patel
PP

Priya Patel

Priya is a Senior Research Analyst at G2 focusing on content management and design software. Priya leverages her background in market research to build subject matter expertise in the software space. Before moving back to Chicago in 2018, Priya lived in New Zealand for several years, where she studied at the University of Auckland and worked in consulting. In her free time, Priya enjoys being creative, whether it’s painting, cooking, or dancing.

Document Management Software

Diese Liste zeigt die Top-Software, die document management erwähnen auf G2 am meisten.

Mit SharePoint können Sie Versionen verwalten, Aufbewahrungspläne anwenden, Datensätze deklarieren und rechtliche Sperren platzieren, egal ob Sie es mit traditionellem Inhalt oder Webinhalt zu tun haben.

Google Workspace ermöglicht es Teams jeder Größe, sich zu verbinden, zu erstellen und zusammenzuarbeiten. Es umfasst Produktivitäts- und Kollaborationstools für alle Arten, wie wir arbeiten: Gmail für benutzerdefinierte Geschäftsemails, Drive für Cloud-Speicher, Docs für Textverarbeitung, Meet für Video- und Sprachkonferenzen, Chat für Teamnachrichten, Slides für Präsentationserstellung, gemeinsame Kalender und viele mehr.

Autodesk Construction Cloud™ verbindet Workflows, Teams und Daten in jeder Phase des Bauprozesses, um Risiken zu reduzieren, Effizienz zu maximieren und Gewinne zu steigern. Auf einer einheitlichen Plattform und einer gemeinsamen Datenumgebung aufgebaut, befähigt Autodesk Construction Cloud Generalunternehmer, Fachgewerke, Designer und Eigentümer, bessere Geschäftsergebnisse zu erzielen. Bauteams werden über eine umfassende Bauverwaltungsplattform verfügen, bei der alle Daten an einem zentralen Ort zusammengeführt werden, um die Zusammenarbeit zu vereinfachen, Projektänderungen proaktiv vorherzusehen und datengestützte Anleitungen zur organisatorischen Verbesserung bereitzustellen.

Dropbox ermöglicht es Ihnen, alle Ihre Dateien und Fotos an einem organisierten Ort zu speichern und darauf zuzugreifen und sie mit jedem zu teilen. Egal, ob Sie ein Einzelunternehmen führen oder ein großes, komplexes Team leiten, Dropbox hilft Ihrem Arbeitsablauf, besser zu funktionieren.

Laserfiche ist ein führender globaler Anbieter von Software für das Enterprise Content Management, der Organisationen befähigt, die Kontrolle über Informationen und Geschäftsprozesse zu übernehmen.

Procore ist eine Online-Bausoftware für Projektmanagement, Kostenmanagement, Kommunikation und Zusammenarbeit.

Die Dokumentenmanagement-Software von DocuWare bietet intelligente digitale Workflows und Dokumentenkontrolle für erhebliche Produktivitätssteigerungen ohne den Bedarf an IT-Ressourcen. Unsere Cloud- und On-Premises-Produkte sind eine anerkannte Bestlösung für Unternehmen, die wichtige Prozesse digitalisieren, automatisieren und transformieren möchten.

PandaDoc ist eine App, mit der Sie Ihre Dokumente an einem Ort erstellen, verfolgen und unterschreiben können. Automatisieren Sie Ihren Arbeitsablauf, entdecken Sie, was sich mit integrierter Analytik verkauft, und erhalten Sie rechtsverbindliche Unterschriften in Minuten.

iManage-Software ermöglicht es Teams, sicher mit der explodierenden Menge an Dokumenten und E-Mails von jedem Standort aus und mit jedem Gerät zusammenzuarbeiten. WorkSite ist ein einfach zu bedienendes Dokumentenmanagementsystem, das schnell in Ihrer Organisation implementiert werden kann, mit minimalem Schulungsaufwand und zu geringen Gesamtkosten, für eine schnelle Kapitalrendite.

Box ermöglicht es Ihnen, alle Ihre Inhalte online zu speichern, sodass Sie von überall darauf zugreifen, sie verwalten und teilen können. Integrieren Sie Box mit Google Apps und Salesforce und greifen Sie auf mobilen Geräten auf Box zu.

Geben Sie Ihrem Team einen Ort, um Informationen zu teilen, zu finden und zusammenzuarbeiten, die sie benötigen, um ihre Arbeit zu erledigen.

Mit Microsoft OneDrive können Sie jede Datei auf Ihrem SkyDrive speichern, und sie ist automatisch von Ihrem Telefon und Ihren Computern aus verfügbar. Kein Synchronisieren oder Kabel erforderlich.

Adobe Acrobat bedeutet ein nahtloseres Erlebnis für Ihre Benutzer, weniger Probleme für Ihr IT-Team.

M-Files ist ein weltweit führendes Unternehmen im Bereich Informationsmanagement. Die metadatengetriebene Dokumentenmanagement-Plattform von M-Files ermöglicht es Wissensarbeitern, sofort die richtigen Informationen in jedem Kontext zu finden, Geschäftsprozesse zu automatisieren und die Informationskontrolle durchzusetzen. Dies verschafft Unternehmen einen Wettbewerbsvorteil und eine erhebliche Kapitalrendite, da sie bessere Kundenerfahrungen und qualitativ hochwertigere Arbeit mit geringerem Risiko liefern.

Synergis Adept vereinfacht, wie Sie Ingenieur- und Unternehmensinformationen finden, verwalten, teilen und integrieren, um die Effizienz zu verbessern und das Wachstum zu beschleunigen.

Greenlight Guru ist die einzige Qualitätsmanagementplattform, die speziell für Medizingeräteunternehmen entwickelt wurde.

Aconex ist eine cloudbasierte Bauprojektmanagement-Software, die Kontrolle von Anfang bis zum Abschluss, der Übergabe und dem Betrieb bietet.

Unterstützung von Unternehmen bei der Vereinfachung gängiger Geschäftstätigkeiten mit digitalen Transformationslösungen, die Geschäftsprozesse in eine papierlose Welt überführen.

Ideagen Qualitätsmanagement beseitigt Bürokratie und automatisiert und optimiert Ihre Geschäftsprozesse für Normen- und Regulierungscompliance, Sicherheitsmanagement und Risikomanagement.