Enterprise content management
Encyclopedia
Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is a formalized means of organizing and storing an organization's documents, and other content
, that relate to the organization's processes. The term encompasses strategies, methods, and tools used throughout the lifecycle of the content.
(AIIM) International, the worldwide association for enterprise content management, defined the term Enterprise Content Management in 2000. AIIM has refined the abbreviation ECM several times to reflect the expanding scope and importance of information management:
Late 2005
Early 2006
Early 2008
Early 2010
The latest definition encompasses areas that have traditionally been addressed by records management
and document management systems. It also includes the conversion of data between various digital and traditional forms, including paper and microfilm.
ECM is an umbrella term covering document management, web content management, search , collaboration, records management
, digital asset management
(DAM), work-flow management, capture and scanning. ECM is primarily aimed at managing the life-cycle of information from initial publication or creation all the way through archival and eventually disposal. ECM applications are delivered in three ways: on-premise software (installed on the organization’s own network), Software as a Service
(SaaS) (web access to information that is stored on the software manufacturer’s system), or a hybrid solution composed of both on-premise and SaaS components.
ECM aims to make the management of corporate information easier through simplifying storage, security, version control, process routing, and retention. The benefits to an organization include improved efficiency, better control, and reduced costs. For example, many banks have converted to storing copies of old checks within ECM systems versus the older method of keeping physical checks in massive paper warehouses. Under the old system a customer request for a copy of a check might take weeks, as the bank employees had to contact the warehouse to have someone locate the right box, file and check, pull the check, make a copy and then mail it to the bank who would eventually mail it to the customer. With an ECM system in place, the bank employee simply searches the system for the customer’s account number and the number of the requested check. When the image of the check appears on screen, they are able to immediately mail it to the customer—usually while the customer is still on the phone.
, combines the capture, search and networking of documents with digital archiving, document management and workflow
. It specifically includes the special challenges involved in using and preserving a company's internal, often unstructured information, in all of its forms. Therefore, most ECM solutions focus on Business-to-Employee (B2E)
systems.
As ECM solutions have evolved, new components have emerged. For example, as content is checked in and out, each use generates new metadata
about the content, to some extent automatically; information about how and when the content was used can allow the system to gradually acquire new filtering, routing and search pathways, corporate taxonomies and semantic network
s, and retention-rule decisions. Email
and instant messaging
are increasingly employed in decision-making processes; ECM can provide access to data about these communications, which can be used in business decisions.
Solutions can provide intranet
services to employees (B2E
), and can also include enterprise portal
s for Business-to-Business (B2B)
, Business-to-Government (B2G), Government-to-Business (G2B)
, or other business relationships. This category includes most former document-management groupware and workflow
solutions that have not yet fully converted their architecture to ECM, but provide a web interface. Digital asset management
is a form of ECM concerned with content stored using digital technology.
The technologies that comprise ECM today are the descendants of late 1980s and early 1990s electronic document management system
s (EDMS). The original EDMS products were stand-alone products, providing functionality in one of four areas: imaging
, workflow
, document management, or COLD
/ERM
(see components below).
The typical early EDMS adopter deployed a small-scale imaging and workflow system, possibly to just a single department, in order to improve a paper-intensive process and migrate towards the mythical paperless office
. The first stand-alone EDMS technologies were designed to save time and/or improve information access by reducing paper handling and paper storage, thereby reducing document loss and providing faster access to information. EDMS could provide online access to information formerly available only on paper, microfilm, or microfiche. By improving control over documents and document-oriented processes, EDMS streamlined time-consuming business practices. The audit trail generated by EDMS enhanced document security, and provided metrics to help measure productivity and identify efficiency.
Through the late 1990s, the EDMS industry continued to grow steadily. The technologies appealed to organizations that needed targeted, tactical solutions to address clearly defined problems.
As time passed, and more organizations achieved "pockets" of productivity with these technologies, it became clear that the various EDMS product categories were complementary. Organizations increasingly wanted to leverage multiple EDMS products. Consider, for example, a customer service department—where imaging, document management, and workflow could be combined to allow agents to better resolve customer inquiries. Likewise, an accounting department might access supplier invoices from a COLD/ERM system, purchase orders from an imaging system, and contracts from a document management system as part of an approval workflow. As organizations established an Internet
presence, they wanted to present information via the web, which required managing web content. Organizations that had automated individual departments now began to envision wider benefits from broader deployment. Many documents cross multiple departments and affect multiple processes.
The movement toward integrated EDMS solutions merely reflected a common trend in the software industry: the ongoing integration of point solutions into more comprehensive solutions. For example, until the early 1990s, word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software products were standalone products. Thereafter, the market shifted toward integration.
Early leaders already offered multiple stand-alone EDMS technologies. The first phase was to offer multiple systems as a single, packaged "suite", with little or no functional integration. Throughout the 1990s, integration increased. Beginning in approximately 2001, the industry began to use the term enterprise content management to refer to these integrated solutions.
In 2006, Microsoft
(with its SharePoint product family) and Oracle Corporation
(with Oracle Content Management) joined established leaders such as EMC
Documentum
and entered the entry-level "value" market segment of ECM.
Microsoft launched its ECM strategy with MOSS 2007; Oracle, with Oracle 10g and the acquisition of Stellent, both in late 2006.
Open source
ECM products are also available, including Campsite
, WebGUI
, Alfresco
, LogicalDOC
, Sense/Net, eZ Publish, KnowledgeTree
, Jumper 2.0
, Nuxeo
, and Plone.
Government standards, including HIPAA, SAS 70, BS 7799
and ISO/IEC 27001
, are factors in developing and deploying ECM. Standards compliance may make outsourcing
to certified service providers a viable alternative to an internal ECM deployment.
Today, organizations can deploy a single, flexible ECM system to manage information in all functional departments, including customer service, accounting, human resources, etc.
These management systems can enhance record control to help businesses to comply with government and industry regulations such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, PCI DSS
, and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
. Security functions including user-level, function-level and even record-specific security options protect your most sensitive data. In fact, even information contained on a specific document can be masked using redaction features, so the rest of the document can be shared without compromising individual identity or key data. Every action taken within the system is tracked and reportable for auditing purposes for a wide variety of regulations.
ECM systems can reduce storage, paper and mailing needs, make employees more efficient, and result in better, more informed decisions across the enterprise—all of which reduce the overhead costs of managing information. SaaS ECM services can convert expensive capital outlay for servers and network equipment into a monthly operating expense, while also reducing the IT resources required to manage enterprise records.
includes ECM, Web content management (WCM), content syndication, and media asset management. Enterprise content management is not a closed-system solution or a distinct product category. Therefore, along with Document Related Technologies or Document Lifecycle Management, ECM is just one possible catch-all term for a wide range of technologies and vendors.
The content and structure of today's outward-directed web portal
will be the platform for tomorrow's internal information system. In his article in ComputerWoche, Ulrich Kampffmeyer distilled ECM to three key ideas that distinguish such solutions from Web content management:
The five ECM components and technologies were first defined by AIIM as capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver.
(index values) that describe characteristics of a document for easy location through search technology. For example, a medical chart might include the patient ID, patient name, date of visit, and procedure as index values to make it easy for medical personnel to locate the chart.
Earlier document automation
systems photographed documents for storage on microfilm or microfiche. Optical scanners now make digital copies of paper documents. Documents already in digital form can be copied, or linked to if they are already available online.
Automatic or semi-automatic capture can use EDI
or XML
documents, business and ERP
applications, or existing specialist application systems as sources.
es, including:
Optical character recognition
(OCR)
handprint character recognition
(HCR)
Intelligent character recognition
(ICR)
Optical mark recognition
(OMR)
Barcode
recognition
s; the name was not changed after other technologies supplanted the laserdisc.
Manual indexing
assigns index database attributes to content by hand, typically used by the database of a "manage" component for administration and access. Manual indexing may make use of input designs to limit the information that can be entered; for example, entry masks may use program logic to restrict inputs based on other information known about the document.
Both automatic and manual attribute indexing can be made easier and better with preset input-design profiles; these can describe document classes that limit the number of possible index values, or automatically assign certain criteria.
Automatic classification programs can extract index, category, and transfer data autonomously. Automatic classification or categorizing, based on the information contained in electronic information objects, can evaluate information based on predefined criteria or in a self-learning process. This technique can be used with OCR-converted faxes, office files, or output files.
The Manage category connects the other components, which can be used in combination or separately. Document management, web content management, collaboration, workflow and business process management address the dynamic part of the information's lifecycle. Records management focuses on managing finalized documents in accordance with the organization's document retention
policy, which in turn must comply with government mandates and industry practices.
All Manage components incorporate database
s and access authorization systems.
Manage components are offered individually or integrated as suites. In many cases they already include the "store" components.
s in the narrow sense of controlling documents from creation to archiving. Document management includes functions like:
Check in/check out
Version management
Search and navigation
Organizing documents
However, document management increasingly overlaps with other "Manage" components, office applications like Microsoft Outlook and Exchange, or Lotus Notes
and Domino, as well as "library services" for administering information storage.
components in an ECM system help users work with each other to develop and process content. Many of these components were developed from collaborative software
, or groupware, packages; ECM collaborative systems go much further, and include elements of knowledge management
.
ECM systems facilitate collaboration by using information databases and processing methods that are designed to be used simultaneously by multiple users, even when those users are working on the same content item. They make use of knowledge based on skills, resources and background data for joint information processing. Administration components, such as virtual whiteboards for brainstorming, appointment scheduling and project management systems, communications application such as video conferencing, etc., may be included.
Collaborative ECM may also integrate information from other applications, permitting joint information processing.
, that relate to the organization's processes. The term encompasses strategies, methods, and tools used throughout the lifecycle of the content.
(AIIM) International, the worldwide association for enterprise content management, defined the term Enterprise Content Management in 2000. AIIM has refined the abbreviation ECM several times to reflect the expanding scope and importance of information management:
Late 2005
Early 2006
Early 2008
Early 2010
The latest definition encompasses areas that have traditionally been addressed by records management
and document management systems. It also includes the conversion of data between various digital and traditional forms, including paper and microfilm.
ECM is an umbrella term covering document management, web content management, search , collaboration, records management
, digital asset management
(DAM), work-flow management, capture and scanning. ECM is primarily aimed at managing the life-cycle of information from initial publication or creation all the way through archival and eventually disposal. ECM applications are delivered in three ways: on-premise software (installed on the organization’s own network), Software as a Service
(SaaS) (web access to information that is stored on the software manufacturer’s system), or a hybrid solution composed of both on-premise and SaaS components.
ECM aims to make the management of corporate information easier through simplifying storage, security, version control, process routing, and retention. The benefits to an organization include improved efficiency, better control, and reduced costs. For example, many banks have converted to storing copies of old checks within ECM systems versus the older method of keeping physical checks in massive paper warehouses. Under the old system a customer request for a copy of a check might take weeks, as the bank employees had to contact the warehouse to have someone locate the right box, file and check, pull the check, make a copy and then mail it to the bank who would eventually mail it to the customer. With an ECM system in place, the bank employee simply searches the system for the customer’s account number and the number of the requested check. When the image of the check appears on screen, they are able to immediately mail it to the customer—usually while the customer is still on the phone.
, combines the capture, search and networking of documents with digital archiving, document management and workflow
. It specifically includes the special challenges involved in using and preserving a company's internal, often unstructured information, in all of its forms. Therefore, most ECM solutions focus on Business-to-Employee (B2E)
systems.
As ECM solutions have evolved, new components have emerged. For example, as content is checked in and out, each use generates new metadata
about the content, to some extent automatically; information about how and when the content was used can allow the system to gradually acquire new filtering, routing and search pathways, corporate taxonomies and semantic network
s, and retention-rule decisions. Email
and instant messaging
are increasingly employed in decision-making processes; ECM can provide access to data about these communications, which can be used in business decisions.
Solutions can provide intranet
services to employees (B2E
), and can also include enterprise portal
s for Business-to-Business (B2B)
, Business-to-Government (B2G), Government-to-Business (G2B)
, or other business relationships. This category includes most former document-management groupware and workflow
solutions that have not yet fully converted their architecture to ECM, but provide a web interface. Digital asset management
is a form of ECM concerned with content stored using digital technology.
The technologies that comprise ECM today are the descendants of late 1980s and early 1990s electronic document management system
s (EDMS). The original EDMS products were stand-alone products, providing functionality in one of four areas: imaging
, workflow
, document management, or COLD
/ERM
(see components below).
The typical early EDMS adopter deployed a small-scale imaging and workflow system, possibly to just a single department, in order to improve a paper-intensive process and migrate towards the mythical paperless office
. The first stand-alone EDMS technologies were designed to save time and/or improve information access by reducing paper handling and paper storage, thereby reducing document loss and providing faster access to information. EDMS could provide online access to information formerly available only on paper, microfilm, or microfiche. By improving control over documents and document-oriented processes, EDMS streamlined time-consuming business practices. The audit trail generated by EDMS enhanced document security, and provided metrics to help measure productivity and identify efficiency.
Through the late 1990s, the EDMS industry continued to grow steadily. The technologies appealed to organizations that needed targeted, tactical solutions to address clearly defined problems.
As time passed, and more organizations achieved "pockets" of productivity with these technologies, it became clear that the various EDMS product categories were complementary. Organizations increasingly wanted to leverage multiple EDMS products. Consider, for example, a customer service department—where imaging, document management, and workflow could be combined to allow agents to better resolve customer inquiries. Likewise, an accounting department might access supplier invoices from a COLD/ERM system, purchase orders from an imaging system, and contracts from a document management system as part of an approval workflow. As organizations established an Internet
presence, they wanted to present information via the web, which required managing web content. Organizations that had automated individual departments now began to envision wider benefits from broader deployment. Many documents cross multiple departments and affect multiple processes.
The movement toward integrated EDMS solutions merely reflected a common trend in the software industry: the ongoing integration of point solutions into more comprehensive solutions. For example, until the early 1990s, word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software products were standalone products. Thereafter, the market shifted toward integration.
Early leaders already offered multiple stand-alone EDMS technologies. The first phase was to offer multiple systems as a single, packaged "suite", with little or no functional integration. Throughout the 1990s, integration increased. Beginning in approximately 2001, the industry began to use the term enterprise content management to refer to these integrated solutions.
In 2006, Microsoft
(with its SharePoint product family) and Oracle Corporation
(with Oracle Content Management) joined established leaders such as EMC
Documentum
and entered the entry-level "value" market segment of ECM.
Microsoft launched its ECM strategy with MOSS 2007; Oracle, with Oracle 10g and the acquisition of Stellent, both in late 2006.
Open source
ECM products are also available, including Campsite
, WebGUI
, Alfresco
, LogicalDOC
, Sense/Net, eZ Publish, KnowledgeTree
, Jumper 2.0
, Nuxeo
, and Plone.
Government standards, including HIPAA, SAS 70, BS 7799
and ISO/IEC 27001
, are factors in developing and deploying ECM. Standards compliance may make outsourcing
to certified service providers a viable alternative to an internal ECM deployment.
Today, organizations can deploy a single, flexible ECM system to manage information in all functional departments, including customer service, accounting, human resources, etc.
These management systems can enhance record control to help businesses to comply with government and industry regulations such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, PCI DSS
, and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
. Security functions including user-level, function-level and even record-specific security options protect your most sensitive data. In fact, even information contained on a specific document can be masked using redaction features, so the rest of the document can be shared without compromising individual identity or key data. Every action taken within the system is tracked and reportable for auditing purposes for a wide variety of regulations.
ECM systems can reduce storage, paper and mailing needs, make employees more efficient, and result in better, more informed decisions across the enterprise—all of which reduce the overhead costs of managing information. SaaS ECM services can convert expensive capital outlay for servers and network equipment into a monthly operating expense, while also reducing the IT resources required to manage enterprise records.
includes ECM, Web content management (WCM), content syndication, and media asset management. Enterprise content management is not a closed-system solution or a distinct product category. Therefore, along with Document Related Technologies or Document Lifecycle Management, ECM is just one possible catch-all term for a wide range of technologies and vendors.
The content and structure of today's outward-directed web portal
will be the platform for tomorrow's internal information system. In his article in ComputerWoche, Ulrich Kampffmeyer distilled ECM to three key ideas that distinguish such solutions from Web content management:
ECM combines components which can also be used as stand-alone systems without being incorporated into an enterprise-wide system.
The five ECM components and technologies were first defined by AIIM as capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver.
Capture involves converting information from paper documents into an electronic format through scanning. Capture is also used to collect electronic files and information into a consistent structure for management. Capture technologies also encompass the creation of metadata
(index values) that describe characteristics of a document for easy location through search technology. For example, a medical chart might include the patient ID, patient name, date of visit, and procedure as index values to make it easy for medical personnel to locate the chart.
Earlier document automation
systems photographed documents for storage on microfilm or microfiche. Optical scanners now make digital copies of paper documents. Documents already in digital form can be copied, or linked to if they are already available online.
Automatic or semi-automatic capture can use EDI
or XML
documents, business and ERP
applications, or existing specialist application systems as sources.
es, including:
Optical character recognition
(OCR)
handprint character recognition
(HCR)
Intelligent character recognition
(ICR)
Optical mark recognition
(OMR)
Barcode
recognition
s; the name was not changed after other technologies supplanted the laserdisc.
Manual indexing
assigns index database attributes to content by hand, typically used by the database of a "manage" component for administration and access. Manual indexing may make use of input designs to limit the information that can be entered; for example, entry masks may use program logic to restrict inputs based on other information known about the document.
Both automatic and manual attribute indexing can be made easier and better with preset input-design profiles; these can describe document classes that limit the number of possible index values, or automatically assign certain criteria.
Automatic classification programs can extract index, category, and transfer data autonomously. Automatic classification or categorizing, based on the information contained in electronic information objects, can evaluate information based on predefined criteria or in a self-learning process. This technique can be used with OCR-converted faxes, office files, or output files.
The Manage category includes five traditional application areas:
The Manage category connects the other components, which can be used in combination or separately. Document management, web content management, collaboration, workflow and business process management address the dynamic part of the information's lifecycle. Records management focuses on managing finalized documents in accordance with the organization's document retention
policy, which in turn must comply with government mandates and industry practices.
All Manage components incorporate database
s and access authorization systems.
Manage components are offered individually or integrated as suites. In many cases they already include the "store" components.
Document management, in this context, refers to document management system
s in the narrow sense of controlling documents from creation to archiving. Document management includes functions like:
Check in/check out
Version management
Search and navigation
Organizing documents
However, document management increasingly overlaps with other "Manage" components, office applications like Microsoft Outlook and Exchange, or Lotus Notes
and Domino, as well as "library services" for administering information storage.
Collaboration
components in an ECM system help users work with each other to develop and process content. Many of these components were developed from collaborative software
, or groupware, packages; ECM collaborative systems go much further, and include elements of knowledge management
.
ECM systems facilitate collaboration by using information databases and processing methods that are designed to be used simultaneously by multiple users, even when those users are working on the same content item. They make use of knowledge based on skills, resources and background data for joint information processing. Administration components, such as virtual whiteboards for brainstorming, appointment scheduling and project management systems, communications application such as video conferencing, etc., may be included.
Collaborative ECM may also integrate information from other applications, permitting joint information processing.
, that relate to the organization's processes. The term encompasses strategies, methods, and tools used throughout the lifecycle of the content.
(AIIM) International, the worldwide association for enterprise content management, defined the term Enterprise Content Management in 2000. AIIM has refined the abbreviation ECM several times to reflect the expanding scope and importance of information management:
Late 2005
Early 2006
Early 2008
Early 2010
The latest definition encompasses areas that have traditionally been addressed by records management
and document management systems. It also includes the conversion of data between various digital and traditional forms, including paper and microfilm.
ECM is an umbrella term covering document management, web content management, search , collaboration, records management
, digital asset management
(DAM), work-flow management, capture and scanning. ECM is primarily aimed at managing the life-cycle of information from initial publication or creation all the way through archival and eventually disposal. ECM applications are delivered in three ways: on-premise software (installed on the organization’s own network), Software as a Service
(SaaS) (web access to information that is stored on the software manufacturer’s system), or a hybrid solution composed of both on-premise and SaaS components.
ECM aims to make the management of corporate information easier through simplifying storage, security, version control, process routing, and retention. The benefits to an organization include improved efficiency, better control, and reduced costs. For example, many banks have converted to storing copies of old checks within ECM systems versus the older method of keeping physical checks in massive paper warehouses. Under the old system a customer request for a copy of a check might take weeks, as the bank employees had to contact the warehouse to have someone locate the right box, file and check, pull the check, make a copy and then mail it to the bank who would eventually mail it to the customer. With an ECM system in place, the bank employee simply searches the system for the customer’s account number and the number of the requested check. When the image of the check appears on screen, they are able to immediately mail it to the customer—usually while the customer is still on the phone.
, combines the capture, search and networking of documents with digital archiving, document management and workflow
. It specifically includes the special challenges involved in using and preserving a company's internal, often unstructured information, in all of its forms. Therefore, most ECM solutions focus on Business-to-Employee (B2E)
systems.
As ECM solutions have evolved, new components have emerged. For example, as content is checked in and out, each use generates new metadata
about the content, to some extent automatically; information about how and when the content was used can allow the system to gradually acquire new filtering, routing and search pathways, corporate taxonomies and semantic network
s, and retention-rule decisions. Email
and instant messaging
are increasingly employed in decision-making processes; ECM can provide access to data about these communications, which can be used in business decisions.
Solutions can provide intranet
services to employees (B2E
), and can also include enterprise portal
s for Business-to-Business (B2B)
, Business-to-Government (B2G), Government-to-Business (G2B)
, or other business relationships. This category includes most former document-management groupware and workflow
solutions that have not yet fully converted their architecture to ECM, but provide a web interface. Digital asset management
is a form of ECM concerned with content stored using digital technology.
The technologies that comprise ECM today are the descendants of late 1980s and early 1990s electronic document management system
s (EDMS). The original EDMS products were stand-alone products, providing functionality in one of four areas: imaging
, workflow
, document management, or COLD
/ERM
(see components below).
The typical early EDMS adopter deployed a small-scale imaging and workflow system, possibly to just a single department, in order to improve a paper-intensive process and migrate towards the mythical paperless office
. The first stand-alone EDMS technologies were designed to save time and/or improve information access by reducing paper handling and paper storage, thereby reducing document loss and providing faster access to information. EDMS could provide online access to information formerly available only on paper, microfilm, or microfiche. By improving control over documents and document-oriented processes, EDMS streamlined time-consuming business practices. The audit trail generated by EDMS enhanced document security, and provided metrics to help measure productivity and identify efficiency.
Through the late 1990s, the EDMS industry continued to grow steadily. The technologies appealed to organizations that needed targeted, tactical solutions to address clearly defined problems.
As time passed, and more organizations achieved "pockets" of productivity with these technologies, it became clear that the various EDMS product categories were complementary. Organizations increasingly wanted to leverage multiple EDMS products. Consider, for example, a customer service department—where imaging, document management, and workflow could be combined to allow agents to better resolve customer inquiries. Likewise, an accounting department might access supplier invoices from a COLD/ERM system, purchase orders from an imaging system, and contracts from a document management system as part of an approval workflow. As organizations established an Internet
presence, they wanted to present information via the web, which required managing web content. Organizations that had automated individual departments now began to envision wider benefits from broader deployment. Many documents cross multiple departments and affect multiple processes.
The movement toward integrated EDMS solutions merely reflected a common trend in the software industry: the ongoing integration of point solutions into more comprehensive solutions. For example, until the early 1990s, word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software products were standalone products. Thereafter, the market shifted toward integration.
Early leaders already offered multiple stand-alone EDMS technologies. The first phase was to offer multiple systems as a single, packaged "suite", with little or no functional integration. Throughout the 1990s, integration increased. Beginning in approximately 2001, the industry began to use the term enterprise content management to refer to these integrated solutions.
In 2006, Microsoft
(with its SharePoint product family) and Oracle Corporation
(with Oracle Content Management) joined established leaders such as EMC
Documentum
and entered the entry-level "value" market segment of ECM.
Microsoft launched its ECM strategy with MOSS 2007; Oracle, with Oracle 10g and the acquisition of Stellent, both in late 2006.
Open source
ECM products are also available, including Campsite
, WebGUI
, Alfresco
, LogicalDOC
, Sense/Net, eZ Publish, KnowledgeTree
, Jumper 2.0
, Nuxeo
, and Plone.
Government standards, including HIPAA, SAS 70, BS 7799
and ISO/IEC 27001
, are factors in developing and deploying ECM. Standards compliance may make outsourcing
to certified service providers a viable alternative to an internal ECM deployment.
Today, organizations can deploy a single, flexible ECM system to manage information in all functional departments, including customer service, accounting, human resources, etc.
These management systems can enhance record control to help businesses to comply with government and industry regulations such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, PCI DSS
, and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
. Security functions including user-level, function-level and even record-specific security options protect your most sensitive data. In fact, even information contained on a specific document can be masked using redaction features, so the rest of the document can be shared without compromising individual identity or key data. Every action taken within the system is tracked and reportable for auditing purposes for a wide variety of regulations.
ECM systems can reduce storage, paper and mailing needs, make employees more efficient, and result in better, more informed decisions across the enterprise—all of which reduce the overhead costs of managing information. SaaS ECM services can convert expensive capital outlay for servers and network equipment into a monthly operating expense, while also reducing the IT resources required to manage enterprise records.
includes ECM, Web content management (WCM), content syndication, and media asset management. Enterprise content management is not a closed-system solution or a distinct product category. Therefore, along with Document Related Technologies or Document Lifecycle Management, ECM is just one possible catch-all term for a wide range of technologies and vendors.
The content and structure of today's outward-directed web portal
will be the platform for tomorrow's internal information system. In his article in ComputerWoche, Ulrich Kampffmeyer distilled ECM to three key ideas that distinguish such solutions from Web content management:
ECM combines components which can also be used as stand-alone systems without being incorporated into an enterprise-wide system.
The five ECM components and technologies were first defined by AIIM as capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver.
Capture involves converting information from paper documents into an electronic format through scanning. Capture is also used to collect electronic files and information into a consistent structure for management. Capture technologies also encompass the creation of metadata
(index values) that describe characteristics of a document for easy location through search technology. For example, a medical chart might include the patient ID, patient name, date of visit, and procedure as index values to make it easy for medical personnel to locate the chart.
Earlier document automation
systems photographed documents for storage on microfilm or microfiche. Optical scanners now make digital copies of paper documents. Documents already in digital form can be copied, or linked to if they are already available online.
Automatic or semi-automatic capture can use EDI
or XML
documents, business and ERP
applications, or existing specialist application systems as sources.
es, including:
Optical character recognition
(OCR)
handprint character recognition
(HCR)
Intelligent character recognition
(ICR)
Optical mark recognition
(OMR)
Barcode
recognition
s; the name was not changed after other technologies supplanted the laserdisc.
Manual indexing
assigns index database attributes to content by hand, typically used by the database of a "manage" component for administration and access. Manual indexing may make use of input designs to limit the information that can be entered; for example, entry masks may use program logic to restrict inputs based on other information known about the document.
Both automatic and manual attribute indexing can be made easier and better with preset input-design profiles; these can describe document classes that limit the number of possible index values, or automatically assign certain criteria.
Automatic classification programs can extract index, category, and transfer data autonomously. Automatic classification or categorizing, based on the information contained in electronic information objects, can evaluate information based on predefined criteria or in a self-learning process. This technique can be used with OCR-converted faxes, office files, or output files.
The Manage category includes five traditional application areas:
The Manage category connects the other components, which can be used in combination or separately. Document management, web content management, collaboration, workflow and business process management address the dynamic part of the information's lifecycle. Records management focuses on managing finalized documents in accordance with the organization's document retention
policy, which in turn must comply with government mandates and industry practices.
All Manage components incorporate database
s and access authorization systems.
Manage components are offered individually or integrated as suites. In many cases they already include the "store" components.
Document management, in this context, refers to document management system
s in the narrow sense of controlling documents from creation to archiving. Document management includes functions like:
Check in/check out
Version management
Search and navigation
Organizing documents
However, document management increasingly overlaps with other "Manage" components, office applications like Microsoft Outlook and Exchange, or Lotus Notes
and Domino, as well as "library services" for administering information storage.
Collaboration
components in an ECM system help users work with each other to develop and process content. Many of these components were developed from collaborative software
, or groupware, packages; ECM collaborative systems go much further, and include elements of knowledge management
.
ECM systems facilitate collaboration by using information databases and processing methods that are designed to be used simultaneously by multiple users, even when those users are working on the same content item. They make use of knowledge based on skills, resources and background data for joint information processing. Administration components, such as virtual whiteboards for brainstorming, appointment scheduling and project management systems, communications application such as video conferencing, etc., may be included.
Collaborative ECM may also integrate information from other applications, permitting joint information processing.
Content (media and publishing)
In media production and publishing, content is information and experiences that may provide value for an end-user/audience in specific contexts. Content may be delivered via any medium such as the internet, television, and audio CDs, as well as live events such as conferences and stage performances...
, that relate to the organization's processes. The term encompasses strategies, methods, and tools used throughout the lifecycle of the content.
Definition
The Association for Information and Image ManagementAssociation for Information and Image Management
The Association for Information and Image Management or AIIM is a non-profit organization that provides education, research, and best practices for document management and enterprise content management...
(AIIM) International, the worldwide association for enterprise content management, defined the term Enterprise Content Management in 2000. AIIM has refined the abbreviation ECM several times to reflect the expanding scope and importance of information management:
Late 2005
- Enterprise content management is the technologies used to Capture, Manage, Store, Preserve, and Deliver content and documents related to organizational processes.
Early 2006
- Enterprise content management is the technologies used to Capture, Manage, Store, Preserve, and Deliver content and documents related to organizational processes.
- ECM tools and strategies allow the management of an organization's unstructured information, wherever that information exists.
Early 2008
- Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is the strategies, methods and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes. ECM tools and strategies allow the management of an organization's unstructured information, wherever that information exists.
Early 2010
- Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is the strategies, methods and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes. ECM covers the management of information within the entire scope of an enterprise whether that information is in the form of a paper document, an electronic file, a database print stream, or even an email.
The latest definition encompasses areas that have traditionally been addressed by records management
Records management
Records management, or RM, is the practice of maintaining the records of an organization from the time they are created up to their eventual disposal...
and document management systems. It also includes the conversion of data between various digital and traditional forms, including paper and microfilm.
ECM is an umbrella term covering document management, web content management, search , collaboration, records management
Records management
Records management, or RM, is the practice of maintaining the records of an organization from the time they are created up to their eventual disposal...
, digital asset management
Digital asset management
Digital asset management consists of management tasks and decisions surrounding the ingestion, annotation, cataloguing, storage, retrieval and distribution of digital assets...
(DAM), work-flow management, capture and scanning. ECM is primarily aimed at managing the life-cycle of information from initial publication or creation all the way through archival and eventually disposal. ECM applications are delivered in three ways: on-premise software (installed on the organization’s own network), Software as a Service
Software as a Service
Software as a service , sometimes referred to as "on-demand software," is a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are hosted centrally and are typically accessed by users using a thin client, normally using a web browser over the Internet.SaaS has become a common...
(SaaS) (web access to information that is stored on the software manufacturer’s system), or a hybrid solution composed of both on-premise and SaaS components.
ECM aims to make the management of corporate information easier through simplifying storage, security, version control, process routing, and retention. The benefits to an organization include improved efficiency, better control, and reduced costs. For example, many banks have converted to storing copies of old checks within ECM systems versus the older method of keeping physical checks in massive paper warehouses. Under the old system a customer request for a copy of a check might take weeks, as the bank employees had to contact the warehouse to have someone locate the right box, file and check, pull the check, make a copy and then mail it to the bank who would eventually mail it to the customer. With an ECM system in place, the bank employee simply searches the system for the customer’s account number and the number of the requested check. When the image of the check appears on screen, they are able to immediately mail it to the customer—usually while the customer is still on the phone.
History
Enterprise Content Management, as a form of content managementContent management
Content management, or CM, is the set of processes and technologies that support the collection, managing, and publishing of information in any form or medium. In recent times this information is typically referred to as content or, to be precise, digital content...
, combines the capture, search and networking of documents with digital archiving, document management and workflow
Workflow
A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
. It specifically includes the special challenges involved in using and preserving a company's internal, often unstructured information, in all of its forms. Therefore, most ECM solutions focus on Business-to-Employee (B2E)
Business-to-employee
Business-to-employee electronic commerce uses an intrabusiness network which allows companies to provide products and/or services to their employees...
systems.
As ECM solutions have evolved, new components have emerged. For example, as content is checked in and out, each use generates new metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
about the content, to some extent automatically; information about how and when the content was used can allow the system to gradually acquire new filtering, routing and search pathways, corporate taxonomies and semantic network
Semantic network
A semantic network is a network which represents semantic relations among concepts. This is often used as a form of knowledge representation. It is a directed or undirected graph consisting of vertices, which represent concepts, and edges.- History :...
s, and retention-rule decisions. Email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
and instant messaging
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
are increasingly employed in decision-making processes; ECM can provide access to data about these communications, which can be used in business decisions.
Solutions can provide intranet
Intranet
An intranet is a computer network that uses Internet Protocol technology to securely share any part of an organization's information or network operating system within that organization. The term is used in contrast to internet, a network between organizations, and instead refers to a network...
services to employees (B2E
Business-to-employee
Business-to-employee electronic commerce uses an intrabusiness network which allows companies to provide products and/or services to their employees...
), and can also include enterprise portal
Enterprise portal
An enterprise portal, also known as an enterprise information portal or corporate portal, is a framework for integrating information, people and processes across organizational boundaries. It provides a secure unified access point, often in the form of a web-based user interface, and is designed...
s for Business-to-Business (B2B)
Business-to-business
Business-to-business describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer...
, Business-to-Government (B2G), Government-to-Business (G2B)
Government-to-business
Government-to-Business is the online non-commercial interaction between local and central government and the commercial business sector, rather than private individuals , with the purpose of providing businesses information and advice on e-business 'best practices'.-External links:*, United...
, or other business relationships. This category includes most former document-management groupware and workflow
Workflow
A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
solutions that have not yet fully converted their architecture to ECM, but provide a web interface. Digital asset management
Digital asset management
Digital asset management consists of management tasks and decisions surrounding the ingestion, annotation, cataloguing, storage, retrieval and distribution of digital assets...
is a form of ECM concerned with content stored using digital technology.
The technologies that comprise ECM today are the descendants of late 1980s and early 1990s electronic document management system
Document management system
A document management system is a computer system used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. It is usually also capable of keeping track of the different versions created by different users . The term has some overlap with the concepts of content management...
s (EDMS). The original EDMS products were stand-alone products, providing functionality in one of four areas: imaging
Document imaging
Document imaging is an information technology category for systems capable of replicating documents commonly used in business. Document imaging systems can take many forms including microfilm, on demand printers, facsimile machines, copiers, multifunction printers, document scanners, computer...
, workflow
Workflow
A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
, document management, or COLD
Cold
Cold describes the condition of low temperature.Cold may also refer to:*Common cold, a contagious viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system*Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease...
/ERM
ERM
ERM may refer to: In systems and processes:* European Exchange Rate Mechanism* European Reference Materials* Enterprise relationship management* Enterprise risk management* Entity-relationship model...
(see components below).
The typical early EDMS adopter deployed a small-scale imaging and workflow system, possibly to just a single department, in order to improve a paper-intensive process and migrate towards the mythical paperless office
Paperless office
A paperless office is a work environment in which the use of paper is eliminated or greatly reduced. This is done by converting documents and other papers into digital form. Proponents claim that "going paperless" can save money, boost productivity, save space, make documentation and information...
. The first stand-alone EDMS technologies were designed to save time and/or improve information access by reducing paper handling and paper storage, thereby reducing document loss and providing faster access to information. EDMS could provide online access to information formerly available only on paper, microfilm, or microfiche. By improving control over documents and document-oriented processes, EDMS streamlined time-consuming business practices. The audit trail generated by EDMS enhanced document security, and provided metrics to help measure productivity and identify efficiency.
Through the late 1990s, the EDMS industry continued to grow steadily. The technologies appealed to organizations that needed targeted, tactical solutions to address clearly defined problems.
As time passed, and more organizations achieved "pockets" of productivity with these technologies, it became clear that the various EDMS product categories were complementary. Organizations increasingly wanted to leverage multiple EDMS products. Consider, for example, a customer service department—where imaging, document management, and workflow could be combined to allow agents to better resolve customer inquiries. Likewise, an accounting department might access supplier invoices from a COLD/ERM system, purchase orders from an imaging system, and contracts from a document management system as part of an approval workflow. As organizations established an Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
presence, they wanted to present information via the web, which required managing web content. Organizations that had automated individual departments now began to envision wider benefits from broader deployment. Many documents cross multiple departments and affect multiple processes.
The movement toward integrated EDMS solutions merely reflected a common trend in the software industry: the ongoing integration of point solutions into more comprehensive solutions. For example, until the early 1990s, word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software products were standalone products. Thereafter, the market shifted toward integration.
Early leaders already offered multiple stand-alone EDMS technologies. The first phase was to offer multiple systems as a single, packaged "suite", with little or no functional integration. Throughout the 1990s, integration increased. Beginning in approximately 2001, the industry began to use the term enterprise content management to refer to these integrated solutions.
In 2006, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
(with its SharePoint product family) and Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
(with Oracle Content Management) joined established leaders such as EMC
EMC Corporation
EMC Corporation , a Financial Times Global 500, Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company, develops, delivers and supports information infrastructure and virtual infrastructure hardware, software, and services. EMC is headquartered in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA.Former Intel executive Richard Egan and his...
Documentum
Documentum
Documentum is an enterprise content management platform, now delivered by EMC Corporation, as well as the name of the software company that originally developed the technology. EMC acquired Documentum for $1.7 billion in December, 2003...
and entered the entry-level "value" market segment of ECM.
Microsoft launched its ECM strategy with MOSS 2007; Oracle, with Oracle 10g and the acquisition of Stellent, both in late 2006.
Open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
ECM products are also available, including Campsite
Campsite (software)
Campsite is a free and open source multilingual content management system for news websites. Its localizable user interface was built with journalists, editors and publishers in mind, rather than computer experts, and it can be configured to suit different profiles of end users...
, WebGUI
WebGUI
WebGUI is an open source content management system written in Perl and released under the GNU General Public License.The system permits non-technically minded users to arrange content in pages and layouts, containing 'Assets' which permit website visitors to view and interact with various types of...
, Alfresco
Alfresco (software)
Alfresco is a Free/Libre enterprise content management system for Microsoft Windows and Unix-like operating systems. Alfresco comes in two flavours. Alfresco Community Edition is free software, LGPL licensed open source and open standards. Alfresco Enterprise Edition is commercially & proprietary...
, LogicalDOC
LogicalDOC
LogicalDOC is an Free/Libre document management system that is designed to handle and share documents within an organization.LogicalDOC is a content repository, with Lucene indexing, jBPM workflow, and a set of automatic import procedures....
, Sense/Net, eZ Publish, KnowledgeTree
KnowledgeTree
KnowledgeTree, Inc. is a provider of online document management software based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The company also has an office in Cape Town, South Africa. The company's product, also called KnowledgeTree, makes use of the cloud computing platform from Amazon EC2...
, Jumper 2.0
Jumper 2.0
Jumper 2.0, is an open source web application script for collaborative search and knowledge management powered by a shared enterprise bookmarking engine that is a fork of KnowledgebasePublisher[]. It was publicly announced on 29 September 2008,...
, Nuxeo
Nuxeo
Nuxeo delivers an open source document management application built with a complete, modular and extensible open source platform for enterprise content management. Other packaged applications built with the platform provide solutions for digital asset management and case management...
, and Plone.
Government standards, including HIPAA, SAS 70, BS 7799
BS 7799
BS 7799 was a standard originally published by BSI Group in 1995. It was written by the United Kingdom Government's Department of Trade and Industry , and consisted of several parts....
and ISO/IEC 27001
ISO/IEC 27001
ISO/IEC 27001, part of the growing ISO/IEC 27000 family of standards, is an Information Security Management System standard published in October 2005 by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission...
, are factors in developing and deploying ECM. Standards compliance may make outsourcing
Outsourcing
Outsourcing is the process of contracting a business function to someone else.-Overview:The term outsourcing is used inconsistently but usually involves the contracting out of a business function - commonly one previously performed in-house - to an external provider...
to certified service providers a viable alternative to an internal ECM deployment.
Today, organizations can deploy a single, flexible ECM system to manage information in all functional departments, including customer service, accounting, human resources, etc.
Today’s Adoption Drivers
There are numerous factors driving businesses to adopt an ECM solution, such as the need to increase efficiency, to improve control of information, and to reduce the overall cost of information management for the enterprise. ECM applications streamline access to records through keyword and full-text search allowing employees to get to the information they need directly from their desktops in seconds rather than searching multiple applications or digging through paper records.These management systems can enhance record control to help businesses to comply with government and industry regulations such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, PCI DSS
PCI DSS
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is an information security standard for organizations that handle cardholder information for the major debit, credit, prepaid, e-purse, ATM, and POS cards....
, and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure govern civil procedure in United States district courts. The FRCP are promulgated by the United States Supreme Court pursuant to the Rules Enabling Act, and then the United States Congress has 7 months to veto the rules promulgated or they become part of the...
. Security functions including user-level, function-level and even record-specific security options protect your most sensitive data. In fact, even information contained on a specific document can be masked using redaction features, so the rest of the document can be shared without compromising individual identity or key data. Every action taken within the system is tracked and reportable for auditing purposes for a wide variety of regulations.
ECM systems can reduce storage, paper and mailing needs, make employees more efficient, and result in better, more informed decisions across the enterprise—all of which reduce the overhead costs of managing information. SaaS ECM services can convert expensive capital outlay for servers and network equipment into a monthly operating expense, while also reducing the IT resources required to manage enterprise records.
Characteristics
Content managementContent management
Content management, or CM, is the set of processes and technologies that support the collection, managing, and publishing of information in any form or medium. In recent times this information is typically referred to as content or, to be precise, digital content...
includes ECM, Web content management (WCM), content syndication, and media asset management. Enterprise content management is not a closed-system solution or a distinct product category. Therefore, along with Document Related Technologies or Document Lifecycle Management, ECM is just one possible catch-all term for a wide range of technologies and vendors.
The content and structure of today's outward-directed web portal
Web portal
A web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....
will be the platform for tomorrow's internal information system. In his article in ComputerWoche, Ulrich Kampffmeyer distilled ECM to three key ideas that distinguish such solutions from Web content management:
Enterprise content management as integrative middleware
- ECM is used to overcome the restrictions of former vertical applications and island architectures. The user is basically unaware of using an ECM solution. ECM offers the requisite infrastructure for the new world of web-based IT, which is establishing itself as a kind of third platform alongside conventional host and client/server systems. Therefore, EAI (enterprise application integration
Enterprise application integrationEnterprise Application Integration is defined as the use of software and computer systems architectural principles to integrate a set of enterprise computer applications.- Overview :...
) and SOA (service-oriented architectureService-oriented architectureIn software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...
) will play an important role in the implementation and use of ECM.
Enterprise content management components as independent services
- ECM is used to manage information without regard to the source or the required use. The functionality is provided as a service that can be used from all kinds of applications. The advantage of a service concept is that for any given functionality only one general service is available, thus avoiding redundant, expensive and difficult to maintain parallel functions. Therefore, standards for interfaces connecting different services will play an important role in the implementation of ECM.
Enterprise content management as a uniform repository for all types of information
- ECM is used as a content warehouse (both data warehouse
Data warehouseIn computing, a data warehouse is a database used for reporting and analysis. The data stored in the warehouse is uploaded from the operational systems. The data may pass through an operational data store for additional operations before it is used in the DW for reporting.A data warehouse...
and document warehouse) that combines company information in a repository with a uniform structure. Expensive redundancies and associated problems with information consistency are eliminated. All applications deliver their content to a single repository, which in turn provides needed information to all applications. Therefore, content integration and ILM (Information Lifecycle ManagementInformation Lifecycle ManagementInformation Lifecycle Management refers to a wide-ranging set of strategies for administering storage systems on computing devices. Specifically, four categories of storage strategies may be considered under the auspices of ILM.-Policy:...
) will play an important role in the implementation and use of ECM.
Enterprise content management is working properly when it is effectively "invisible" to users. ECM technologies are infrastructures that support specialized applications as subordinate services.
ECM thus is a collection of infrastructure components that fit into a multi-layer model and include all document related technologies (DRT) for handling, delivering, and managing structured data and unstructured information jointly. As such, enterprise content management is one of the necessary basic components of the overarching e-business application area. ECM also sets out to manage all the information of a WCM and covers archiving needs as a universal repository.
Components
ECM combines components which can also be used as stand-alone systems without being incorporated into an enterprise-wide system.The five ECM components and technologies were first defined by AIIM as capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver.
Capture
Capture involves converting information from paper documents into an electronic format through scanning. Capture is also used to collect electronic files and information into a consistent structure for management. Capture technologies also encompass the creation of metadataMetadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
(index values) that describe characteristics of a document for easy location through search technology. For example, a medical chart might include the patient ID, patient name, date of visit, and procedure as index values to make it easy for medical personnel to locate the chart.
Earlier document automation
Document automation
Document automation is the design of systems and workflow that assist in the creation of electronic documents. These include logic based systems that use segments of pre-existing text and/or data to assemble a new document. This process is increasingly used within certain industries to assemble...
systems photographed documents for storage on microfilm or microfiche. Optical scanners now make digital copies of paper documents. Documents already in digital form can be copied, or linked to if they are already available online.
Automatic or semi-automatic capture can use EDI
Electronic Data Interchange
Electronic data interchange is the structured transmission of data between organizations by electronic means. It is used to transfer electronic documents or business data from one computer system to another computer system, i.e...
or XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
documents, business and ERP
Enterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning systems integrate internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application...
applications, or existing specialist application systems as sources.
Recognition technologies
Various recognition technologies can be used to extract information from scanned documents and digital faxFax
Fax , sometimes called telecopying, is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material , normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other output device...
es, including:
Optical character recognition
Optical character recognition
Optical character recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, is the mechanical or electronic translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. It is widely used to convert books and documents into electronic files, to computerize a record-keeping...
(OCR)
- Converts images of typeset text into alphanumeric characters
handprint character recognition
Handwriting recognition
Handwriting recognition is the ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible handwritten input from sources such as paper documents, photographs, touch-screens and other devices. The image of the written text may be sensed "off line" from a piece of paper by optical scanning or...
(HCR)
- Converts images of handwritten text into alphanumerics. Gives better results for short text in fixed locations than for freeform text.
Intelligent character recognition
Intelligent Character Recognition
In computer science, intelligent character recognition is an advanced optical character recognition or — rather more specific — handwriting recognition system that allows fonts and different styles of handwriting to be learned by a computer during processing to improve accuracy and recognition...
(ICR)
- Extends OCR and HCR to use comparison, logical connections, and checks against reference lists and existing master data to improve recognition. For example, on a form where a column of numbers is added up, the accuracy of the recognition can be checked by adding the recognized numbers and comparing them to the sum written on the original form.
Optical mark recognition
Optical mark recognition
Optical Mark Recognition is the process of capturing human-marked data from document forms such as surveys and tests.-OMR background:...
(OMR)
- Reads special markings, such as checkmarks or dots, in predefined fields.
Barcode
Barcode
A barcode is an optical machine-readable representation of data, which shows data about the object to which it attaches. Originally barcodes represented data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines, and may be referred to as linear or 1 dimensional . Later they evolved into rectangles,...
recognition
- Decodes industry-standard encodings of product and other commercial data.
Image cleanup
Image cleanup features include rotation, straightening, color adjustment, transposition, zoom, aligning, page separation, annotations and despeckling.Forms processing
In forms capture, there are two groups of technologies, although the information content and character of the documents may be identical. Forms processing is the capture of printed forms via scanning; recognition technologies are often used here, since well-designed forms enable largely automatic processing. Automatic processing can be used to capture electronic forms, such as those submitted via web pages, as long as the layout, structure, logic, and contents are known to the capture system.COLD
Computer Output to Laser Disc (COLD) records reports and other documents on optical disks, or any form of digital storage for ongoing management by ECM systems. Another term for this is enterprise report management (ERM). Originally, the technology only worked with laserdiscLaserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
s; the name was not changed after other technologies supplanted the laserdisc.
Aggregation
Aggregation combines documents from different applications. The goal is to unify data from different sources, forwarding them to storage and processing systems in a uniform structure and format.Indexing components
Indexing improves searches, and provides alternative ways to organize the information.Manual indexing
Subject indexing
Subject indexing is the act of describing or classifying a document by index terms or other symbols in order to indicate what the document is about, to summarize its content or to increase its findability. In other words, it is about identifying and describing the subject of documents...
assigns index database attributes to content by hand, typically used by the database of a "manage" component for administration and access. Manual indexing may make use of input designs to limit the information that can be entered; for example, entry masks may use program logic to restrict inputs based on other information known about the document.
Both automatic and manual attribute indexing can be made easier and better with preset input-design profiles; these can describe document classes that limit the number of possible index values, or automatically assign certain criteria.
Automatic classification programs can extract index, category, and transfer data autonomously. Automatic classification or categorizing, based on the information contained in electronic information objects, can evaluate information based on predefined criteria or in a self-learning process. This technique can be used with OCR-converted faxes, office files, or output files.
Manage
The Manage category includes five traditional application areas:- Document management (DM)
- CollaborationCollaborationCollaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...
(or collaborative software, a.k.a. groupware) - Web content management (including web portalWeb portalA web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....
s) - Records managementRecords managementRecords management, or RM, is the practice of maintaining the records of an organization from the time they are created up to their eventual disposal...
- WorkflowWorkflowA workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
and business process managementBusiness process managementBusiness process management is a holistic management approach focused on aligning all aspects of an organization with the wants and needs of clients. It promotes business effectiveness and efficiency while striving for innovation, flexibility, and integration with technology. BPM attempts to...
(BPM)
The Manage category connects the other components, which can be used in combination or separately. Document management, web content management, collaboration, workflow and business process management address the dynamic part of the information's lifecycle. Records management focuses on managing finalized documents in accordance with the organization's document retention
Retention period
The retention period of a document is an aspect of records management. It represents the period of time a document should be kept or "retained". At the termination of the retention period, the document is usually destroyed...
policy, which in turn must comply with government mandates and industry practices.
All Manage components incorporate database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
s and access authorization systems.
Manage components are offered individually or integrated as suites. In many cases they already include the "store" components.
Document management
Document management, in this context, refers to document management systemDocument management system
A document management system is a computer system used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. It is usually also capable of keeping track of the different versions created by different users . The term has some overlap with the concepts of content management...
s in the narrow sense of controlling documents from creation to archiving. Document management includes functions like:
Check in/check out
- For checking stored information for consistency.
Version management
- To keep track of different versions of the same information with revisions and renditions (same information in a different format).
Search and navigation
- For finding information and its associated contexts.
Organizing documents
- In structures like files, folders, and overviews.
However, document management increasingly overlaps with other "Manage" components, office applications like Microsoft Outlook and Exchange, or Lotus Notes
Lotus Notes
Lotus Notes is the client of a collaborative platform originally created by Lotus Development Corp. in 1989. In 1995 Lotus was acquired by IBM and became known as the Lotus Development division of IBM and is now part of the IBM Software Group...
and Domino, as well as "library services" for administering information storage.
Collaboration
CollaborationCollaboration
Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...
components in an ECM system help users work with each other to develop and process content. Many of these components were developed from collaborative software
Collaborative software
Collaborative software is computer software designed to help people involved in a common task achieve goals...
, or groupware, packages; ECM collaborative systems go much further, and include elements of knowledge management
Knowledge management
Knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
.
ECM systems facilitate collaboration by using information databases and processing methods that are designed to be used simultaneously by multiple users, even when those users are working on the same content item. They make use of knowledge based on skills, resources and background data for joint information processing. Administration components, such as virtual whiteboards for brainstorming, appointment scheduling and project management systems, communications application such as video conferencing, etc., may be included.
Collaborative ECM may also integrate information from other applications, permitting joint information processing.
Web content management
Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is a formalized means of organizing and storing an organization's documents, and other contentContent (media and publishing)
In media production and publishing, content is information and experiences that may provide value for an end-user/audience in specific contexts. Content may be delivered via any medium such as the internet, television, and audio CDs, as well as live events such as conferences and stage performances...
, that relate to the organization's processes. The term encompasses strategies, methods, and tools used throughout the lifecycle of the content.
Definition
The Association for Information and Image ManagementAssociation for Information and Image Management
The Association for Information and Image Management or AIIM is a non-profit organization that provides education, research, and best practices for document management and enterprise content management...
(AIIM) International, the worldwide association for enterprise content management, defined the term Enterprise Content Management in 2000. AIIM has refined the abbreviation ECM several times to reflect the expanding scope and importance of information management:
Late 2005
- Enterprise content management is the technologies used to Capture, Manage, Store, Preserve, and Deliver content and documents related to organizational processes.
Early 2006
- Enterprise content management is the technologies used to Capture, Manage, Store, Preserve, and Deliver content and documents related to organizational processes.
- ECM tools and strategies allow the management of an organization's unstructured information, wherever that information exists.
Early 2008
- Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is the strategies, methods and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes. ECM tools and strategies allow the management of an organization's unstructured information, wherever that information exists.
Early 2010
- Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is the strategies, methods and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes. ECM covers the management of information within the entire scope of an enterprise whether that information is in the form of a paper document, an electronic file, a database print stream, or even an email.
The latest definition encompasses areas that have traditionally been addressed by records management
Records management
Records management, or RM, is the practice of maintaining the records of an organization from the time they are created up to their eventual disposal...
and document management systems. It also includes the conversion of data between various digital and traditional forms, including paper and microfilm.
ECM is an umbrella term covering document management, web content management, search , collaboration, records management
Records management
Records management, or RM, is the practice of maintaining the records of an organization from the time they are created up to their eventual disposal...
, digital asset management
Digital asset management
Digital asset management consists of management tasks and decisions surrounding the ingestion, annotation, cataloguing, storage, retrieval and distribution of digital assets...
(DAM), work-flow management, capture and scanning. ECM is primarily aimed at managing the life-cycle of information from initial publication or creation all the way through archival and eventually disposal. ECM applications are delivered in three ways: on-premise software (installed on the organization’s own network), Software as a Service
Software as a Service
Software as a service , sometimes referred to as "on-demand software," is a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are hosted centrally and are typically accessed by users using a thin client, normally using a web browser over the Internet.SaaS has become a common...
(SaaS) (web access to information that is stored on the software manufacturer’s system), or a hybrid solution composed of both on-premise and SaaS components.
ECM aims to make the management of corporate information easier through simplifying storage, security, version control, process routing, and retention. The benefits to an organization include improved efficiency, better control, and reduced costs. For example, many banks have converted to storing copies of old checks within ECM systems versus the older method of keeping physical checks in massive paper warehouses. Under the old system a customer request for a copy of a check might take weeks, as the bank employees had to contact the warehouse to have someone locate the right box, file and check, pull the check, make a copy and then mail it to the bank who would eventually mail it to the customer. With an ECM system in place, the bank employee simply searches the system for the customer’s account number and the number of the requested check. When the image of the check appears on screen, they are able to immediately mail it to the customer—usually while the customer is still on the phone.
History
Enterprise Content Management, as a form of content managementContent management
Content management, or CM, is the set of processes and technologies that support the collection, managing, and publishing of information in any form or medium. In recent times this information is typically referred to as content or, to be precise, digital content...
, combines the capture, search and networking of documents with digital archiving, document management and workflow
Workflow
A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
. It specifically includes the special challenges involved in using and preserving a company's internal, often unstructured information, in all of its forms. Therefore, most ECM solutions focus on Business-to-Employee (B2E)
Business-to-employee
Business-to-employee electronic commerce uses an intrabusiness network which allows companies to provide products and/or services to their employees...
systems.
As ECM solutions have evolved, new components have emerged. For example, as content is checked in and out, each use generates new metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
about the content, to some extent automatically; information about how and when the content was used can allow the system to gradually acquire new filtering, routing and search pathways, corporate taxonomies and semantic network
Semantic network
A semantic network is a network which represents semantic relations among concepts. This is often used as a form of knowledge representation. It is a directed or undirected graph consisting of vertices, which represent concepts, and edges.- History :...
s, and retention-rule decisions. Email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
and instant messaging
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
are increasingly employed in decision-making processes; ECM can provide access to data about these communications, which can be used in business decisions.
Solutions can provide intranet
Intranet
An intranet is a computer network that uses Internet Protocol technology to securely share any part of an organization's information or network operating system within that organization. The term is used in contrast to internet, a network between organizations, and instead refers to a network...
services to employees (B2E
Business-to-employee
Business-to-employee electronic commerce uses an intrabusiness network which allows companies to provide products and/or services to their employees...
), and can also include enterprise portal
Enterprise portal
An enterprise portal, also known as an enterprise information portal or corporate portal, is a framework for integrating information, people and processes across organizational boundaries. It provides a secure unified access point, often in the form of a web-based user interface, and is designed...
s for Business-to-Business (B2B)
Business-to-business
Business-to-business describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer...
, Business-to-Government (B2G), Government-to-Business (G2B)
Government-to-business
Government-to-Business is the online non-commercial interaction between local and central government and the commercial business sector, rather than private individuals , with the purpose of providing businesses information and advice on e-business 'best practices'.-External links:*, United...
, or other business relationships. This category includes most former document-management groupware and workflow
Workflow
A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
solutions that have not yet fully converted their architecture to ECM, but provide a web interface. Digital asset management
Digital asset management
Digital asset management consists of management tasks and decisions surrounding the ingestion, annotation, cataloguing, storage, retrieval and distribution of digital assets...
is a form of ECM concerned with content stored using digital technology.
The technologies that comprise ECM today are the descendants of late 1980s and early 1990s electronic document management system
Document management system
A document management system is a computer system used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. It is usually also capable of keeping track of the different versions created by different users . The term has some overlap with the concepts of content management...
s (EDMS). The original EDMS products were stand-alone products, providing functionality in one of four areas: imaging
Document imaging
Document imaging is an information technology category for systems capable of replicating documents commonly used in business. Document imaging systems can take many forms including microfilm, on demand printers, facsimile machines, copiers, multifunction printers, document scanners, computer...
, workflow
Workflow
A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
, document management, or COLD
Cold
Cold describes the condition of low temperature.Cold may also refer to:*Common cold, a contagious viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system*Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease...
/ERM
ERM
ERM may refer to: In systems and processes:* European Exchange Rate Mechanism* European Reference Materials* Enterprise relationship management* Enterprise risk management* Entity-relationship model...
(see components below).
The typical early EDMS adopter deployed a small-scale imaging and workflow system, possibly to just a single department, in order to improve a paper-intensive process and migrate towards the mythical paperless office
Paperless office
A paperless office is a work environment in which the use of paper is eliminated or greatly reduced. This is done by converting documents and other papers into digital form. Proponents claim that "going paperless" can save money, boost productivity, save space, make documentation and information...
. The first stand-alone EDMS technologies were designed to save time and/or improve information access by reducing paper handling and paper storage, thereby reducing document loss and providing faster access to information. EDMS could provide online access to information formerly available only on paper, microfilm, or microfiche. By improving control over documents and document-oriented processes, EDMS streamlined time-consuming business practices. The audit trail generated by EDMS enhanced document security, and provided metrics to help measure productivity and identify efficiency.
Through the late 1990s, the EDMS industry continued to grow steadily. The technologies appealed to organizations that needed targeted, tactical solutions to address clearly defined problems.
As time passed, and more organizations achieved "pockets" of productivity with these technologies, it became clear that the various EDMS product categories were complementary. Organizations increasingly wanted to leverage multiple EDMS products. Consider, for example, a customer service department—where imaging, document management, and workflow could be combined to allow agents to better resolve customer inquiries. Likewise, an accounting department might access supplier invoices from a COLD/ERM system, purchase orders from an imaging system, and contracts from a document management system as part of an approval workflow. As organizations established an Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
presence, they wanted to present information via the web, which required managing web content. Organizations that had automated individual departments now began to envision wider benefits from broader deployment. Many documents cross multiple departments and affect multiple processes.
The movement toward integrated EDMS solutions merely reflected a common trend in the software industry: the ongoing integration of point solutions into more comprehensive solutions. For example, until the early 1990s, word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software products were standalone products. Thereafter, the market shifted toward integration.
Early leaders already offered multiple stand-alone EDMS technologies. The first phase was to offer multiple systems as a single, packaged "suite", with little or no functional integration. Throughout the 1990s, integration increased. Beginning in approximately 2001, the industry began to use the term enterprise content management to refer to these integrated solutions.
In 2006, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
(with its SharePoint product family) and Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
(with Oracle Content Management) joined established leaders such as EMC
EMC Corporation
EMC Corporation , a Financial Times Global 500, Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company, develops, delivers and supports information infrastructure and virtual infrastructure hardware, software, and services. EMC is headquartered in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA.Former Intel executive Richard Egan and his...
Documentum
Documentum
Documentum is an enterprise content management platform, now delivered by EMC Corporation, as well as the name of the software company that originally developed the technology. EMC acquired Documentum for $1.7 billion in December, 2003...
and entered the entry-level "value" market segment of ECM.
Microsoft launched its ECM strategy with MOSS 2007; Oracle, with Oracle 10g and the acquisition of Stellent, both in late 2006.
Open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
ECM products are also available, including Campsite
Campsite (software)
Campsite is a free and open source multilingual content management system for news websites. Its localizable user interface was built with journalists, editors and publishers in mind, rather than computer experts, and it can be configured to suit different profiles of end users...
, WebGUI
WebGUI
WebGUI is an open source content management system written in Perl and released under the GNU General Public License.The system permits non-technically minded users to arrange content in pages and layouts, containing 'Assets' which permit website visitors to view and interact with various types of...
, Alfresco
Alfresco (software)
Alfresco is a Free/Libre enterprise content management system for Microsoft Windows and Unix-like operating systems. Alfresco comes in two flavours. Alfresco Community Edition is free software, LGPL licensed open source and open standards. Alfresco Enterprise Edition is commercially & proprietary...
, LogicalDOC
LogicalDOC
LogicalDOC is an Free/Libre document management system that is designed to handle and share documents within an organization.LogicalDOC is a content repository, with Lucene indexing, jBPM workflow, and a set of automatic import procedures....
, Sense/Net, eZ Publish, KnowledgeTree
KnowledgeTree
KnowledgeTree, Inc. is a provider of online document management software based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The company also has an office in Cape Town, South Africa. The company's product, also called KnowledgeTree, makes use of the cloud computing platform from Amazon EC2...
, Jumper 2.0
Jumper 2.0
Jumper 2.0, is an open source web application script for collaborative search and knowledge management powered by a shared enterprise bookmarking engine that is a fork of KnowledgebasePublisher[]. It was publicly announced on 29 September 2008,...
, Nuxeo
Nuxeo
Nuxeo delivers an open source document management application built with a complete, modular and extensible open source platform for enterprise content management. Other packaged applications built with the platform provide solutions for digital asset management and case management...
, and Plone.
Government standards, including HIPAA, SAS 70, BS 7799
BS 7799
BS 7799 was a standard originally published by BSI Group in 1995. It was written by the United Kingdom Government's Department of Trade and Industry , and consisted of several parts....
and ISO/IEC 27001
ISO/IEC 27001
ISO/IEC 27001, part of the growing ISO/IEC 27000 family of standards, is an Information Security Management System standard published in October 2005 by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission...
, are factors in developing and deploying ECM. Standards compliance may make outsourcing
Outsourcing
Outsourcing is the process of contracting a business function to someone else.-Overview:The term outsourcing is used inconsistently but usually involves the contracting out of a business function - commonly one previously performed in-house - to an external provider...
to certified service providers a viable alternative to an internal ECM deployment.
Today, organizations can deploy a single, flexible ECM system to manage information in all functional departments, including customer service, accounting, human resources, etc.
Today’s Adoption Drivers
There are numerous factors driving businesses to adopt an ECM solution, such as the need to increase efficiency, to improve control of information, and to reduce the overall cost of information management for the enterprise. ECM applications streamline access to records through keyword and full-text search allowing employees to get to the information they need directly from their desktops in seconds rather than searching multiple applications or digging through paper records.These management systems can enhance record control to help businesses to comply with government and industry regulations such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, PCI DSS
PCI DSS
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is an information security standard for organizations that handle cardholder information for the major debit, credit, prepaid, e-purse, ATM, and POS cards....
, and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure govern civil procedure in United States district courts. The FRCP are promulgated by the United States Supreme Court pursuant to the Rules Enabling Act, and then the United States Congress has 7 months to veto the rules promulgated or they become part of the...
. Security functions including user-level, function-level and even record-specific security options protect your most sensitive data. In fact, even information contained on a specific document can be masked using redaction features, so the rest of the document can be shared without compromising individual identity or key data. Every action taken within the system is tracked and reportable for auditing purposes for a wide variety of regulations.
ECM systems can reduce storage, paper and mailing needs, make employees more efficient, and result in better, more informed decisions across the enterprise—all of which reduce the overhead costs of managing information. SaaS ECM services can convert expensive capital outlay for servers and network equipment into a monthly operating expense, while also reducing the IT resources required to manage enterprise records.
Characteristics
Content managementContent management
Content management, or CM, is the set of processes and technologies that support the collection, managing, and publishing of information in any form or medium. In recent times this information is typically referred to as content or, to be precise, digital content...
includes ECM, Web content management (WCM), content syndication, and media asset management. Enterprise content management is not a closed-system solution or a distinct product category. Therefore, along with Document Related Technologies or Document Lifecycle Management, ECM is just one possible catch-all term for a wide range of technologies and vendors.
The content and structure of today's outward-directed web portal
Web portal
A web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....
will be the platform for tomorrow's internal information system. In his article in ComputerWoche, Ulrich Kampffmeyer distilled ECM to three key ideas that distinguish such solutions from Web content management:
Enterprise content management as integrative middleware
- ECM is used to overcome the restrictions of former vertical applications and island architectures. The user is basically unaware of using an ECM solution. ECM offers the requisite infrastructure for the new world of web-based IT, which is establishing itself as a kind of third platform alongside conventional host and client/server systems. Therefore, EAI (enterprise application integration
Enterprise application integrationEnterprise Application Integration is defined as the use of software and computer systems architectural principles to integrate a set of enterprise computer applications.- Overview :...
) and SOA (service-oriented architectureService-oriented architectureIn software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...
) will play an important role in the implementation and use of ECM.
Enterprise content management components as independent services
- ECM is used to manage information without regard to the source or the required use. The functionality is provided as a service that can be used from all kinds of applications. The advantage of a service concept is that for any given functionality only one general service is available, thus avoiding redundant, expensive and difficult to maintain parallel functions. Therefore, standards for interfaces connecting different services will play an important role in the implementation of ECM.
Enterprise content management as a uniform repository for all types of information
- ECM is used as a content warehouse (both data warehouse
Data warehouseIn computing, a data warehouse is a database used for reporting and analysis. The data stored in the warehouse is uploaded from the operational systems. The data may pass through an operational data store for additional operations before it is used in the DW for reporting.A data warehouse...
and document warehouse) that combines company information in a repository with a uniform structure. Expensive redundancies and associated problems with information consistency are eliminated. All applications deliver their content to a single repository, which in turn provides needed information to all applications. Therefore, content integration and ILM (Information Lifecycle ManagementInformation Lifecycle ManagementInformation Lifecycle Management refers to a wide-ranging set of strategies for administering storage systems on computing devices. Specifically, four categories of storage strategies may be considered under the auspices of ILM.-Policy:...
) will play an important role in the implementation and use of ECM.
Enterprise content management is working properly when it is effectively "invisible" to users. ECM technologies are infrastructures that support specialized applications as subordinate services.
ECM thus is a collection of infrastructure components that fit into a multi-layer model and include all document related technologies (DRT) for handling, delivering, and managing structured data and unstructured information jointly. As such, enterprise content management is one of the necessary basic components of the overarching e-business application area. ECM also sets out to manage all the information of a WCM and covers archiving needs as a universal repository.
Components
ECM combines components which can also be used as stand-alone systems without being incorporated into an enterprise-wide system.
The five ECM components and technologies were first defined by AIIM as capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver.
Capture
Capture involves converting information from paper documents into an electronic format through scanning. Capture is also used to collect electronic files and information into a consistent structure for management. Capture technologies also encompass the creation of metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
(index values) that describe characteristics of a document for easy location through search technology. For example, a medical chart might include the patient ID, patient name, date of visit, and procedure as index values to make it easy for medical personnel to locate the chart.
Earlier document automation
Document automation
Document automation is the design of systems and workflow that assist in the creation of electronic documents. These include logic based systems that use segments of pre-existing text and/or data to assemble a new document. This process is increasingly used within certain industries to assemble...
systems photographed documents for storage on microfilm or microfiche. Optical scanners now make digital copies of paper documents. Documents already in digital form can be copied, or linked to if they are already available online.
Automatic or semi-automatic capture can use EDI
Electronic Data Interchange
Electronic data interchange is the structured transmission of data between organizations by electronic means. It is used to transfer electronic documents or business data from one computer system to another computer system, i.e...
or XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
documents, business and ERP
Enterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning systems integrate internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application...
applications, or existing specialist application systems as sources.
Recognition technologies
Various recognition technologies can be used to extract information from scanned documents and digital faxFax
Fax , sometimes called telecopying, is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material , normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other output device...
es, including:
Optical character recognition
Optical character recognition
Optical character recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, is the mechanical or electronic translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. It is widely used to convert books and documents into electronic files, to computerize a record-keeping...
(OCR)
- Converts images of typeset text into alphanumeric characters
handprint character recognition
Handwriting recognition
Handwriting recognition is the ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible handwritten input from sources such as paper documents, photographs, touch-screens and other devices. The image of the written text may be sensed "off line" from a piece of paper by optical scanning or...
(HCR)
- Converts images of handwritten text into alphanumerics. Gives better results for short text in fixed locations than for freeform text.
Intelligent character recognition
Intelligent Character Recognition
In computer science, intelligent character recognition is an advanced optical character recognition or — rather more specific — handwriting recognition system that allows fonts and different styles of handwriting to be learned by a computer during processing to improve accuracy and recognition...
(ICR)
- Extends OCR and HCR to use comparison, logical connections, and checks against reference lists and existing master data to improve recognition. For example, on a form where a column of numbers is added up, the accuracy of the recognition can be checked by adding the recognized numbers and comparing them to the sum written on the original form.
Optical mark recognition
Optical mark recognition
Optical Mark Recognition is the process of capturing human-marked data from document forms such as surveys and tests.-OMR background:...
(OMR)
- Reads special markings, such as checkmarks or dots, in predefined fields.
Barcode
Barcode
A barcode is an optical machine-readable representation of data, which shows data about the object to which it attaches. Originally barcodes represented data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines, and may be referred to as linear or 1 dimensional . Later they evolved into rectangles,...
recognition
- Decodes industry-standard encodings of product and other commercial data.
Image cleanup
Image cleanup features include rotation, straightening, color adjustment, transposition, zoom, aligning, page separation, annotations and despeckling.Forms processing
In forms capture, there are two groups of technologies, although the information content and character of the documents may be identical. Forms processing is the capture of printed forms via scanning; recognition technologies are often used here, since well-designed forms enable largely automatic processing. Automatic processing can be used to capture electronic forms, such as those submitted via web pages, as long as the layout, structure, logic, and contents are known to the capture system.COLD
Computer Output to Laser Disc (COLD) records reports and other documents on optical disks, or any form of digital storage for ongoing management by ECM systems. Another term for this is enterprise report management (ERM). Originally, the technology only worked with laserdiscLaserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
s; the name was not changed after other technologies supplanted the laserdisc.
Aggregation
Aggregation combines documents from different applications. The goal is to unify data from different sources, forwarding them to storage and processing systems in a uniform structure and format.Indexing components
Indexing improves searches, and provides alternative ways to organize the information.Manual indexing
Subject indexing
Subject indexing is the act of describing or classifying a document by index terms or other symbols in order to indicate what the document is about, to summarize its content or to increase its findability. In other words, it is about identifying and describing the subject of documents...
assigns index database attributes to content by hand, typically used by the database of a "manage" component for administration and access. Manual indexing may make use of input designs to limit the information that can be entered; for example, entry masks may use program logic to restrict inputs based on other information known about the document.
Both automatic and manual attribute indexing can be made easier and better with preset input-design profiles; these can describe document classes that limit the number of possible index values, or automatically assign certain criteria.
Automatic classification programs can extract index, category, and transfer data autonomously. Automatic classification or categorizing, based on the information contained in electronic information objects, can evaluate information based on predefined criteria or in a self-learning process. This technique can be used with OCR-converted faxes, office files, or output files.
Manage
The Manage category includes five traditional application areas:
- Document management (DM)
- CollaborationCollaborationCollaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...
(or collaborative software, a.k.a. groupware) - Web content management (including web portalWeb portalA web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....
s) - Records managementRecords managementRecords management, or RM, is the practice of maintaining the records of an organization from the time they are created up to their eventual disposal...
- WorkflowWorkflowA workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
and business process managementBusiness process managementBusiness process management is a holistic management approach focused on aligning all aspects of an organization with the wants and needs of clients. It promotes business effectiveness and efficiency while striving for innovation, flexibility, and integration with technology. BPM attempts to...
(BPM)
The Manage category connects the other components, which can be used in combination or separately. Document management, web content management, collaboration, workflow and business process management address the dynamic part of the information's lifecycle. Records management focuses on managing finalized documents in accordance with the organization's document retention
Retention period
The retention period of a document is an aspect of records management. It represents the period of time a document should be kept or "retained". At the termination of the retention period, the document is usually destroyed...
policy, which in turn must comply with government mandates and industry practices.
All Manage components incorporate database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
s and access authorization systems.
Manage components are offered individually or integrated as suites. In many cases they already include the "store" components.
Document management
Document management, in this context, refers to document management system
Document management system
A document management system is a computer system used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. It is usually also capable of keeping track of the different versions created by different users . The term has some overlap with the concepts of content management...
s in the narrow sense of controlling documents from creation to archiving. Document management includes functions like:
Check in/check out
- For checking stored information for consistency.
Version management
- To keep track of different versions of the same information with revisions and renditions (same information in a different format).
Search and navigation
- For finding information and its associated contexts.
Organizing documents
- In structures like files, folders, and overviews.
However, document management increasingly overlaps with other "Manage" components, office applications like Microsoft Outlook and Exchange, or Lotus Notes
Lotus Notes
Lotus Notes is the client of a collaborative platform originally created by Lotus Development Corp. in 1989. In 1995 Lotus was acquired by IBM and became known as the Lotus Development division of IBM and is now part of the IBM Software Group...
and Domino, as well as "library services" for administering information storage.
Collaboration
Collaboration
Collaboration
Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...
components in an ECM system help users work with each other to develop and process content. Many of these components were developed from collaborative software
Collaborative software
Collaborative software is computer software designed to help people involved in a common task achieve goals...
, or groupware, packages; ECM collaborative systems go much further, and include elements of knowledge management
Knowledge management
Knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
.
ECM systems facilitate collaboration by using information databases and processing methods that are designed to be used simultaneously by multiple users, even when those users are working on the same content item. They make use of knowledge based on skills, resources and background data for joint information processing. Administration components, such as virtual whiteboards for brainstorming, appointment scheduling and project management systems, communications application such as video conferencing, etc., may be included.
Collaborative ECM may also integrate information from other applications, permitting joint information processing.
Web content management
Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is a formalized means of organizing and storing an organization's documents, and other contentContent (media and publishing)
In media production and publishing, content is information and experiences that may provide value for an end-user/audience in specific contexts. Content may be delivered via any medium such as the internet, television, and audio CDs, as well as live events such as conferences and stage performances...
, that relate to the organization's processes. The term encompasses strategies, methods, and tools used throughout the lifecycle of the content.
Definition
The Association for Information and Image ManagementAssociation for Information and Image Management
The Association for Information and Image Management or AIIM is a non-profit organization that provides education, research, and best practices for document management and enterprise content management...
(AIIM) International, the worldwide association for enterprise content management, defined the term Enterprise Content Management in 2000. AIIM has refined the abbreviation ECM several times to reflect the expanding scope and importance of information management:
Late 2005
- Enterprise content management is the technologies used to Capture, Manage, Store, Preserve, and Deliver content and documents related to organizational processes.
Early 2006
- Enterprise content management is the technologies used to Capture, Manage, Store, Preserve, and Deliver content and documents related to organizational processes.
- ECM tools and strategies allow the management of an organization's unstructured information, wherever that information exists.
Early 2008
- Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is the strategies, methods and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes. ECM tools and strategies allow the management of an organization's unstructured information, wherever that information exists.
Early 2010
- Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is the strategies, methods and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes. ECM covers the management of information within the entire scope of an enterprise whether that information is in the form of a paper document, an electronic file, a database print stream, or even an email.
The latest definition encompasses areas that have traditionally been addressed by records management
Records management
Records management, or RM, is the practice of maintaining the records of an organization from the time they are created up to their eventual disposal...
and document management systems. It also includes the conversion of data between various digital and traditional forms, including paper and microfilm.
ECM is an umbrella term covering document management, web content management, search , collaboration, records management
Records management
Records management, or RM, is the practice of maintaining the records of an organization from the time they are created up to their eventual disposal...
, digital asset management
Digital asset management
Digital asset management consists of management tasks and decisions surrounding the ingestion, annotation, cataloguing, storage, retrieval and distribution of digital assets...
(DAM), work-flow management, capture and scanning. ECM is primarily aimed at managing the life-cycle of information from initial publication or creation all the way through archival and eventually disposal. ECM applications are delivered in three ways: on-premise software (installed on the organization’s own network), Software as a Service
Software as a Service
Software as a service , sometimes referred to as "on-demand software," is a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are hosted centrally and are typically accessed by users using a thin client, normally using a web browser over the Internet.SaaS has become a common...
(SaaS) (web access to information that is stored on the software manufacturer’s system), or a hybrid solution composed of both on-premise and SaaS components.
ECM aims to make the management of corporate information easier through simplifying storage, security, version control, process routing, and retention. The benefits to an organization include improved efficiency, better control, and reduced costs. For example, many banks have converted to storing copies of old checks within ECM systems versus the older method of keeping physical checks in massive paper warehouses. Under the old system a customer request for a copy of a check might take weeks, as the bank employees had to contact the warehouse to have someone locate the right box, file and check, pull the check, make a copy and then mail it to the bank who would eventually mail it to the customer. With an ECM system in place, the bank employee simply searches the system for the customer’s account number and the number of the requested check. When the image of the check appears on screen, they are able to immediately mail it to the customer—usually while the customer is still on the phone.
History
Enterprise Content Management, as a form of content managementContent management
Content management, or CM, is the set of processes and technologies that support the collection, managing, and publishing of information in any form or medium. In recent times this information is typically referred to as content or, to be precise, digital content...
, combines the capture, search and networking of documents with digital archiving, document management and workflow
Workflow
A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
. It specifically includes the special challenges involved in using and preserving a company's internal, often unstructured information, in all of its forms. Therefore, most ECM solutions focus on Business-to-Employee (B2E)
Business-to-employee
Business-to-employee electronic commerce uses an intrabusiness network which allows companies to provide products and/or services to their employees...
systems.
As ECM solutions have evolved, new components have emerged. For example, as content is checked in and out, each use generates new metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
about the content, to some extent automatically; information about how and when the content was used can allow the system to gradually acquire new filtering, routing and search pathways, corporate taxonomies and semantic network
Semantic network
A semantic network is a network which represents semantic relations among concepts. This is often used as a form of knowledge representation. It is a directed or undirected graph consisting of vertices, which represent concepts, and edges.- History :...
s, and retention-rule decisions. Email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
and instant messaging
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
are increasingly employed in decision-making processes; ECM can provide access to data about these communications, which can be used in business decisions.
Solutions can provide intranet
Intranet
An intranet is a computer network that uses Internet Protocol technology to securely share any part of an organization's information or network operating system within that organization. The term is used in contrast to internet, a network between organizations, and instead refers to a network...
services to employees (B2E
Business-to-employee
Business-to-employee electronic commerce uses an intrabusiness network which allows companies to provide products and/or services to their employees...
), and can also include enterprise portal
Enterprise portal
An enterprise portal, also known as an enterprise information portal or corporate portal, is a framework for integrating information, people and processes across organizational boundaries. It provides a secure unified access point, often in the form of a web-based user interface, and is designed...
s for Business-to-Business (B2B)
Business-to-business
Business-to-business describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer...
, Business-to-Government (B2G), Government-to-Business (G2B)
Government-to-business
Government-to-Business is the online non-commercial interaction between local and central government and the commercial business sector, rather than private individuals , with the purpose of providing businesses information and advice on e-business 'best practices'.-External links:*, United...
, or other business relationships. This category includes most former document-management groupware and workflow
Workflow
A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
solutions that have not yet fully converted their architecture to ECM, but provide a web interface. Digital asset management
Digital asset management
Digital asset management consists of management tasks and decisions surrounding the ingestion, annotation, cataloguing, storage, retrieval and distribution of digital assets...
is a form of ECM concerned with content stored using digital technology.
The technologies that comprise ECM today are the descendants of late 1980s and early 1990s electronic document management system
Document management system
A document management system is a computer system used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. It is usually also capable of keeping track of the different versions created by different users . The term has some overlap with the concepts of content management...
s (EDMS). The original EDMS products were stand-alone products, providing functionality in one of four areas: imaging
Document imaging
Document imaging is an information technology category for systems capable of replicating documents commonly used in business. Document imaging systems can take many forms including microfilm, on demand printers, facsimile machines, copiers, multifunction printers, document scanners, computer...
, workflow
Workflow
A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
, document management, or COLD
Cold
Cold describes the condition of low temperature.Cold may also refer to:*Common cold, a contagious viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system*Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease...
/ERM
ERM
ERM may refer to: In systems and processes:* European Exchange Rate Mechanism* European Reference Materials* Enterprise relationship management* Enterprise risk management* Entity-relationship model...
(see components below).
The typical early EDMS adopter deployed a small-scale imaging and workflow system, possibly to just a single department, in order to improve a paper-intensive process and migrate towards the mythical paperless office
Paperless office
A paperless office is a work environment in which the use of paper is eliminated or greatly reduced. This is done by converting documents and other papers into digital form. Proponents claim that "going paperless" can save money, boost productivity, save space, make documentation and information...
. The first stand-alone EDMS technologies were designed to save time and/or improve information access by reducing paper handling and paper storage, thereby reducing document loss and providing faster access to information. EDMS could provide online access to information formerly available only on paper, microfilm, or microfiche. By improving control over documents and document-oriented processes, EDMS streamlined time-consuming business practices. The audit trail generated by EDMS enhanced document security, and provided metrics to help measure productivity and identify efficiency.
Through the late 1990s, the EDMS industry continued to grow steadily. The technologies appealed to organizations that needed targeted, tactical solutions to address clearly defined problems.
As time passed, and more organizations achieved "pockets" of productivity with these technologies, it became clear that the various EDMS product categories were complementary. Organizations increasingly wanted to leverage multiple EDMS products. Consider, for example, a customer service department—where imaging, document management, and workflow could be combined to allow agents to better resolve customer inquiries. Likewise, an accounting department might access supplier invoices from a COLD/ERM system, purchase orders from an imaging system, and contracts from a document management system as part of an approval workflow. As organizations established an Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
presence, they wanted to present information via the web, which required managing web content. Organizations that had automated individual departments now began to envision wider benefits from broader deployment. Many documents cross multiple departments and affect multiple processes.
The movement toward integrated EDMS solutions merely reflected a common trend in the software industry: the ongoing integration of point solutions into more comprehensive solutions. For example, until the early 1990s, word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software products were standalone products. Thereafter, the market shifted toward integration.
Early leaders already offered multiple stand-alone EDMS technologies. The first phase was to offer multiple systems as a single, packaged "suite", with little or no functional integration. Throughout the 1990s, integration increased. Beginning in approximately 2001, the industry began to use the term enterprise content management to refer to these integrated solutions.
In 2006, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
(with its SharePoint product family) and Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
(with Oracle Content Management) joined established leaders such as EMC
EMC Corporation
EMC Corporation , a Financial Times Global 500, Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company, develops, delivers and supports information infrastructure and virtual infrastructure hardware, software, and services. EMC is headquartered in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA.Former Intel executive Richard Egan and his...
Documentum
Documentum
Documentum is an enterprise content management platform, now delivered by EMC Corporation, as well as the name of the software company that originally developed the technology. EMC acquired Documentum for $1.7 billion in December, 2003...
and entered the entry-level "value" market segment of ECM.
Microsoft launched its ECM strategy with MOSS 2007; Oracle, with Oracle 10g and the acquisition of Stellent, both in late 2006.
Open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
ECM products are also available, including Campsite
Campsite (software)
Campsite is a free and open source multilingual content management system for news websites. Its localizable user interface was built with journalists, editors and publishers in mind, rather than computer experts, and it can be configured to suit different profiles of end users...
, WebGUI
WebGUI
WebGUI is an open source content management system written in Perl and released under the GNU General Public License.The system permits non-technically minded users to arrange content in pages and layouts, containing 'Assets' which permit website visitors to view and interact with various types of...
, Alfresco
Alfresco (software)
Alfresco is a Free/Libre enterprise content management system for Microsoft Windows and Unix-like operating systems. Alfresco comes in two flavours. Alfresco Community Edition is free software, LGPL licensed open source and open standards. Alfresco Enterprise Edition is commercially & proprietary...
, LogicalDOC
LogicalDOC
LogicalDOC is an Free/Libre document management system that is designed to handle and share documents within an organization.LogicalDOC is a content repository, with Lucene indexing, jBPM workflow, and a set of automatic import procedures....
, Sense/Net, eZ Publish, KnowledgeTree
KnowledgeTree
KnowledgeTree, Inc. is a provider of online document management software based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The company also has an office in Cape Town, South Africa. The company's product, also called KnowledgeTree, makes use of the cloud computing platform from Amazon EC2...
, Jumper 2.0
Jumper 2.0
Jumper 2.0, is an open source web application script for collaborative search and knowledge management powered by a shared enterprise bookmarking engine that is a fork of KnowledgebasePublisher[]. It was publicly announced on 29 September 2008,...
, Nuxeo
Nuxeo
Nuxeo delivers an open source document management application built with a complete, modular and extensible open source platform for enterprise content management. Other packaged applications built with the platform provide solutions for digital asset management and case management...
, and Plone.
Government standards, including HIPAA, SAS 70, BS 7799
BS 7799
BS 7799 was a standard originally published by BSI Group in 1995. It was written by the United Kingdom Government's Department of Trade and Industry , and consisted of several parts....
and ISO/IEC 27001
ISO/IEC 27001
ISO/IEC 27001, part of the growing ISO/IEC 27000 family of standards, is an Information Security Management System standard published in October 2005 by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission...
, are factors in developing and deploying ECM. Standards compliance may make outsourcing
Outsourcing
Outsourcing is the process of contracting a business function to someone else.-Overview:The term outsourcing is used inconsistently but usually involves the contracting out of a business function - commonly one previously performed in-house - to an external provider...
to certified service providers a viable alternative to an internal ECM deployment.
Today, organizations can deploy a single, flexible ECM system to manage information in all functional departments, including customer service, accounting, human resources, etc.
Today’s Adoption Drivers
There are numerous factors driving businesses to adopt an ECM solution, such as the need to increase efficiency, to improve control of information, and to reduce the overall cost of information management for the enterprise. ECM applications streamline access to records through keyword and full-text search allowing employees to get to the information they need directly from their desktops in seconds rather than searching multiple applications or digging through paper records.These management systems can enhance record control to help businesses to comply with government and industry regulations such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, PCI DSS
PCI DSS
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is an information security standard for organizations that handle cardholder information for the major debit, credit, prepaid, e-purse, ATM, and POS cards....
, and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure govern civil procedure in United States district courts. The FRCP are promulgated by the United States Supreme Court pursuant to the Rules Enabling Act, and then the United States Congress has 7 months to veto the rules promulgated or they become part of the...
. Security functions including user-level, function-level and even record-specific security options protect your most sensitive data. In fact, even information contained on a specific document can be masked using redaction features, so the rest of the document can be shared without compromising individual identity or key data. Every action taken within the system is tracked and reportable for auditing purposes for a wide variety of regulations.
ECM systems can reduce storage, paper and mailing needs, make employees more efficient, and result in better, more informed decisions across the enterprise—all of which reduce the overhead costs of managing information. SaaS ECM services can convert expensive capital outlay for servers and network equipment into a monthly operating expense, while also reducing the IT resources required to manage enterprise records.
Characteristics
Content managementContent management
Content management, or CM, is the set of processes and technologies that support the collection, managing, and publishing of information in any form or medium. In recent times this information is typically referred to as content or, to be precise, digital content...
includes ECM, Web content management (WCM), content syndication, and media asset management. Enterprise content management is not a closed-system solution or a distinct product category. Therefore, along with Document Related Technologies or Document Lifecycle Management, ECM is just one possible catch-all term for a wide range of technologies and vendors.
The content and structure of today's outward-directed web portal
Web portal
A web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....
will be the platform for tomorrow's internal information system. In his article in ComputerWoche, Ulrich Kampffmeyer distilled ECM to three key ideas that distinguish such solutions from Web content management:
Enterprise content management as integrative middleware
- ECM is used to overcome the restrictions of former vertical applications and island architectures. The user is basically unaware of using an ECM solution. ECM offers the requisite infrastructure for the new world of web-based IT, which is establishing itself as a kind of third platform alongside conventional host and client/server systems. Therefore, EAI (enterprise application integration
Enterprise application integrationEnterprise Application Integration is defined as the use of software and computer systems architectural principles to integrate a set of enterprise computer applications.- Overview :...
) and SOA (service-oriented architectureService-oriented architectureIn software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...
) will play an important role in the implementation and use of ECM.
Enterprise content management components as independent services
- ECM is used to manage information without regard to the source or the required use. The functionality is provided as a service that can be used from all kinds of applications. The advantage of a service concept is that for any given functionality only one general service is available, thus avoiding redundant, expensive and difficult to maintain parallel functions. Therefore, standards for interfaces connecting different services will play an important role in the implementation of ECM.
Enterprise content management as a uniform repository for all types of information
- ECM is used as a content warehouse (both data warehouse
Data warehouseIn computing, a data warehouse is a database used for reporting and analysis. The data stored in the warehouse is uploaded from the operational systems. The data may pass through an operational data store for additional operations before it is used in the DW for reporting.A data warehouse...
and document warehouse) that combines company information in a repository with a uniform structure. Expensive redundancies and associated problems with information consistency are eliminated. All applications deliver their content to a single repository, which in turn provides needed information to all applications. Therefore, content integration and ILM (Information Lifecycle ManagementInformation Lifecycle ManagementInformation Lifecycle Management refers to a wide-ranging set of strategies for administering storage systems on computing devices. Specifically, four categories of storage strategies may be considered under the auspices of ILM.-Policy:...
) will play an important role in the implementation and use of ECM.
Enterprise content management is working properly when it is effectively "invisible" to users. ECM technologies are infrastructures that support specialized applications as subordinate services.
ECM thus is a collection of infrastructure components that fit into a multi-layer model and include all document related technologies (DRT) for handling, delivering, and managing structured data and unstructured information jointly. As such, enterprise content management is one of the necessary basic components of the overarching e-business application area. ECM also sets out to manage all the information of a WCM and covers archiving needs as a universal repository.
Components
ECM combines components which can also be used as stand-alone systems without being incorporated into an enterprise-wide system.
The five ECM components and technologies were first defined by AIIM as capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver.
Capture
Capture involves converting information from paper documents into an electronic format through scanning. Capture is also used to collect electronic files and information into a consistent structure for management. Capture technologies also encompass the creation of metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
(index values) that describe characteristics of a document for easy location through search technology. For example, a medical chart might include the patient ID, patient name, date of visit, and procedure as index values to make it easy for medical personnel to locate the chart.
Earlier document automation
Document automation
Document automation is the design of systems and workflow that assist in the creation of electronic documents. These include logic based systems that use segments of pre-existing text and/or data to assemble a new document. This process is increasingly used within certain industries to assemble...
systems photographed documents for storage on microfilm or microfiche. Optical scanners now make digital copies of paper documents. Documents already in digital form can be copied, or linked to if they are already available online.
Automatic or semi-automatic capture can use EDI
Electronic Data Interchange
Electronic data interchange is the structured transmission of data between organizations by electronic means. It is used to transfer electronic documents or business data from one computer system to another computer system, i.e...
or XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
documents, business and ERP
Enterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning systems integrate internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application...
applications, or existing specialist application systems as sources.
Recognition technologies
Various recognition technologies can be used to extract information from scanned documents and digital faxFax
Fax , sometimes called telecopying, is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material , normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other output device...
es, including:
Optical character recognition
Optical character recognition
Optical character recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, is the mechanical or electronic translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. It is widely used to convert books and documents into electronic files, to computerize a record-keeping...
(OCR)
- Converts images of typeset text into alphanumeric characters
handprint character recognition
Handwriting recognition
Handwriting recognition is the ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible handwritten input from sources such as paper documents, photographs, touch-screens and other devices. The image of the written text may be sensed "off line" from a piece of paper by optical scanning or...
(HCR)
- Converts images of handwritten text into alphanumerics. Gives better results for short text in fixed locations than for freeform text.
Intelligent character recognition
Intelligent Character Recognition
In computer science, intelligent character recognition is an advanced optical character recognition or — rather more specific — handwriting recognition system that allows fonts and different styles of handwriting to be learned by a computer during processing to improve accuracy and recognition...
(ICR)
- Extends OCR and HCR to use comparison, logical connections, and checks against reference lists and existing master data to improve recognition. For example, on a form where a column of numbers is added up, the accuracy of the recognition can be checked by adding the recognized numbers and comparing them to the sum written on the original form.
Optical mark recognition
Optical mark recognition
Optical Mark Recognition is the process of capturing human-marked data from document forms such as surveys and tests.-OMR background:...
(OMR)
- Reads special markings, such as checkmarks or dots, in predefined fields.
Barcode
Barcode
A barcode is an optical machine-readable representation of data, which shows data about the object to which it attaches. Originally barcodes represented data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines, and may be referred to as linear or 1 dimensional . Later they evolved into rectangles,...
recognition
- Decodes industry-standard encodings of product and other commercial data.
Image cleanup
Image cleanup features include rotation, straightening, color adjustment, transposition, zoom, aligning, page separation, annotations and despeckling.Forms processing
In forms capture, there are two groups of technologies, although the information content and character of the documents may be identical. Forms processing is the capture of printed forms via scanning; recognition technologies are often used here, since well-designed forms enable largely automatic processing. Automatic processing can be used to capture electronic forms, such as those submitted via web pages, as long as the layout, structure, logic, and contents are known to the capture system.COLD
Computer Output to Laser Disc (COLD) records reports and other documents on optical disks, or any form of digital storage for ongoing management by ECM systems. Another term for this is enterprise report management (ERM). Originally, the technology only worked with laserdiscLaserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
s; the name was not changed after other technologies supplanted the laserdisc.
Aggregation
Aggregation combines documents from different applications. The goal is to unify data from different sources, forwarding them to storage and processing systems in a uniform structure and format.Indexing components
Indexing improves searches, and provides alternative ways to organize the information.Manual indexing
Subject indexing
Subject indexing is the act of describing or classifying a document by index terms or other symbols in order to indicate what the document is about, to summarize its content or to increase its findability. In other words, it is about identifying and describing the subject of documents...
assigns index database attributes to content by hand, typically used by the database of a "manage" component for administration and access. Manual indexing may make use of input designs to limit the information that can be entered; for example, entry masks may use program logic to restrict inputs based on other information known about the document.
Both automatic and manual attribute indexing can be made easier and better with preset input-design profiles; these can describe document classes that limit the number of possible index values, or automatically assign certain criteria.
Automatic classification programs can extract index, category, and transfer data autonomously. Automatic classification or categorizing, based on the information contained in electronic information objects, can evaluate information based on predefined criteria or in a self-learning process. This technique can be used with OCR-converted faxes, office files, or output files.
Manage
The Manage category includes five traditional application areas:
- Document management (DM)
- CollaborationCollaborationCollaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...
(or collaborative software, a.k.a. groupware) - Web content management (including web portalWeb portalA web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....
s) - Records managementRecords managementRecords management, or RM, is the practice of maintaining the records of an organization from the time they are created up to their eventual disposal...
- WorkflowWorkflowA workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
and business process managementBusiness process managementBusiness process management is a holistic management approach focused on aligning all aspects of an organization with the wants and needs of clients. It promotes business effectiveness and efficiency while striving for innovation, flexibility, and integration with technology. BPM attempts to...
(BPM)
The Manage category connects the other components, which can be used in combination or separately. Document management, web content management, collaboration, workflow and business process management address the dynamic part of the information's lifecycle. Records management focuses on managing finalized documents in accordance with the organization's document retention
Retention period
The retention period of a document is an aspect of records management. It represents the period of time a document should be kept or "retained". At the termination of the retention period, the document is usually destroyed...
policy, which in turn must comply with government mandates and industry practices.
All Manage components incorporate database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
s and access authorization systems.
Manage components are offered individually or integrated as suites. In many cases they already include the "store" components.
Document management
Document management, in this context, refers to document management system
Document management system
A document management system is a computer system used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. It is usually also capable of keeping track of the different versions created by different users . The term has some overlap with the concepts of content management...
s in the narrow sense of controlling documents from creation to archiving. Document management includes functions like:
Check in/check out
- For checking stored information for consistency.
Version management
- To keep track of different versions of the same information with revisions and renditions (same information in a different format).
Search and navigation
- For finding information and its associated contexts.
Organizing documents
- In structures like files, folders, and overviews.
However, document management increasingly overlaps with other "Manage" components, office applications like Microsoft Outlook and Exchange, or Lotus Notes
Lotus Notes
Lotus Notes is the client of a collaborative platform originally created by Lotus Development Corp. in 1989. In 1995 Lotus was acquired by IBM and became known as the Lotus Development division of IBM and is now part of the IBM Software Group...
and Domino, as well as "library services" for administering information storage.
Collaboration
Collaboration
Collaboration
Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...
components in an ECM system help users work with each other to develop and process content. Many of these components were developed from collaborative software
Collaborative software
Collaborative software is computer software designed to help people involved in a common task achieve goals...
, or groupware, packages; ECM collaborative systems go much further, and include elements of knowledge management
Knowledge management
Knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
.
ECM systems facilitate collaboration by using information databases and processing methods that are designed to be used simultaneously by multiple users, even when those users are working on the same content item. They make use of knowledge based on skills, resources and background data for joint information processing. Administration components, such as virtual whiteboards for brainstorming, appointment scheduling and project management systems, communications application such as video conferencing, etc., may be included.
Collaborative ECM may also integrate information from other applications, permitting joint information processing.