When we talk to our clients about document management, we find it useful to start by looking for the organization’s most likely usage scenarios for document management. Identifying the need for document management (DM) within various functional areas of the organization in terms of usage scenarios simplifies the task of identifying and prioritizing the required capabilities, and identifying the most appropriate vendor and product set. And “identifying the most appropriate vendor and product set” usually means determining whether Microsoft SharePoint or “Big DM” – or a mix of the two – is the most appropriate option.
By “Big DM” I mean the DM products offered by the suppliers of legacy or advanced ECM solutions, including IBM, EMC, Open Text, Oracle, and Autonomy. By “usage scenarios” I mean general activities associated with DM, along with the DM capabilities they require. These general DM activities and capabilities are more specific than the broad category of “document management,” which, when I describe the scenarios, you’ll see is pretty useless for making the intelligent decisions about your future state DM. But the usage scenarios are more general than particular DM applications like IT project management or sales proposal creation. A scenario like “Collaborative DM” can apply to IT and marketing project management, proposal and contract creation, all of which require a common set of DM capabilities and should most likely be addressed by the same DM product – but then customized as appropriate for the very specific requirements of, say, IT project management versus proposal creation.
Introducing the Usage Scenarios
The five most common “DM” usage scenarios are:
- Basic (“unauthenticated”) document access
- “Authenticated” document access
- Basic DM
- Collaborative DM
- Advanced and secure DM
Strictly speaking, Scenarios 1 and 2 focus on document access (or ECM “consumer” capabilities) and don’t require document authoring (ECM “contributor” capabilities) or other core library functions that typify DM. Scenarios 3, 4, and 5 do describe more typical DM usage scenarios.
Considering these usage scenarios, the big question for organizations today is which solution approach provides a better fit: SharePoint, or “Big DM”? The two approaches are:
1) Use SharePoint. By this I primarily mean SharePoint 2010, but SharePoint 2007 (MOSS) can also be used effectively for most of the five usage scenarios.
2) Use “Big DM.” By this I mean the DM capabilities from one of the major ECM vendors, particularly IBM, EMC, Open Text, Oracle, or Autonomy.
So which scenarios require which approach?
DM Functionality within the Five Usage Scenarios
Below I’ve listed the relevant capabilities for each of the five scenarios, with notes in bold italics to show which capabilities are provided by both SharePoint 2010 and which by “Big DM.”
1. Basic (“Unauthenticated”) Document Access
Read-only access to content with limited enterprise search capabilities (i.e. almost always limited just to DM product repositories). It can be provided by both SharePoint and “Big DM,” with “Big DM” providing no additional benefit.
Users in this scenario access cross-organizational content and documents that they are authorized to see while minimizing duplication of effort. In contrast to the Authenticated Document Access (Scenario 2, below), this use case provides no guarantees or restrictions on content, authorization, security, authenticity, or accuracy, apart from the most general guarantees or restrictions in place at the organization. It provides general retention and disposition, but nothing more related to records management.
- Read-only document management
- Provides a web-based user interface for document viewing; common search interface is accessible through a web interface
- Leverages common security model for user authentication and access control; security should protect search content based on user access rights
- Enterprise search (though search is almost always limited to DM product repositories)
- Records management not provided, except for retention and disposition capabilities provided by core system (this retention management, as opposed to records management, is provided without use of specialized records management components or classification according to the organization’s retention schedule)
- Structured repository; ability to configure the repository in a manner that matches business requirements
- Metadata management capabilities (to facilitate document cross-references, search, etc.)
- Ability to set up multiple repositories
- Integration with desktop tools (e.g. Microsoft Office)
2. “Authenticated” Document Access
Same as Basic Document Access (Scenario 1, above; read-only access with limited enterprise search), except with ensured authenticity and other related capabilities. It can be provided by both SharePoint and “Big DM,” with “Big DM” providing more rigorous, proven capabilities around records management and guaranteed authentication and security.
In contrast to Basic (Unauthenticated) Document Access, this use case provides guarantees and restrictions on content, authorization, security, authenticity, or accuracy, beyond the general guarantees and restrictions in place at the organization. It also provides records management beyond simple retention and disposition.
- Read-only document management
- Provides a web-based user interface for document viewing; common search interface is accessible through a web interface
- Leverages common security model for user authentication and access control; security should protect search content based on user access rights; access control should be strictly enforced
- Enterprise search (though search is typically limited to DM product repositories)
- Records management provided; behind-the-scenes capture of all content as a business record (if not explicitly defined otherwise)
- Structured repository; ability to configure the repository in a manner that matches business requirements
- Metadata management capabilities (to facilitate document cross-references, search, etc.)
- Ability to set up multiple repositories
- Integration with desktop tools (e.g. Microsoft Office)
3. Basic DM
Simple library services for document check-in/check-out and basic version management.
Basic DM can be provided by both SharePoint and “Big DM,” with “Big DM” providing no additional benefit.
- Web-based user interface for repository access and interaction
- Library services (i.e. document profiling/indexing, check-in/check-out, revision history, document security, audit trail, etc.)
- Structured repository; ability to configure the repository in a manner that matches business requirements
- Metadata management capabilities (to facilitate document cross-references, search, etc.)
- Ability to set up multiple repositories
- Integration with desktop tools (e.g. Microsoft Office)
- Records management provided; behind-the-scenes capture of all content as a business record (if not explicitly defined otherwise)
- Person-to-person asynchronous collaboration capabilities for activities such as document authoring; generally used to replace simple email-based collaboration
4. Collaborative DM
Team- or activity-based, document-centric collaboration capabilities, focused on providing a common virtual environment to share information and interact on a particular task, project, or activity. This type of collaboration is focused on the creation, updating, and finalization of content (typically a single document or piece of content, such as a contract or invoice).
Collaborative DM can be provided by both SharePoint and “Big DM,” with “Big DM” providing more rigorous, proven capabilities around RM and guaranteed authentication and security.
- Includes Basic DM capabilities (Scenario 3, above)
- Advanced version management, including red-line management and version merging/branching
- Workflow includes basic content routing workflow with alerts to help participants quickly find and work on content changes
- Project workspace for team or workgroup collaboration
- Discussion threads (“Big DM” typically requires third-party tool integration)
- Online chat / instant messaging (“Big DM” typically requires third-party tool integration)
- Document review and markup features
- Real-time document sharing and whiteboarding (“Big DM” typically requires third-party tool integration)
- Records management provided (as part of Basic DM); behind-the-scenes capture of all content as a business record (if not explicitly defined otherwise); standardized integration with records management, including managing project/site as record
5. Advanced and Secure DM
Secure and controlled environment that emphasizes version control, audit history, secure archival, and secure access.
For Advanced and Secure DM, “Big DM” provides significantly more benefit around records management and guaranteed authentication and security.
- Includes Basic DM capabilities (Scenario 3, above)
- Advanced version management, including red-line management and version merging/branching
- Very granular security
- Records management provided (as part of Basic DM); behind-the-scenes capture of all content as a business record; standardized integration with records management
So there you have it: a high-level breakdown of DM by usage scenarios, and a first cut at how you can assess your own organization’s needs for document management within your various functional areas – as well as a first cut at determining which of those needs can be met by SharePoint, versus which require the capabilities of “Big DM.” Many times, though, the biggest task is getting a handle on the range of usage scenarios in your organization. And it’s a good first step.