New Challenges of E-Documents in ECM

28. 08. 2015
Finally, legislation is catching up with technology. Nevertheless, it is still very important to provide the safety of storage and to secure the validity of electronic documents. The article by Aleš Hojka, IBA CZ General Director, reviews what the possibilities in the market are and what should be considered before purchasing a DMS (document management system).

In recent years, we often use the term “e-document” when talking about document creation and storage, as well as about document lifecycle management. No doubt that in the ECM / DMS area, it is a quickly emerging trend.

The fundamental element of this problem is the shift of legislation, not only our Czech, but European as well. For example, the Regulation on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market (eIDAS) clearly states that an electronic document has the same legal force as a paper document and that no authority in any of the EU Member States can decline a document just because it is not a paper one.

Providers of ECM / DMS systems and process consulting should also keep up with the times, as customers mainly appeal to document archiving or so-called reliable archive. Most frequently, we come across e-documents in banks and insurance companies, when the “hallmark” of safe storage, archiving and document inalterability is supplemented by, for example, a digital signature, certificate or biometric signature.

So how to efficiently not only carry out document processing and long-term archiving, but also to ensure their legal validity, so that formally and meaningfully they have an equal permanent and evidential value as their paper counterparts? First you need to look at the specific requirements of the customer and then to offer a suitable software, or an integration of multiple systems. A wide range of options pops up in mind from so-called enterprise solutions through other cheaper alternatives and up to open source solutions.

You need to approach every customer, either new or already existing customer, individually and offer him/her an optimal solution. Unfortunately, we come across more and more customers who were recommended an unreasonably large (enterprise) system and who are now facing the deployment of other agendas, which development and integration is much more complicated and expensive than it could be in case of simpler DMS system alternatives. Not every customer needs a robust solution, but the reverse is also true when certain requirements cannot be completely covered by the open source solution. While implementing the system, it is always necessary to bear in mind the total cost of ownership.

If customer requirements are well-defined we should rely on our experience when recommending the appropriate DMS system. The storage may be used for archiving documents, and unless there is no requirement for workflow processes or internal robust integration with other systems, we shouldn’t be afraid of using proven technologies such as MS SharePoint Foundation, Alfresco CE, ELO, as well as other open source solutions that are able to cover these requirements completely.

Another category is the implementation of a system where the customer expects the emphasis on speed, personal processing engine, ability to integrate with other systems, power, scalability, etc. In this case, we choose enterprise systems like IBM FileNet, EMC Documentum, Microsoft SharePoint or OpenText.

The shift in the legislation is good news for the market. Only time will tell how we can manage it, both DMS solution implementers and our customers.