Why should you invest in an electronic document management system (EDMS) when your organization already has other systems that can store documents – PMIS, CMMS, etc.? An EDMS can help streamline document storage, retrieval, and sharing, making it easier for your organization to manage its data. Here are seven reasons why your organization needs an EDMS to stay competitive and efficient in today's fast-paced business world:
- These systems are for certain types of documents that fit the current business purpose. For example, a CMMS system won't be the location to save in-progress project submittals, and a PMIS is not the place to store ongoing maintenance documentation about a piece of equipment. An EDMS can store ALL documents for various business purposes.
- The EDMS can leverage information to be used as metadata FROM these systems – creating a comprehensive system-wide truth.
- The other systems can search the EDMS to retrieve the most recent documents, ALL previous versions, and additional archive information.
- These systems are often replaced with others over time. An EDMS provides a place for the documents to live perpetually – no need to migrate between systems.
- Not everyone who needs documents has access to ALL the other systems.
- Once an active project is closed, documents in a PMIS can be challenging to find and gather together. An EDMS has easy searching capabilities without knowing which project(s) the documents might be associated with.
- An EDMS reduces duplicated information. For example, the final O&M for a project is saved in the PMIS, AND it is copied out and placed into the CMMS (possibly under multiple pieces of equipment). An EDMS can save ONE copy of that document and "tag" the project and any/all relevant equipment.
A properly configured EDMS can work WITH all (most) other systems to become the source of truth regarding documents. It will stand the test of time long after the other systems have gone. Want to know more about the benefits of an EDMS, let us know!
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