I have been tasked with figuring out the best way to manage documents related to a new Environmental Management System being implemented within the company I work for in Q1 2010. The system I’m using must have the following features:
Accessible throughout North America (online)
Ideally not too expensive
Ideally compatible with out current systems (Lotus, ugh)
Allows document and version control
It would be awesome if it could track use statistics
Fast and user friendly
Right now the best option we have that is currently being used is something called Workspace, which is an IBM/Lotus product. It’s free for us, but slow and not very user friendly.
Any suggestions?
And a question for those of you who have experience in document control - how do you cover your ass with printed documents? Do you put a disclaimer at the bottom of the document ‘This version expires when printed’?
I’m in the legal industry, which is pretty dependent on document management systems. A mid-sized law firm can generate literally thousands of documents a day.
There are a few software packages out there that might work for you. We’re using Interwoven’s DeskSite, and we’re pretty happy with it, but there are other similar packages. PC Docs is still out there, I think.
I can’t speak to the expense – that will depend on the terms of your license agreement and other variables – but certainly DeskSite allows access across North America (and further – we have overseas offices). Excellent document and version control. Keeps a fully history for every document. It’s fast, and it’s pretty user-friendly.
Not sure what you mean by covering your ass with printed documents. The printed document is the only one that matters. A contract, printed and signed, is the contract, the only one that matters. Whatever is stored electronically somewhere doesn’t matter at that point.
What I mean by covering our ass wrt printed documents is this: say we have Environmental Procedure 01, and the most recent version is dated December 1, 2009. As part of an EMS, we need to try to ensure everyone has the most recent version of Environmental Procedure 01, but because we have thousands of employees, some without computer access, it’s hard to do this. So, someone, somewhere prints off this procedure today, then tomorrow, we make some changes and the most recent version is now dated December 3, 2009 and uploaded to the site. But the person who printed it off today has an old version now.
So, to cover our asses, most companies in this situation put some sort of disclaimer on the printed document, stating that once they print it, it’s no longer considered valid, because there may be a more recent version (if only by an hour) out there.
