Midnight Test- Enterprise Content Management- An Overview
- Dvir Ben Ahron
- Nov 1, 2004
- 4 min read
One trend gaining increasing interest from organizations worldwide is Enterprise Content Management (ECM). Like any technology that attracts attention and grows popular, this technology receives various interpretations and definitions from consultants, vendors, and even customers.
Let's clarify - what is Enterprise Content Management?
Organizational content - documents, contracts, procedures, scanned documents, images, drawings, invoices, emails, Web content, and more - is a collection of connected information objects required to complete business processes. However, about 80% of this information is not formatted or stored in organizational databases.
In attempting to deal with these difficulties, many organizations have found themselves with a set of applications and point solutions - document management, archive management, process management, Web content management, workflow management, and more. The significant implications of this reality quickly became apparent - the need to maintain separate resources for each system, using dedicated user software for each repository, a lack of unified access to information, numerous interfaces that make integration and process support difficult, and more.
As a result, many organizations began to recognize the potential benefits of a system that allows management of many types of content in different areas. A common example is a procedure produced in a document management system that must be updated at the end of the process in the appropriate format on the organization's intranet site. Another example is providing a quick response to a customer who calls requesting copies of invoices from the last two months by fax or email. All the more so when we want to provide self-service, say through the internet.
The Content Map in Organizations
Enterprise Content Management is designed to address the challenges posed by the content needs of today's organizations. As is known, there are different types of information producers, some human and some automated (for example, email, scanner), producing content in various formats through different interfaces. On the other hand, there are diverse consumers of content who sometimes want a different format (HTML, PDF, XML, etc.) and, of course, their preferred protocol (browser, Web Services, programming interfaces, etc.). As expected, Enterprise Content Management's philosophy embodies a unified, comprehensive approach to managing the organization's content.
What are the prominent "pain points" and needs?
Every organization and even every department faces challenges in meeting its goals. Therefore, to successfully implement the concept of Enterprise Content Management, we must deeply understand our goals and needs.
Reducing the content management cycle
Usually, content creation takes a long time and consumes many resources. This time can significantly affect the time-to-market and the organization's ability to seize opportunities. Creating content once and reusing it contributes dramatically to work efficiency and significantly reduces the time required to produce and approve the desired content. Moreover, automating and streamlining workflows are expected to bring additional benefits.
Improving access to content
Access to information, especially convenient and improved access, contributes significantly to the organization's operations and ability to respond to challenges and opportunities. Improving access to information is intended to reduce resource bottlenecks, reduce the number of lost documents, facilitate content location, reduce instances of recreating content, and better utilize existing equipment and hardware. At the core of this need is the requirement to provide employees, customers, and partners with optimal access to content - the right content, at the right time, in the right way, and the right format.
Of course, these are example needs. There are additional prominent needs that space doesn't permit listing.
The Main Components of an Enterprise Content Management System
Document Management - The ability to manage documents with their attributes and versions, in an integrative way with popular end-user software, such as Office, AutoCAD, etc.
Collaboration - The ability to provide work groups (e.g., projects) with an independent framework within a comprehensive system. Thus, groups can determine and define their work processes, identity, and the roles of participants, etc. However, the overall framework allows the application of standards and the sharing information and processes between groups.
Records Management is the ability to define and enforce organizational information management policies, including permissions, content expiration dates, and more. It's worth noting that this capability receives support from various regulators through mandatory regulations (SOX for publicly traded companies in the US, FDA standards, Basel 2 in banking, and many more).
Digital Assets Management - The ability to manage scanned files, images, drawings, audio and video files, etc. These contents have special characteristics and require appropriate management capabilities.
An Enterprise Content Management system is modular to match the organization's current and future needs. These components can be combined at any time and work integratively. In addition, all modules share core services at the system's core. Among these services are the security module, process management (workflow), search engine, format conversions, personalization, management services, and more.
Conclusion (and also a recommendation)
Enterprise Content Management is not just a technology but a concept in itself. The purpose of the technology and tools is to serve the strategic organizational needs and not be an end in itself. Implementing an Enterprise Content Management system is a full organizational process that requires planning and thinking about business goals, needs, different types of information, how information is organized, target audiences, relevant processes, and more. It is recommended that the comprehensive vision be "small." Identify one controlled area in the organization where the need is clear, significant content creation and management elements are needed, and a clear ROI on the investment. In this area, plan and implement the methods and concepts while considering needs at the organizational level, like "acting small and thinking big." After the successful implementation in this area, additional potential areas in the organization will be examined and expanded in a planned and controlled manner.
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