Benefits Of A Document Management System For Version Control Coordination.
Written by Author on January 13th, 2010For employees whose job dictates that they frequently create new files, having access to an intuitive and easy to use version control system is a main advantage. Early in my career I distinctly remember the issues I experienced creating specification documents, training guides, and other commercial related documentation. Authoring the content was challenging enough, but the issues were compounded by the processes associated with saving revisions, directing the documents for approvals, and distributing the final version to the targeted recipients.
Version control is defined by Wikipedia as “the organization of multiple revisions of the same unit of information.” While that definition is accurate, I think my brother put it best when he said “version control is akin to having endless edit-undo.”
Having admission to snapshots of the files is especially helpful when the author needs to rewrite or remove a section of a document. Prior to working with a document management system, I am embarrassed to admit to the number of times I deleted entire sections of a document without saving off a version of the file. Removing sections from a document inevitably leads to rework and it did for me innumerable times.
The indications of a business needing a version control system are simple to recognize. The primary indication is when users have file names saved with special extensions specifying the file version’s “something” (date, editor’s names, or internal revision number). Experienced document authors compensate for not having a document management system by producing their own naming conventions for each document revision. As a result, their ‘My Documents’ folder is filled with countless revisions of files using specialized file naming standards such as file name- date- revision.ext.
The document management manufacturing recognized the benefits that engineers were experiencing with version control and sought to bring equivalent functionality to the remainder of the business community. Before that plan would be realized, a new type of intuitive, integrated document management systems was required to be developed that maintained how document creators produced content.
Business users required the necessary version control features that engineers had come to expect such as saving revisions of files, notes for detailing particular versions of the file, and the ability to promote historical versions of a document. However unlike the engineers, the business users as well demanded advanced document management systems functionality incorporating the integration into Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat applications, electronic workflow for routing documents, electronic review and endorsement, digital signatures, document retention schedules, and profiling with meta data indexing.
Nowadays business users have the chance to deploy a document management systems that supply their users with robust version control functionality. Document creators from different industries gain notable efficiencies by utilizing a version control system for maintaining revisions of their documents.
The benefits they appreciate include having access to all historical data associated with the document being generated, an entire document log detailing by whom and when a document was accessed, and the assurance that all of the versions of the file are stacked in the document’s version log and not concealed through varied naming conventions.
Tags: business solutions, business tools, document management, document management system, document management systems