Enterprise Solutions Enterprise Content Management Chapter-6
Learning Objectives Concepts of Enterprise Content Management Inputs to the ECM system Benefits of ECM ECM Product functions ECM Products in the market
Concepts of ECM An organization has all types of information assets Data in the databases of various systems E-mails in the inboxes of it executives Web content Documents in hard copy & scanned Outputs, reports, etc And in today s world, social media content that is of importance to the organization and its business ECM is a strategy, framework & processes that enable the organization to capture, manage, store and deliver content from structured and unstructured sources to various stakeholders as required. It also incorporates a workflow ECM of today started with EDMS of the 1980s that essentially was standalone document management, COLD/ERM
Concepts of ECM Below is a conceptual view of ECM- ECM deals will all documented properties in an organization
Concepts of ECM The diagram below gives you an idea of the inputs & outputs in an ECM syatem and the storage methods
Inputs to the ECM ECM Content files stored in repositories may me in any file format and created by any application ECM systems recognize all file formats and store them appropriately When documents are accessed the ECM system launches the appropriate viewing or editing application automatically on the client computer ECM system also provides a workflow that enables orderly passage of documents through the organization and its access only by authorised personnel
Types of Inputs to the ECM Structured Data 20% of Total Data Rows & Columns Unstructured Data 80% of Total E-Mails & Attachments Forms Executables Printed & Scanned Documents Contracts, Manuals Engineering Drawings & Blue Prints, CAD/CAM Outputs Office, Rich Text & PDF Documents such as - Claims & Invoices XML Documents COLD/ERM OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software converts scanned p aper (images) into text. The resulting text can be place) output documents Patch Cards - are barcoded pages that are inserted into stacks of paper to be scanned Images & Thumbnail files Audio & Video Instant Messages Cheques Web Pages X-Rays
ECM Product Functions The primary functions delivered by any ECM system are capture, manage, store, preserve & deliver; however ECM products incorporate these functions in the following core components Document Management is the core capability with check-in/checkout capabilities, etc Image processing to capture & transform paper documents scan, retrieve, OCR, etc Records management managing long-term retention & compliance Web Content Management controls the content & influences the interactions on the web with functions for content creation and updates Workflow & BPM supports the business processes, routing content, assigning work tasks, etc Social Content management for document sharing, knowledge management, blogs, wiki & integrates applications with social media & posting content on the social media Other extended components include digital asset management, document composition, e-forms, content analytics, etc
Benefits of ECM Todays business scenario cannot function without sophisticated ECM support to meet demands of real-time accurate information as well as regulatory compliance Ease & reliability of Storage & Retrieval Distribution of content Manages workflow and access based on authorizations Availability of previous versions of a document provides a record of changes including who made the change The Content Server enforces configurable security policies and business rules providing secure and controlled access to content Instant reliable access to archived documents Meeting regulatory & audit requirements Enterprise Content Management through ECM Software is a comprehensive solution that handles all types of content, in all formats and stores in a single central location Reduce the transaction cost by reducing self-service, resource requirements, time-to-handle, number of touches, lost files, shipping & courier costs A disaster recovery imperative
ECM Products There are a slew of ECM Products for all types and sizes of industries Tier-1, Tier-2/3, etc and a few niche products Tier-1 products provide The broadest functionality base that business requires with verticalprocess and horizontal-solution focus Are very strong in one or more technologies and vertical segments Provide enterprise deployments, integration with other business applications and content repositories, incorporation of social, cloud and mobile capabilities The following are the top ECM products with the first three being the mega players- IBM Filenet EMC Documentum Microsoft SharePoint Perceptive Software Hyland Software - OnBase OpenText
ECM Products The other ECM Products on offer are- Oracle WebCenter LaserFiche HP s ECM portfolio SunGard iworks BPM targetted at financial services industry Objective Systemware Unisys InfoImage Xeros with SaaS based transactional content management Some of the niche products are- Alfreso with content management interoperability services (CMIS) & DotCMIS NewGen aimed at Insurance claims processing
ECM Industry Trends In context of today s business, there is an increasing emphasis on Information Security and Regulatory Compliance, together with a need for seamless inter- & intra-company workflow, There is a strong need for real-time information sharing & collaboration These are the factors driving the increasing role of ECM in business Per Gartner, following are the delays faced by companies that force the need for high-end ECM products- A knowledge worker spends anywhere from 15 to 35% of their time looking for information About 25% of paper documents in a company are misplaced and never located After investing strategically in content management, enterprises usually can save at least 50% of time and money that goes to managing non-automated document management