SQL Database capable of handling many millions of documents.
Databases sub divided by cabinets and by year (timeline).
This allows database access times to be maintained even when accessing historical documents over many years. Think of an in house Google Search with the results displayed in a familiar Outlook style application.

By incorporating a viewer into the document management system you can access virtually any file type, even CAD files, without having the software loaded onto your system. So for instance anyone could view a CAD drawing, but only computers with AutoCAD could edit the drawing.

This allows you to edit any file using its original package. So a word document can be checked out and edited in word and then saved as a different version. A drawing can still be edited it is not just an image.

Not only does every change to every document get audited so you know who did what, but every version of every document is retained. So if you are on a document listed as version 6, you could still access every version of that document all the way back to version 1 – forever.

Use any scanner from desktop to floor standing MFP – scan on demand or to a directory who’s contents gets displayed in your Filestream Inbox waiting to be indexed by you – scan in mono or colour and store in a file type of your choice – say TIFF or PDF.

By defining your own types of document you can prompt the user scanning in the document (or depositing the document) for relevant information you might need to find that document later – like an invoice number or a PO number. By using document types only relevant indexes are used.

Using OCR allows you to search the content of any file, not just the index. It’s like Google search but better because google only searches metadata, Filestream will search every work – so see every document you have containing the ‘Road Traffic Act 1988’. OCR can be done at the time of dopping or scanning the document into your Filestream Inbox, or it can be done as a scheduled task overnight while the system is otherwise idle.

Where you receive documents (scanned or electronic) in the same format each time you can create a template that will look for this document and extract the information it needs for index. You need to do nothing. The more templates you set up the less indexing you will need to do.

Not everything has to be scanned or even imported as a batch.
If you have anything on your computer that you want to store as a file in Filestream just drag and drop it into your Filestream inbox – that it, done.

You can pass on documents for someone else to review and even get a confirmation when they have done this.

If you need a document to be reviewed or approved by one or more people set up a workflow and move these through the system using electronic stamps – no more lost paperwork.

Add notes and stamps to your documents – the original is still safe but you can add your notes for your own reference or as a guide for others.

By adding or generating a barcode to your documents you can help index them with their key reference with no user input errors (and its faster).

Import documents (usually with a barcode) and use this to extract indexing information from your accounting database. These can go straight into Filestream without user interaction.

For those times when you are not in the office but still need access to your documents the web interface is available. All you need is an internet connection (and the right security rights of course).
Remote users can also be restricted – so a customer could only access invoices or statements related to his account for instance.

There are times when you might want to download a selection of your documents and have them put onto a DVD for secure local access – say an end of year DVD with every supplier invoice or customer invoice for that financial year. It’s easy to use and entirely self-contained – the DVD has all the documents and the reader.