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Re: Enterprise Modeling, Document Control/Management, and Groupwa re
Subject:Re: Enterprise Modeling, Document Control/Management, and Groupwa re From:Bill Burns <BillDB -at- ILE -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 15 Oct 1998 12:31:12 -0600
Crystol writes:
> 1. Conceptually, how do/should enterprise modeling solutions (product
> e.g. Popkin's System Architect), groupware solutions (e.g. Lotus Notes),
> and document management systems (e.g. MS Visual SourceSafe) work
> together? Does the implementation of one or the other make one or the
> other redundant (huh?).
>
Redundant? Maybe, if your document management system and groupware solutions
are being used to accomplish the same ends. Groupware is great if you have
to share work and collaborate, but in itself, it's not a document management
solution. My guess is that Visual SourceSafe is optimized for storing code
and may lack features that you'd want in a document management system (DMS),
such as document metadata, full text and keyword searching, a web interface
for access, workflow, and so on. Yeah, you could integrate it with the
groupware solution, but would proprietary file formats necessarily be
compatible? DMS like FileNet and Documentum offer these features, and my
guess is that they'd be much more robust. I could certainly be wrong about
this. The point is that each has its area of utility, so they could be used
together effectively with only a little overlap.
> 2. Should I just forget about all of this and concentrate on finding a
> suitable document management system?
>
I'd say yes, but also make sure you establish a suitable document control
process. You can have the best DMS on the market but fill it full of junk.
This is where I see a DMS and groupware diverging in purpose. Groupware
works for transient information--stuff that's short-lived like reports,
bulletins, memos--that sort of thing. A DMS is for content that needs to be
tightly controlled and that has a relatively long life.
Bill Burns
Senior Technical Writer/Technology Consultant
ILE Communications
billdb -at- ile -dot- com