Document Management Systems

Document Management Systems can be divided into two basic categories: document management systems which run as separate document management applications alongside the document processing programs (non-integrated DMS) and those in which document management functionality is integrated into the operating system.

Traditional Document Management system

While information in a file-based system can be saved and retrieved directly from any application program, traditional Document Management Systems required the Document Management system to be running before documents could be accessed. Document management then takes place in a separate document management program, and not over a file system. An interface to each application program has to be individually programmed before the document management program can communicate with them.

Considering the disadvantages of both file management and technically linked document management systems, the logical solution is to augment the file management system: the second type of document management systems adds document management system functions to the known operating system's file management capabilities. Document management functions are integrated into the operating system using a special file system driver. This file system driver behaves exactly like a normal file system in Windows, but it is logically based on the document management system.

Modern Document Management system

Document Management Systems can be divided into two basic categories: document management systems which run as separate document management applications alongside the document processing programs (non-integrated DMS) and those in which document management functionality is integrated into the operating system.