Enterprise content management |
Enterprise content management (ECM) is a widely-recognized Information technology-industry term for Software Technology that enables organizations to create/capture, manage/secure, store/retain/destroy, publish/distribute, search, personalize, and present/view/print digital content such as pictures/images, text, reports, video, audio, transactional data, catalog, code. ECM systems primarily focus on the capture, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of digital files for enterprise use and their life-cycle management.
ECM systems are generally tactical and non-discretionary expenditures, but they are increasingly being viewed as strategic core investments as organizations deal with accelerating business velocities, consolidation of redundant content management systems, exponential growth of content, and compliance issues (mandated or perceived). Moreover, these systems are becoming more infrastructure than application like.
=Introduction=
Content management has many facets including enterprise content management, Web content management (WCM), content syndication and digital or media asset management. Enterprise content management may include Web content management.
The important thing is whether enterprise content management means more functionality and benefit for the user. This applies to subsets of ECM as well as to its overall claim of managing enterprise content. With all the comprehensive claims and many components of enterprise content management, at the end of the day ECM is a vision, a strategy, or even a new industry, but it is not a closed system solution or a distinct product. Therefore, along with DRT (Document Related Technologies) or DLM (Document Lifecycle Management), ECM can be considered as just one possible catch-all term for a wide range of technologies and vendors.
=Definition=
The official definition of enterprise content management was created by AIIM international, the worldwide association for enterprise content management in the year 2000. The acronym ECM has been reinterpreted and redefined many times during the past years, replacing words like create or customize that were originally part of it.
In autumn 2005 AIIM defines ECM as follows:
:Enterprise Content Management is the technologies used to Capture, Manage, Store, Preserve, and Deliver content and documents related to organizational processes.
Traditional archive, document management, and workflow functionalities from the document-related technologies field have been converted into or used to generate new product suites that combine web-based components with conventional products. In this context, content management generally becomes enterprise content management. This nomenclature is intended to demonstrate that it is not just about a companys web-oriented face to the outside world, but about all of the structured and unstructured information in the company. Most solutions therefore still focus on intranets, or as they are often called, B2E (business to employee) systems. But from this approach come new components that make useful additions to content management - automatic classification in corporate taxonomies, profiling, web transactions archiving, and more.
Thus, the term enterprise content management refers to solutions that use Internet technologies, but concentrate on in-house information provision. The solutions tend to be enterprise portals for B2B as extranet and B2E as intranet. This category includes most of the former document management, groupware, and workflow vendors who have not yet fully converted their architecture, but simply put a web server in front of their applications. Enterprise content management follows a multilayered component approach that provides the necessary infrastructure for any application.
=Characteristics=
A comparison of the definitions of the different application fields of ECM and WCM makes it clear that the existing system category distinctions cannot last long, whether for products and technical platforms or for usage models. Solutions that are used as pure in-house solutions today will be made accessible to partners or customers tomorrow. The content and structure of todays outward-directed web portal will be the platform for tomorrow s internal information system. In his article in ComputerWoche September 2001, Ulrich Kampffmeyer concentrated the claimed benefit of an enterprise content management system to three key ideas that distinguish such solutions from Web content management:
Enterprise Content Management is working properly when it is effectively invisible to users. ECM technologies are infrastructures that support specialized applications as subordinate services. ECM thus is a collection of infrastructure components that fit into a multi-layer model and include all Document Related Technologies (DRT) for handling, delivering, and managing structured data and unstructured information jointly. As such, Enterprise Content Management is one of the necessary basic components of the overarching E-Business application area. ECM also sets out to manage all the information of a WCM and covers archiving needs as an universal repository.
=Components of an enterprise content management system=
Enterprise content management systems combine a wide variety of technologies and components, some of which can also be used as stand-alone systems without being incorporated into an enterprise-wide system.
These ECM components and technologies can be categorized as:
This model is based on the five lead categories of AIIM International. The traditional application areas are:
These form the manage components that connect Capture, Store, Deliver and Preserve and can be used in combination or separately. While Document Management, Web Content Management, Collaboration, Workflow and Business Process Management are more for the dynamic part of the life cycle of information, Records Management takes care of information which will no longer be changed. The utilization of the information is paramount throughout, whether through independent clients of the ECM system components, or by enabling existing applications that access the functionality of ECM services and the stored information. The integration of existing technologies makes it clear that ECM is not a new product category, but an integrative force.
The individual categories and their components will be examined in the following.
===Capture===
The Capture category contains functionalities and components for generating, capturing, preparing and processing analog and electronic information. There are several levels and technologies, from simple information capture to complex information preparation using automatic classification. Capture components are often also called Input components.
===Manually generated and captured information===
Manual capture can involve all forms of information, from paper documents to electronic office documents, E-mails, forms, Multimedia objects, digitized speech and video, and Microfilm.
Automatic or semi-automatic capture can use EDI or XML documents, business and ERP applications or existing specialist application systems as sources.
===Technologies for processing captured information===
Various recognition technologies are used to process scanned faxes, among them:
===Document Imaging===
Document imaging processing techniques are used to show scanned images, and also allow legibility enhancement for capture. Functions like despeckling, which removes isolated pixels, or adjustment, which straightens images from sheets that feed in at an angle, improve the results of recognition technologies. Document imaging functions are used in capture quality control.
===Forms processing===
In forms capture, there are two groups of technologies, although the information content and character of the documents may be identical.
===COLD===
COLD/ERM are technologies for the automatic processing of structured entry data. Computer Output to Laser Disk stands for Computer Output to Laser Disk and is still in use although laser disks have not been on the market for years. The acronym ERM stands for Enterprise report management. In both, supplied output data is processed based on existing structure information in such a way that it can be indexed independently of the origination system, and transferred to a storage component that can be dynamic (Store) or an archive (Preserve).
===Aggregation===
is a process of combining data entries from different creation, capture, and delivery applications. The goal is to combine and unify data from different sources, in order to pass them on to storage and processing systems with a uniform structure and format.
===Components for subject indexing of captured information===
Systems incorporate further components for subject indexing and getting captured digital information to the appropriate recipients. These include:
The objective of all Capture components is the provision of information to the Manage components for further processing or archiving.
===Manage===
The Manage components are for the management, processing, and use of information. They incorporate:
The goal of a closed ECM system is to provide these two components just once as services for all Manage solutions such as Document Management, Collaboration, Web Content Management, Records Management and Workflow / Business Process Management. To link the various Manage components, they should have standardized interfaces and secure transaction processes for inter-component communication.
===DM Document Management===
Document management in this context does not refer to the industry known in Europe as DMS, but to Document management systems in the narrower classical sense. These systems control documents from their creation through to long-term archiving. Document management includes functions like:
However, the functions or Document Management increasingly overlap with those of the other Manage components, the ever-expanding functionalities of office applications like Outlook/Exchange or Notes/Domino, and the characteristics of Library Services for administering information storage.
===Collaboration (collaborative systems, groupware)===
Collaboration actually simply means working together. However, these solutions, which developed from conventional groupware, now go much further and include elements of Knowledge management. Collaboration includes the following functions:
===WCM Web Content Management===
Enterprise Content Management claims to integrate Web Content Management. However, information presented on the Internet and Extranet or on a portal should only be data that is already present in the company, whose delivery is controlled by access authorization and storage. Web Content Management includes the following functions, among others:
===RM - Records Management (file and archive management)===
Unlike with traditional electronic archival systems, Records Management (RM; Electronic Records Management or ERM) refers to the pure administration of records, important information and data that companies are required to archive. Records Management is independent of storage media, and can also manage information stored otherwise than in electronic systems. Among the functions of Records management are:
===Wf - Workflow / BPM - Business Process Management===
Workflow and Business Process Management differ substantially.
There are different types of Workflow, for example:
Workflow solutions can be implemented as:
Workflow Management includes the following functions, among others:
The objective is to largely automate processes by incorporating all necessary resources.
BPM or Business Process Management goes a step further than Workflow, aiming at the complete integration of all affected applications within an enterprise, with monitoring of processes and assembling of all required information. Among BPMs functions are:
Today, Manage components are offered individually or integrated as suites. In many cases they already include the Store components.
==Store==
Store components are used for the temporary storage of information which it is not required or desired to archive. Even if it uses media that are suitable for long-term archiving, Store is still separate from Preserve.
The Store components listed by AIIM can be divided into three categories: Repositories as storage locations, Library Services as administrion components for repositories, and storage Technologies. These infrastructure components are sometimes held at the operating system level like the file system, and also include security technologies which will be discussed farther below in the Deliver section. However, security technologies including access control are superordinated components of an ECM solution.
===Repositories===
Different kind of ECM repositories can be used in combination. Among the possible kinds are:
===Library Services===
Library Services have to do with library only in a metaphorical way. They are the administrative components close to the system that handle access to information. The Library Service is responsible for taking in and storing information from the Capture and Manage components. It also manages the storage locations in dynamic storage, the actual Store, and in the long-term Preserve archive. The storage location is determined only by the characteristics and classification of the information. The Library Service works in concert with the database of the Manage components. This serves the necessary functions of
While the database does not know the physical location of a stored object, the Library Service manages the
If there is not a superordinated document managmenet system to provide the functionality, the Library Service must have
An important Library Service function is the generation of logs and journals on information usage and edits, called an audit trail.
===Storage Technologies===
A wide variety of technologies can be used to store information, depending on the application and system environment:
==Preserve==
The Digital preservation components of ECM handle the long-term, safe storage and backup of static, unchanging information, as well as temporary storage of information that it is not desired or required to archive. This is sometimes called electronic archiving, but that has substantially broader functionality than that of Preserve. Electronic archiving systems today generally consist of a combination of administration software like Records Management, Imaging or Document Management, Library Services (IRS - Information Retrieval Systeme) and storage subsystems.
But it is not just electronic media that are suitable for long-term archiving. For purely securing information microfilm is still viable, and is now offered in hybrid systems with electronic media and database-supported access. The decisive factor for all long-term storage systems is the timely planning and regular performance of migrations, in order to keep information available in the changing technical landscape. This ongoing process is called Continuous Migration. The Preserve components contain special viewers, conversion and migration tools, and long term storage media:
===Long term storage media===
===Long term preservation strategies===
To secure the long term availability of information different strategies are used for electronic archives.
Standards for interfaces, meta data, data structures and object formats are important to secure the availbility of information.
==Deliver==
The Deliver components of ECM are used to present information from the Manage, Store, and Preserve components. They also contain functions used to enter information in systems (such as information transfer to media or generation of formatted output files) or for readying (for example converting or compressing) information for the Store and Preserve components. Since the AIIM component model is function-based and not to be regarded as an architecture, we can assign these and other components here. The functionality in the Deliver category is also known as output and summarized under the term Output Management.
The Deliver components comprise three groups of functions and media: Transformation Technologies, Security Technologies, and Distribution. Trans¬formation and Security as services belong on the middleware level and should be available to all ECM components equally. For Output two functions are of primary importance:
===Transformation technologies===
Transformations should always be controlled and trackable. This is done by background services which the end user generally does not see. Among the transformation technologies are:
===Security Technologies===
Security technologies are cross-section functions that are available to all ECM components. For example, electronic signatures are used not only when documents are sent, but also in data capture via scanning, in order to document the completeness of the capture. PKI ( ing. This is used in Content Syndication and in MAM (Media Asset Management) for managing and securing intellectual property rights and copyrights. It works with techniques like electronic watermarks that are integrated directly into the file, and seeks to protect usage rights and protect content that is published on the Internet.
===Distribution===
All of the above technologies basically serve to provide the various contents of an ECM to target users by various routes, in a controlled and user-oriented manner. These can be active components such as e-mail, data media, memos, and passive publication on websites and portals where users can get the information themselves. Possible output and distribution media are:
The job of the various Deliver components is to provide information to users in the best way for the given application, while controlling its use as far as possible.
=Outlook=
The former member of the board of directors of AIIM international, Ulrich Kampffmeyer, states in his whitepaper on ECM in 2003: Document technologies like Enterprise Content Management make traditional data processing complete. They bring together structured, weakly structured, and unstructured information. Every company, every government agency, and every organization must confront the subject. Even if there are no immediate plans to implement such a system, it sneaks into the organization of its own accord with the next server licence update, with the next office software suite, with the next database or ERP upgrade. In many companies with heterogeneous IT landscapes, the question of which redundant functionalities of existing products are unused is already more important than whether to invest in a new software system. The most important job is to keep in-house information under control. The questions add up: where to put the thousands and thousands of e-mails, what to do with the electronically signed business correspondence, where to put taxation-relevant data, how to transfer information from the disorganized file system, how to consolidate information in a repository that everybody can use, how to get a single login for all the systems, how to create a uniform in-basket for all incoming information, how to make sure that no information is lost or ignored, etc. etc. Document technologies play an important role in all these questions. ECM solutions are necessary basic components for many applications.
Every potential user will naturally consider his own individual needs before deciding on a system. However, putting off decisions does not make them less necessary. Every year something supposedly better and easier to use will come along, but waiting will just mean never installing anything. Every time the decision is put off, the mountain of uncontrolled and unused information gets bigger, and known problems get larger. A sensible long-term migration strategy removes the fear of fast technology change. The basic functions of document technology are mature, and most products are reliable, stable, secure, and increasingly affordable. In many industries, the use of document technology makes the difference in staying competitive. ECM - Enterprise Content Management should be a part of every modern IT infrastructure.
=ECM market development=
Gartner, a leading industry analyst firm, estimates that by midyear 2006, 50 percent of ECM vendors will merge or be acquired (0.6 probability). By 2008, 75 percent of Global 2000 companies will have a desktop-focused and a process-focused content management implementation (0.9 probability). ECM will continue to absorb other technologies, such as digital asset management and e-mail management. There will be further market consolidation, acquisition and separation of vendors into platform and solution providers.
According to Gartner reports, the ECM market leaders are Open Text, EMC (Documentum), IBM, Filenet, Vignette_(software), Stellent and Interwoven.
Other companies offering some form of ECM solutions include is due to release an ECM System code named TSUNAMI in mid-2005. [http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/ofiles/index.html]
=Literature and source of this article=
=External links=
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