Document management cannot do without a store function. If documents are not stored, there would be nothing to manage! How do we attend to the store function best?

You do it by:

• Determining the purpose of storing documents
• Identifying how these documents will be used later
• Developing storage applications to achieve the purpose and to make intended usages easier

Let us look at these elements in a little more detail.

Determine the Requirements

Documents can be stored for transaction processing, or querying and analysis. These two objectives require different kinds of database optimization. So decide how you will primarily use the document store. And ask your system designer to design the store for that purpose.

Identify How the Documents will be Used

The general objectives mentioned above, viz. transaction processing and querying, are not sufficiently detailed. You have to tell the system designer exactly how you will create the documents, what kinds of processing should take place or what kinds of reports should be generated and so on.

Think about these requirements, show samples and discuss rules and exceptions. The system designer would then be able to design the document store in a manner that serves these specific and detailed requirements.

Review and Discuss the Prototypes

The system designer might come back to you with preliminary designs and interfaces. Work with these and check:

• Do you find it easy to use the interfaces, e.g. the data entry screens?
• Do you get the information that you want from the built in reports, or query results?

If you are not satisfied, identify the specific problems you face and discuss these with the system designer.

This process might be repeated a number of times before the system is finally just what you want.

Why Do We Store Documents?

Have you wondered why we store documents? An understanding of the reasons can help you articulate your requirements better. Documents are stored mainly for:

• Providing Decision Support Information: Whether it is transaction processing or querying, the system generates information that the organization uses for day-to-day decisions. You might find that a customer is not paying your bills in time. Or that your cash balance is reaching dangerous levels. These kinds of information trigger certain actions.
• Availing Legal Remedies: If that customer refuses to pay despite several reminders, you might decide to approach a court of law to enforce your claim. In such a case, you would need the stored documents to substantiate your claim. This means that all documents should be easily retrievable, and authenticated in a manner that would be acceptable to the courts.
• Complying with Regulatory Requirements: Business involves complying with several regulations. Many of these regulations stipulate that you should maintain records relating to certain matters. You need the documents to prove to the authorities that the records so maintained are accurate.
• For Historical Purposes: Successful organizations with a record of growth typically want to review their history. They might use this history for marketing purposes or public relations. It is the stored documents that record the history for future generations.