Electronic Record Management System (ERMS)

Also known as Record Management (RM) or Record management System (RMS), this term refers to systems that are used to insure that important records such as payroll, human resources, patient records, contracts, etc, are stored and available during their useful lifetime.

Web Content Management (WCM)

Also called a Content Management Systems (CMS), this term refers to software that is used to store and publish content to a web site. A CMS separates web content from underlying HTML design so that any authorized person can publish or remove content from a web site without having to know HTML.

Workflow Management (WFM)

WFM systems are used to management document preparation in a structured environment where certain preparation, review, or approval steps have to be done in a defined order. WFM systems direct documents to correct people, in correct order, until entire process has been completed.

Knowledge Management (KM)

These systems are used to make total legacy "knowledge" of an organization available to everyone. KM systems eliminate need for employees to "reinvent wheel" when dealing with questions, processes, or any other issue that has already been dealt with by someone in organization. A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) system is a good example of a valuable KM system.

Now that you have an understanding of basic terms that you will encounter, your next step is to determine type of document management system that best meets your requirements. After that you can begin process of identifying available solutions and pick one that meets your organization's needs.