Thoughts on SharePoint and Document Management

Almost everyone is talking about SharePoint, and it seems that SharePoint is synonymous with Electronic Document Management. I don’t generally want to debate this, so I thought that I would collect some thoughts from some independent analysts.

• Known as MOSS (Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server). Released as part of Office 2007.

• Industry analysts have evaluated MOSS and determined that “MOSS 2007 ads a long set of new features, but MOSS should still only be considered for departmental collaboration or Internet scenarios in mid market organizations already using Microsoft intensively”. CMS Watch, an independent analyst firm. This makes it a limited product.

• CMS determined that administrators will have an easy time installing, but experience difficulty with customization and ongoing maintenance; administrators can easily get in over their heads. Also believes that the Microsoft channel will need substantial time to absorb and learn the tool, measured in years.

• Sharepoint is best utilized in departmental level, not enterprise. This means that you are setting up silos. EDM is designed to cross departmental lines.

• Sharepoint is not recommended as a document repository, rather for working documents that require collaboration. AIIM and CMS recommend that companies store documents in an EDM System like DocuWare or Laserfiche, and access through Sharepoint.

• Saying that there is no difference between Sharepoint and EDM systems is like saying that there is no difference between Notepad and Word.

• There is a database within EDM
• Multiple Search criteria via indexes in EDM
• Full text searching across a repository with EDM
• Recognition templates in EDM
• Scanned images can be easily imported into EDM and indexed
• Easier administration of EDM for IT Department