Overview
DOCSnet provides valuable assistance in helping you control and manage the documents within your organisation. Currently word processing documents, and spreadsheets are managed however in future versions images,- presentations and many other types of files will be managed through DOCSnet.
With DOCSnet, you can search for and retrieve documents stored locally for standalone work stations or from file servers in larger organisations. Regardless of the size of your organisation, DOCSnet can be an invaluable tool in managing the documents stored on your network or stand alone work station or laptop computer.
Additionally, DOCSnet is designed to utilise an access database or a backend SQL Server, giving you tremendous scalability in your organisation.
The following pages tell you what the DOCSnet system does, and describes the overall benefits of using such a powerful system.
How DOCSnet Works
DOCSnet allows you to locate documents in seconds, rather than hunting for documents through tedious directory searches. A Document Profile is associated with every file or document that you create or import. The Document Profile is much like a library catalogue card, containing an Author, Document Name, Subject, etc. for every document. When you want to retrieve a document, you can specify a search that locates the Document Profiles, which are stored in a database within your organisation. Of course, you must have the proper security rights to be able to retrieve a document.
DOCSnet provides you with a host of powerful, easy-to-use search features, You may search for any words in the description or the notes text of the document profile or search within any of the other pieces of information on the document profile. Finding any document you want can be accomplished in a few seconds using DOCSnet. Once you begin using DOCSnet, you will wonder how you ever got along without it.
DOCSnet Integration
DOCSnet integrates with most Microsoft Office applications. The example below shows Microsoft Word integration.
File open will launch
the DOCSnet file open dialog displaying the last 30 document which you have
edited and giving you access to all the main features of DOCSnet.
File save as will open
the Profile Form for registering all the information about the document you wish to save,
with lookup dialogs on matter, client, document type, key words and document author.
File import allows you
to open documents you already have and resave them using DOCSnet profiling and management
Edit profile gives
you the ability to edit the current documents profile.
Change author sets the
default author that you are using in your profile when saving documents.
Insert footer information
populates the document footer with selected information about the document from the
document profile.
DOCSnet integration also traps file insert and works closely with the merge tools of Microsoft Word 97,2000
File Open Menu
This is the main DOCSnet dialog and from here you can create your searches and store them for latter personal or organisational use. With a right mouse click or via a selection from the menu system you can perform the following tasks.
- Open the document for editing.
- View the document with your preferred viewer.
- Copy an existing DOCSnet document and apply a new profile to it.
- Delete the document if this option is enabled.
- Check a document out work on it then check it back in.
- Export a document to your work station or laptop computer.
- Import an exiting document and attach a profile to it.
- Edit or view a documents profile
- An administrator can override a checked out document or one that is being edited.
The displayed documents can be sorted by any of the displayed columns and a report printed out of all the documents returned by a search.
The Document Profile
The following screen is an example of a Document Profile. A Profile is associated with every document that is stored in DOCSnet and holds the information that you use to search for a document.
Profile Search
The Profile Search lets you find documents matching any combination of the fields on the Document Profile. When you know nothing about a document except its author, who entered the document, or the client for which the document was produced, for example, you can use the Profile Search feature. The Profile Search is a Query-By-Example (QBE) search, and is as easy as typing in the information you know about the document. Profile Searching is fast and easy to use.
DOCSnet Administration
DOCSnet comes with an administration module which takes care of all the background work including all the database lookups and general settings such as library locations and storage defaults.
As well as data and settings, DOCSnet administraion also takes care of some house keeping tasks such as bulk document deletion and/or archiving, restoring from archive, file system checks and bulk document import.
Summary
DOCSnet is an excellent Document Management system for small, medium and large firms that wish to put order into their document handling without a high administrative over head and at a very low cost of ownership figure.