How to enhance SharePoint for better EDMS functionality

 

SharePoint itself offers robust document management capabilities that can be leveraged to optimize your EDMS. Here are some steps you can take to enhance SharePoint for better EDMS functionality:

Site Structure: Plan and create a well-organized site structure within SharePoint. Use site collections, sites, and libraries to categorize and store documents based on logical divisions or departments.

Metadata Management: Define and implement metadata columns for documents. Metadata allows you to add additional information and properties to documents, making it easier to search, filter, and categorize them.

Document Versioning: Enable version control to track changes made to documents over time. SharePoint allows you to store and manage multiple versions of a document, providing an audit trail and facilitating collaboration.

Document Templates: Create document templates to standardize content and formatting. Templates ensure consistency across documents and save time by eliminating the need to recreate similar documents from scratch.

Document Check-in/Check-out: Enable check-in/check-out functionality to prevent simultaneous editing conflicts. When a user checks out a document, others can view it but not make changes until it is checked back in.

Document Approval Workflows: Implement approval workflows to streamline the document review and approval process. Workflows automate the routing of documents to appropriate stakeholders for review, feedback, and final approval.

Security and Permissions: Configure security settings and permissions to ensure that only authorized users can access sensitive documents. SharePoint offers granular control over user permissions, allowing you to restrict access at the library, folder, or document level.

Search and Discovery: Utilize SharePoint's powerful search capabilities to quickly locate documents based on keywords, metadata, or content. Optimize search settings and create managed properties to enhance search accuracy.

Integration with Office Applications: Leverage SharePoint's integration with Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This integration enables users to create, edit, and save documents directly from Office applications to SharePoint libraries.

Training and User Adoption: Provide comprehensive training and documentation to educate users on how to effectively use SharePoint as an EDMS. Promote user adoption by emphasizing the benefits and demonstrating how SharePoint improves document management processes.

Remember that these steps focus on maximizing the capabilities of SharePoint as an EDMS. Depending on your specific requirements, you may also consider third-party add-ons or custom development to further enhance SharePoint's functionality for your organization.

However, here are some popular third-party add-ons and development options that can extend SharePoint's capabilities:

Nintex: Nintex offers a suite of workflow automation tools for SharePoint. It allows you to create custom workflows and automate business processes with a user-friendly interface.

Sharegate: Sharegate is a migration and management tool for SharePoint. It simplifies the migration process, helps you manage SharePoint content, and offers additional features like security management and reporting.

AvePoint: AvePoint provides various solutions for SharePoint, including backup and restore, content management, governance, compliance, and migration tools. They offer a comprehensive suite of products to enhance SharePoint functionality.

Bamboo Solutions: Bamboo Solutions offers a range of add-ons and web parts for SharePoint. Their products cover areas such as project management, document management, workflow automation, and collaboration.

KWizCom: KWizCom provides a suite of add-ons for SharePoint, focusing on document management, content aggregation, forms, and workflows. They offer solutions for improved document collaboration, metadata management, and enhanced search capabilities.

SharePoint Framework (SPFx): SPFx is a development model provided by Microsoft for building custom solutions on SharePoint. It allows you to create web parts, extensions, and other customizations using modern web technologies like React and TypeScript.

Power Platform: Microsoft's Power Platform (Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI) integrates with SharePoint and enables you to create custom applications, automate workflows, and generate visualizations and insights from SharePoint data.

Custom Development: Depending on your specific requirements, you can opt for custom development using SharePoint's robust API and development framework. This allows you to build tailored solutions and integrations that align precisely with your organization's needs.