Optimize, Secure & Simplify Your Document Management
Without a well-structured document management system for your business, you risk creating information silos and security vulnerabilities, slowing down operations and threatening compliance adherence. A strategic approach to document management can ensure that files are organized, accessible, and secure across your organization — a major advantage for internal collaboration and data protection.
At AdaptivEdge, we help businesses streamline document workflows, enhance security, and improve efficiency using Microsoft 365 solutions like SharePoint, OneDrive for Business, and Teams. Whether you’re looking to modernize legacy systems, improve compliance, or increase collaboration, our experts can design a solution that meets your needs.
The Advantages of Optimized Document Management
When implemented correctly, Document Management:
- Fosters collaboration
- Improves efficiency
- Enables synchronous file editing (co-authoring)
- Ensures past document versions are easy to retrieve and restore (versioning)
- Ensures documents successfully complete their lifecycle (review, publication, and disposal or maintenance)
- Leverages metadata and automation to improve informed decision-making
- Simplifies management of large volumes of files
Key Steps for Successful Document Management
Our Records Management services focus on organizing your files according to established best practices, leveraging SharePoint to solve common challenges.
Organization and Separation
Many clients make the mistake of dumping disparate documents into a single or too few document libraries and then relying on folders to organize them. We often refer to library folders as the “F” word because using folders to manage documents is primarily associated with legacy file servers. While there is a time and a place for folders, there is a better way to organize your files.
Organizing documents in structured libraries by topic, metadata, and permissions ensures easy access, quick search and retrieval, and data security. We recommend creating document libraries for each unique metadata and permission set. This organization and separation will provide the foundation for more advanced capabilities later on.
Metadata and Automation
Creating metadata columns within SharePoint libraries allows for categorization, grouping, and automation. For document libraries with thousands of documents, column metadata allows you to create views that distill an extensive document list down to a manageable number. Common metadata examples include important classifying information such as dates, departments, products, users, locations, and approval status.
SharePoint provides automation capabilities — both natively and via Power Automate — that can leverage and complete metadata. For example, documents can be routed for review and approval, and their status can be automatically updated as part of the workflow. Documents with expiration or renewal dates can trigger automatic reminders. Exciting new AI capabilities like Microsoft Syntex can help complete document metadata automatically, reducing manual effort and human error.
Document Lifecycle and Records Management
Frequently, published documents don’t get archived or deleted. By letting files live on indefinitely, you open your business up to some significant drawbacks:
- Paying to store documents you don’t need
- Making it harder for users to find the files they need
- Increased legal risk, requiring more effort and resources for document discovery in case of audits or legal proceedings
SharePoint provides robust document lifecycle capabilities to help automate and track the document process as it moves through the draft, review, approval, and publishing phases. We can help you formalize this process for important documents so that the system enforces the desired standard operating procedure.
With SharePoint, you’ll also gain robust Records Management capabilities that allow documents to be aged according to their location and the type of information contained within them. When a document reaches the end of its lifecycle, it can be deleted, archived, or marked as a record and retained according to the compliance policy, ensuring your files do not become disorganized.
Meet Your Document Management Consultant
Aaron Wilson is a specialist in Document Management and other collaboration solutions at AdaptivEdge. With extensive knowledge of Microsoft tools, Aaron can help you find the ideal path to organized, structured Document Management.
Get to know Aaron more on our team page: