Why IT and other teams don’t see eye-to-eye on document management

…and how a surprising solution could be right under your nose

Ding, ding…seconds out! In the red corner: the CIO. In the blue corner: a Head of Department. These two heavyweights are competing for the ultimate title – Creator of the Best-Fit Document Management System.

In an ideal world, IT and other departments should be working together, not going toe-to-toe. Because when it comes to storing, managing and sharing company documents, everyone wants the same thing, don’t they? An easy-to-use, cost-effective system that speeds up decision-making and keeps data compliant with regulations.

But it’s not as simple as that, as anyone who’s worked in IT or managed a department will know.

Here are five gruelling rounds many organisations slug their way through, en route to a new document management software.

Round One: Who gets to see what?

Let’s say you manage the engineering department. If a subcontractor gets hold of the wrong version of a drawing, the consequences could be catastrophic. Fixtures are designed for an out-of-date spec, meaning money down the drain and deadlines missed. So maybe your team keeps files in different folders: working documents in one and copies of final versions in another. It’s a workaround, but it duplicates effort, and errors could creep in if the wrong files are copied across.

For the IT team, this duplication of information takes up space on storage systems – whether locally or in the cloud. Ultimately it means more storage to manage and pay for.

You need a system that manages permissions without manual interventions, duplications and data silos.

Round Two: Where will the data be held?

As head of the engineering department, maybe you don’t really mind where the information is held. If it’s safe and easily accessible, that’s fine.

But the CIO has responsibility to keep data secure, and if digital – or indeed hardcopy – files are being moved to a different jurisdiction, that introduces complications for data protection. It also opens up more potential for data leaks as the information passes from IT’s domain to an external supplier.

You need a system that keeps data within your own environment while making it easily accessible.

Round Three: How bespoke will the system be?

Perhaps your documents are currently stored in SharePoint. It’s likely – after all, 83% of organisations use Microsoft 365. Microsoft SharePoint is a powerful document repository, but we all know its limitations when it comes to the features you’d like in a document management system.

Working with highly individual documents like engineering drawings requires a tailored system: as the head of department, you’ll want a bespoke, industry-specific tool that’s designed to view, search and manage these types of files.

For IT, if every department has its own specialist records management platform – one for engineering, one for HR, another for finance and so on – management of training, updates and change requests puts enormous pressure on the IT team and its resources.

You need a system that can be tailored to each department but is built on existing, trusted technology.

Round Four: How easy will it be to use?

If you’re using the tool day in, day out, usability is paramount. You’ll want to be able to search all your documents from one screen. You’ll expect the data to be tagged with criteria that makes sense to you and your team. You’ll want custom views that display the information clearly. You’ll want easy access to version histories and sign-offs for auditing purposes. If you’re on site overseeing a project, you’ll expect offline access to your documents.

While the IT team will – of course – want systems to be easy-to-use, this feature might come lower down their list than considerations like cost, maintenance requirements and data security.

You need a system that is highly intuitive – without being expensive or unwieldy to manage.

Round Five: How much will it cost?

The big question – cost. As head of the engineering department, you have to be careful with budget but you’re prepared to pay a reasonable amount if it means your team can be more productive.

The CIO has already invested in company-wide systems like Microsoft 365. Wherever possible, the IT team will naturally encourage other departments to make the most of those investments, rather than spending more money on separate, standalone tools.

You need a system that makes the most of existing IT investment rather than spending twice.

How everyone can be a winner (no knock-outs required)

Avoid coming to blows by choosing OASIS FileSmart: an enterprise add-on that bridges the gap between the SharePoint you have, and the tailored records management system your teams need.

Here’s how FileSmart will help every team come to a unanimous decision:

1. Who gets to see what?

Set permissions in a way that works for your organisation. For instance, in our engineering team example, you could set up engineering drawings so that only your internal team can see them in draft, while final outputs are visible to your subcontractors. Or, elsewhere in the organisation, promotion letters can be managed so that HR partners can see them but finance personnel can’t. Confidentiality is maintained – but so is accessibility, because individuals aren’t ‘hiding’ documents in locked-down folders. And for IT, the process is simple, with no unnecessary storage costs for duplicate data.

2. Where will the data be held?

FileSmart converts your existing SharePoint instance into a tailored digital document management system – meaning the data is held within your own environment. Hardcopy files can be stored with OASIS or other vendors, and made searchable within your FileSmart system. Let’s say you’re a practice manager in a doctors’ surgery, and you need a copy of an archived Lloyd George record. Once the record has been scanned, the digital file will be made available to approved individuals within your system (rather than being scanned again and again each time someone requests access).

So the IT team avoid data sovereignty issues, the system can scale with your own cloud storage, and the organisation saves money on rescanning stored paper files.

3. How bespoke will the system be?

Your system will be built using roughly 80% SharePoint and 20% FileSmart technology. That final 20% is where our document management experts design your customisations. As a head of department you get a system built around your documents, processes and permissions. So if you’re a working at a housing association, for instance, your system can be set up to correctly manage your tenancy agreements and other documents in line with retention periods and with custom notifications for important dates. And as a CIO, your internal customers get the personalised platform they each need, without enormous financial outlay or a constant stream of change requests and integrations. Each team can have its own tailored features – without having its own separate tools.

4. How easy will it be to use?

Your teams already know how to use SharePoint – and FileSmart takes that familiar functionality and adds a more user-friendly interface. In our engineering department example, the team could benefit from features like straightforward approval processes, options like previous file versions being automatically hidden (but still accessible), offline working with fast data display and customised notifications. A legal firm might need certain retention periods built into the system, while a bank could set up all its mortgage or other financial documents to be searchable from one place. The system is designed to make life easier while maintaining strict data governance and compliance to regulations.

It’s a win-win for IT, because the tailored system is built on Microsoft 365, which they’re already trained to use and maintain. Plus it integrates with Power Apps, plugs into different systems (like Workday, accounting systems, and customer relationship management systems (CRMs)), and data can easily be extracted for use in AI.

5. How much will it cost?

The short answer? A lot less than a standalone document management system. A UK financial services company recently saved £350,000 over five years by using FileSmart rather than a bespoke EDRMS (electronic document and records management system).

And that’s good news for heads of department, IT and the whole organisation.

To find out more about converting your SharePoint into an EDRMS with FileSmart, contact us at info@oasisgroup.com