Part 1, covering basic electronic document management systems (EDMS) concepts, is primarily an argument about why EDMS is important. It defines a document as a container bringing together information from several sources around a specific topic to meet needs of a particular individual. Instead of focusing on documents, an EDMS focuses on users’ needs. Chapter 2 points out benefits of EDMS, including cheaper and faster creation, update, and distribution of documents; improved collaboration and productivity; and increased leverage for existing information. A primary risk is partial implementation. Focusing on distribution alone fails to address keeping information up to date and reducing information overload. Chapter 3 considers how documents, people, processes, and technology fit together in a document management system. It distinguishes between the relatively unstructured information contained in documents and the structured information kept in databases, and between mission-critical information and support information. Mission-critical data require relational databases, whereas supporting data can be represented in low-end databases and spreadsheets. Similarly, mission-critical documents require an EDMS, whereas supporting documents can be relegated to email and groupware systems.

The six chapters of Part 2 cover basic EDMS technology: repositories, document conversion, indexing and searching, document creation, workflow, and distribution. This part does a reasonable job of covering technical issues in a way that seems accessible to anyone who is moderately computer-literate.

Part 3 outlines a methodology for analyzing and designing an EDMS for an organization, starting with considering the organization’s goals or mission. To some extent, the process resembles a standard waterfall model with prototyping, but the whole section does a good job of specializing the process for document management.

Part 4 profiles 4 current EDMS vendors and lists contact addresses for 12 others. The authors plan to provide an up-to-date version of this information on their Web site: http://www.goucher.edu/˜docman.

I found the book moderately enlightening for its perspective on the value of document management systems to an organization. Since I am a computing science educator, many of the specific technical ideas seem obvious, but their placement in an overall user-centered organizational framework is interesting. The book would be useful for mid-level managers in any organization seeking to move toward heavy reliance on electronic documents. It could also be a useful supplement to a second course in computer literacy, once students have learned the basics of creating electronic documents.