Author: Rachel Tilley
Knowing when the time is right to benefit from both an electronic document management system and an ERP system can be tricky. Which system will take care of which process, how will the EDMS help, will they work together?! Choosing the right systems that will work for you business is time consuming, requires analysis and an important decision.
At DocTech we integrate our document management software into a number of different ERP systems which provide a variety of benefits for our clients across numerous industries.
An electronic document management system (EDMS) is a software solution that digitally and securely stores scanned or emailed documents. It goes on to automate any business process associated with the stored documents such as invoice processing, purchase order management or employee onboarding.
Once stored, documents are easy to find, cannot be lost or duplicated within the system. With digital documents there will NEVER be a need to print them out to give them an ERP attribution.
The acronym ERP stands for enterprise resource planning. The software manages day-to-day business activities, such as accounting, project management and manufacturing. It can use different applications that talk to each other and share a single database.
Information within an ERP system can arrive from many sources, such as invoices, credit notes, debit notes, delivery notes, salary info etc. This information comes from documents, whether they are paper or digital, and data on them must be exported, manually or via another app into the ERP. Without the existence of documents, the ERP wouldn’t work.
Some ERP systems can store some documents, but it is by no means the core functionality. ERP's mainly manage the data within them, not the actual documents themselves. Nor can they manage document approvals, document retention or provide an audit history.
Often there is little to no overview of the collective data held within the system. This makes it weak from a GDPR and efficiency point of view and can result in a lack of reporting ability.
Businesses process huge numbers of documents that contain relevant and important information that isn’t fed into an ERP. Items such as technical manuals, excel reports, photos, videos, and audio files. These documents must be searchable at any time which makes a separate EDMS so valuable, as ERP related documents are a small subset of the documents being managed by a business.
Documents related to ERP activities such as invoices, delivery notes or packing slips can also be stored in the EDMS and the advantage our software has, is that it can sit ‘within’ you core application. EDMS integration with an ERP has become invaluable for many of our clients because once documents are securely stored in the document management system, they are immediately available for any ERP requirement, such as recalling an invoice linked to an ERP record.
Business documents have all originated from somewhere, either being produced on paper, via email, in an ERP, or a CRM system etc. If each document is left in its original place, employees need to search across them all to find the information they require.
When all documents are stored in an electronic document management system, they can be found by a user in seconds, regardless of their format, due to the way they are tagged, indexed and organised within the system. This is why a document management system and ERP system can work so well together.
If your organisation already has an ERP system, you’ll be benefitting from the huge benefits it brings; enabling quick and simple visibility of how the business is performing. Integrate it with an electronic document management system and employees will gain more control over their work and have more time to complete every day tasks. The information they require is quickly accessible and available to them without leaving the ERP. An integrated button means in a click, related documents can be pulled from the EDMS and seen in the ERP.
This is in addition to knowing all your documents are secure and compliant. A good EDMS should complement your current ERP, making the functionality of both systems central all business processes.
If you’d like to know about the additional functionality an electronic document management system and ERP can bring, let us show you - get in touch on 0161 667 3390 or info@doctech.co.uk.
