Distribution
A published document for distribution has to be in a format that cannot be easily altered. As a common practice in law regulated industries, an original master copy of the document is usually never used for distribution other than archiving.
Security
Document security is vital in many document management applications. Compliance requirements for certain documents can be quite complex depending on the type of documents. It should have a rights management module that allows an administrator to give access to documents based on type to only certain people or groups of people. Document marking at the time of printing or PDF-creation is an essential element to preclude alteration or unintended use.
Workflow
The system should have a built-in workflow module. The system should have a Manual workflow where a user to view the document and decide whom to send it to. The other workflow should be Rules-based workflow which allows an administrator to create a rule that dictates the flow of the document through an organization: for instance, an invoice passes through an approval process and then is routed to the accounts-payable department.
Collaboration
Collaboration should be inherent in this system. In its basic form, a collaborative document management system should allow documents to be retrieved and worked on by an authorized user. Access should be blocked to other users while work is being performed on the document. Other advanced forms of collaboration allow multiple users to view and modify (or markup) a document at the same time in a collaboration session. The resulting document should be viewable in its final shape, while also storing the markups done by each user during the collaboration session.
Versioning
Versioning is a process by which documents are checked in or out of the document management system, allowing users to retrieve previous versions and to continue work
from a selected point. Versioning is useful for documents that change over time and require updating, but it may be necessary to go back to or reference a previous copy.
Searching
Searching finds documents and folders using template attributes or full-text search. Documents can be searched using various attributes and document content.
Publishing
Publishing a document involves the procedures of proofreading, peer or public reviewing, authorizing, printing and approving, etc. Those steps ensure prudence and logical
thinking. Any careless handling may result in the inaccuracy of the document and therefore mislead or upset its users and readers. The published document should be in a
format that is not easily altered without specific knowledge or tools, and yet it is readonly or portable.
Reproduction
Document/image reproduction is key when thinking about implementing a system. It's great to be able to put things in, but how are you going to get them out? An example of
this is building plans. How will plans be scanned and scale be retained when printed?