ARCHIVED: About IU Electronic Document Management strategies

• EDM defined
• EDM at IU
• Focused Enterprise Architecture project
• Solution capabilities
• EDM strategies

EDM defined

Electronic Document Management (EDM) is a major component of the broader Enterprise Content Management (ECM) framework, defined as the strategies, methods, and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents (unstructured information) related to organizational processes.

Areas within the scope of ECM, but beyond the scope of EDM, include web content management, social content management, digital asset management, and email management. The primary capabilities of a robust enterprise-grade EDM solution include:

• Core document management (repository, metadata, search, secure access, audit)
• Image processing (capture, transform, and manage images of paper documents)
• Workflow processing (business process management)
• Application integration (sharing of data/documents between application systems)
• Records management (long-term retention, regulatory, and industry compliance)

EDM at IU

IU currently employs Hyland OnBase and Microsoft SharePoint as two major EDM solutions.

The OnBase solution was adopted as a departmental EDM solution in 1999. It grew over the years to a significant install base in the distributed support model. Several enterprise software systems leveraged this service, most notably financial management systems. An internal audit in January 2012 resulted in the IU Trustees approving a movement of OnBase to a UITS enterprise support model, with full site licensing. OnBase is currently used by 43 IU departments, and houses over 10 million repository documents.

In 2011, as part of an effort focused primarily on document scanning and capture, SharePoint was adopted as a viable EDM solution. The SharePoint extensions KnowledgeLake (for scanning/capture and enhanced search) and the Nintex extension (to support a robust workflow capability) are required for a full solution. The SharePoint/KnowledgeLake EDM solution is currently used by 18 departments, and houses over 1 million repository documents.

The HP Autonomy EDM product also has a minor install base at IU, and is positioned as a best-of-breed offering for legal and contractual settings.

Focused Enterprise Architecture project

On March 1, 2014, the ARCHIVED: Council of Enterprise Architects was given a 90-day charge to develop a clear strategy for EDM adoption at IU. The primary drivers for this effort were that IU currently has two major EDM solutions with overlapping capabilities and no clear road map for adoption, and additionally, major document scanning efforts need to begin soon to support new campus building construction projects.

The Council formed a working group to support this project.

Solution capabilities

OnBase and SharePoint are built on the Microsoft .NET framework, and both are shown as leaders in the latest Gartner ECM magic quadrant. Hyland's OnBase is a purpose-built solution tightly focused on EDM. Microsoft SharePoint is a content platform, offering a foundation for related services (from both Microsoft and third-party providers, such as KnowledgeLake and Nintex). Both products fulfill the majority of capabilities for an enterprise EDM solution. Upon review of an overall capabilities matrix, the working group narrowed the focus to a gap analysis format for the products:

OnBase:

• No formal distributed management model
• Currently lacking integration with Microsoft Office and Outlook
• Currently lacking mobile access/capture

SharePoint/KnowledgeLake:

• No significant enterprise application integration capabilities (data sharing)
• Platform stability/support/staff resources
• Microsoft strategic direction for SharePoint (off-premise, long-term)

The working group considered strategies to address the issues of both solutions, including integration opportunities to create an information exchange between the two as a hybrid solution. Since enterprise application integration and data sharing are essential capabilities, OnBase was clearly in the leadership position.

The resulting consensus of the group was to position each solution to address a different window of the EDM landscape, with OnBase positioned as the repository for institutional data/documents, and SharePoint focused on non-institutional data/documents and departmental workflows. This strategy is similar to the positioning of Box and SharePoint for collaboration, with SharePoint for formal structured collaboration and Box for informal unstructured collaboration.

EDM strategies

1. OnBase is the Enterprise EDM solution and is the official records repository for all institutional documents (see Standards for Management of Institutional Data, item 15). This strategy facilitates sharing and leveraging of these records/documents to the entire university community (via application integration, and directly from all department constituents), and will support full implementation of a records management strategy, including record retention and disposal decisions. For the foreseeable future, UITS will maintain this service on premise.
2. SharePoint (with KnowledgeLake and Nintex extensions) is a complementary edge EDM solution to support non-institutional documents and workflows by departments with investment and expertise in SharePoint. It offers a fully distributed and independent management model, and supports interactive collaboration on documents. Once a document set becomes an institutional record, a migration path into the OnBase repository is required. UITS will maintain the service on premise for the near term, with active investigation, testing, and piloting of Microsoft Office 365 as a long-term strategy for SharePoint services.
   Note:

   Knowledge Lake is deprecated, and no new customers are being added.
3. Moving forward, UITS recommends adopting the following EDM practices:
   • UITS fully supports OnBase and has expertise and investment in managing it. UITS recommends use of OnBase for all groups starting to use document management tools and desire UITS support and assistance in that effort.
   • While UITS manages the infrastructure of SharePoint/KnowledgeLake, UITS recommends that it be used only by entities already using SharePoint/KnowledgeLake, or those with prior experience and adequate expertise in managing a secure SharePoint environment, understanding that UITS does not provide significant end-user support for SharePoint and/or KnowledgeLake.
   • UITS will maintain a stable and responsive SharePoint and KnowledgeLake infrastructure, and will assist departments who choose to migrate their existing SharePoint documents and workloads to the OnBase enterprise platform.
4. UITS will pursue implementation of selected OnBase/SharePoint integration points to better support a hybrid model, with a primary focus on migration of SharePoint document sets into OnBase, and on consolidated search capabilities. UITS will partner with COAS in testing the viability of these enhanced capabilities, and will explore opportunities for a more distributed OnBase management model.
5. UITS will pursue implementation of OnBase integration points with Microsoft Office and Outlook, and deploy OnBase mobile client capabilities to broaden access to (and import of) OnBase documents.
6. UITS will pursue implementation of single sign-on via CAS for both OnBase and SharePoint.
7. In partnership with COAS, UITS will test several KnowledgeLake/Nintex workflows to determine the viability of the enhanced OnBase environment for these use cases. UITS will strive to adjust and improve the environment based on use case needs.
8. Several areas related to data management policies and procedures were beyond the scope and charge of the working group. These subject areas are key to the long-term success of document management, and might be an excellent initial focus of a data architect working in concert with the Committee of Data Stewards, the Office of University Archives and Records Management, and the University Information Policy Office (UIPO):
   • Records retention policy, procedures, and classification
   • Data as an asset, not just a liability
   • Full classification of all institutional data
   • Data format standards for the long-term preservation of all types of digital objects