Electronic document management system in Kazakhstan

Documents accompany each business process in the organization. From an employment contract to a resignation notice, from an invoice for payment to an act of work performed, from a commercial offer to consignment notes — content is present in all types of activities. With the growth of the business, employees have to spend more and more time searching for documents, their recent versions and employees responsible for them. The electronic document management system (EDMS) helps automate these processes.

Since the development of the electronic document management system, its functionality has significantly expanded. In the Soviet Union, the first prototypes of the EDMS appeared in the 1980s. Then, only the documentation clerks in the state administration and in the Central Committee of the CPSU used it. With the help of the EDMS, these employees entered information into correspondence journals, prepared reports, filled out registration and control cards.

In sovereign Kazakhstan, the Law No. 370-II "On Electronic Document and Electronic Digital Signature" stimulated the development of the EDMS. It allowed the use of "electronic documents in any fields of work where information and communication technologies are used to create, process, store and transmit data."

Initially, the electronic document management system was considered as a tool for records management automation with an emphasis on document search and classification. Modern EDMS is a multifunctional product for managing digital documents and business processes. Today, information systems play an important role in the digital transformation of Kazakhstani companies, which is supported by the national program "Digital Kazakhstan".

EDMS and ECM — is there a difference?

People often compare EDMS to an ECM system. What are the differences between these terms?

ECM (Enterprise Content Management) is a software for managing corporate content, which helps to create a unified information environment in the company. Traditionally, they say that the functionality of the ECM system is broader than the functionality of the EDMS.

Work in the electronic document management system is built around a structured document, while ECM optimizes the management of all content (correspondence, video, audio files, directory entries, documents). The distinctive functions of ECM usually include:

• collaborative work on content;
• document access control;
• process management.

Today, EDMS often includes all the functionality of an ECM system. Therefore, the differences between the concepts are blurred.

Advantages of using EDMS

When does a company need an electronic document management system? It is worth considering whether to buy software when volume of unfinished tasks is growing, approval of documents takes a lot of time, employees often lose documents, and the workload of managers is growing.

The deployment of a document management system will significantly change business processes:

• working with content will get easier;
• performance discipline will improve. Managers will be able to conveniently monitor the execution of tasks;
• business processes will become more transparent: information about the state of work and deadlines is always at hand in the EDMS;
• confidentiality of information will be ensured. Setting access rights, saving the history of actions with documents and encrypting data will help protect the content;
• adaptation of new employees will go faster thanks to an easy and fast search for documents and a convenient system for familiarizing with corporate information;
• competitive ability will also increase: process optimization will accelerate interaction with customers, which will strengthen the company's position in the market.

Trends in the EDMS development in Kazakhstan

Many players represent the market of document management systems in Kazakhstan. The most famous products are Documentolog, Elma, TEZIS, QDoc, Almexoft, 1C: Document Management.

The functionality of software from different developers varies greatly. Some systems only automate records management and provide integration with electronic document management services. Others contain ready-to-use solutions for digitalization of the full cycle of work with various types of documents (personnel, project, accounting, etc.).

The structure of the systems changes in response to customer requests. There is a growing demand among clients for the ability to configure software without vendor’s help. It is advantageous for companies to adjust the schemes of business processes in the system without resorting to the help of a programmer. Increasingly, artificial intelligence technologies that reduce the complexity of routine operations attract the attention of customers.

Classic EDMS will not be able to meet these requirements. Therefore, developers improve the software and add:

• no-code and low-code tools for adapting systems to business needs;
• intelligent services for routine processing of text and information.

In the near future, EDMS in Kazakhstan will be developed in these areas. Some software already includes these tools.