Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) 2007 A.M.I.E.T.E Computer Science

Retrieval
Retrieve the electronic documents from the storage. Although the notion of retrieving a particular document is simple, retrieval in the electronic situation can be quite complex and powerful. Simple retrieval of individual documents can be supported by allowing the user to specify the unique document identifier, and having the system use the basic index (or a non-indexed query on its data store) to retrieve the document. More flexible retrieval allows the user to specify partial search terms involving the document identifier and/or parts of the expected metadata. This would typically return a list of documents which match the user's search terms. a few systems give the capability to specify a Boolean expression containing multiple keywords or example phrases expected to exist within the documents' contents. The retrieval for this type of query may be supported by previously-built indexes, or may perform more time-consuming searches through the documents' contents to return a list of the potentially relevant documents. See also Document retrieval.
Distribution
A published document for distribution has to be in a format that can not be easily altered. As a common practice in legal regulations regulated industries, an original master copy of the document is usually never used for distribution other than archiving. If a document is to be distributed electronically in a regulatory environment, then the equipment tasking the job has to be quality endorsed AND validated. Similarly quality endorsed electronic distribution carriers have to be used. This approach applies to both of the systems by which the document is to be inter-exchanged, if the integrity of the document is highly in demand.
Security
Document security is vital in many document management applications. Compliance requirements for certain documents can be quite complex depending on the kind of documents. For instance the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements dictate that medical documents have certain security requirements. a few document management systems have a rights management module that allows an administrator to provide access to documents based on kind to only certain people or groups of people.
Workflow
Workflow is a complex issue and a few document management systems have a built in workflow module. There are various kinds of workflow. Usage depends on the environment the Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) is applied to. Manual workflow requires a user to view the document and decide who to send it to. Rules-based workflow 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. Dynamic rules allow for branches to be created in a workflow process. A simple example would be to enter an invoice amount and if the amount is lower than a certain set amount, it follows various routes through the organization.

Earning:   Approval pending.