While they may seem similar, document management and records management are two completely different entities. Knowing the difference allows you to be more knowledgeable and to have accurate expectations, so you are optimally qualified to choose the most appropriate solution for your organizations unique needs. It's very likely that you require both document and records management capabilities within your organization.

Documents

Documents consist of information or data such as paper, electronic forms and files, emails, faxes, contracts, leases, communications, and more that can be either structured or unstructured. They should be quickly and easily accessible to employees who need to work on and even collaborate on them.

Records

Records are documents that are not meant to be altered, and provide evidence of the activities of a given organization's functioning and policies. Records often have strict compliance requirements regarding their retention, access, and destruction. Since records hold such an important purpose there is often very stiff penalties for changing them.

Document Or Records Management?

The document management software provided by AIS was developed so that individuals with a shared purpose could efficiently create, store, retrieve, manage and collaborate on electronic information. Its objectives are to reduce lost and misfiled documents, provide faster search and retrieval of documents, reduce the amount of necessary physical storage space and streamline workflow. When documents are no longer needed in the business process they can be destroyed or turned into records.

Document management provides:

• Reduction of lost and misfiled documents
• Faster search and retrieval of documents
• Reduction of physical storage space
• Employees can efficiently create, store, retrieve, manage, and collaborate on electronic information

The records management software provided by AIS is designed to manage the life cycle of records related to important statutory, regulatory, fiscal or operational activities so that organizations can easily comply with regulations. Its objectives are to control, simplify and regulate the quantity and quality of records, in their original forms destroyed, the process is generally regulated by law with strict procedures so that the information contained in them will not be disclosed.

Records management provides:

• A managed lifecycle of records
• Easy compliance with regulations
• Control, simplify, and regulate the quantity and quality of records