A DMS document management system covers a lot of ground in a vendor's brochure, from capture through workflow to records disposition and e-discovery, and a small firm needs a narrow slice of it: capture that numbers and files on arrival, a client and matter record with a retention date per document, a portal for files in both directions, an access log, and an export. That slice is the product; the workflow designer, the taxonomy engine and the litigation hold module are the enterprise's problems. The free document capture worksheet on this site sizes the backlog, the intake and the retention load the DMS will hold; Batesio Pro is the slice, at one flat price for the firm.
The slice a small firm needs
Capture with numbering and filing on arrival; a record per client and matter; a retention date per document with a yearly report; a portal for files in and out; an access log; an export of a client's whole record. Ask each vendor to show those six on one screen before anything else.
What can wait
Workflow engines, custom metadata schemas, legal hold, records disposition approvals, single sign-on across a thousand seats. A small firm that buys them pays for an implementation week and configures none of it. The worksheet prints the firm's real intake so the size of the system is chosen from the load.
What it should cost
Enterprise DMS pricing is quoted per seat; a general drive, at Dropbox's $15 per user per month for its Standard team plan cited below, is priced per user too. Batesio Pro is $19 per month for the whole firm, and the free worksheet and guides stay free whether or not anyone subscribes.
Questions people ask about dms document management system
What does DMS stand for in software?
Document management system: the software that captures, files, shares and retains a firm's documents. The acronym covers everything from a small firm's portal to an enterprise records platform.
Does a small firm need a DMS or a drive?
A drive until the first file nobody can find, the first client who asks who saw a document, or the first document kept past its date. The six-part slice above is what the drive lacks.
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