Why ‘Just Put It in SharePoint’ Isn’t Document Management

Many of the jobs I’ve been at have SharePoint, which a very powerful tool for sharing information.

Note that I said “sharing”, not “storing”. Because most companies seem to use SharePoint to dump all their files into, never to be seen or thought of again. It is how they “manage” their documents.

But that’s document management.

Per Wikipedia, a document management system (DMS) is usually a computerized system used to store, share, track and manage files or documents.

Sounds like SharePoint, right? I mean sure, SharePoint has the tools needed to be a document management system. It has search, version control, sharing options, metadata support, approvals support, etc. Everything.

AND NO ONE USES THAT STUFF.

In the average SharePoint repository, you see multiple versions of the same document. You see people opening the document, copying the URL from the browser, then pasting it, instead of using the Share option. You see libraries with absolutely no metadata – or possibly even worse, reams of metadata that no one is entering.

All of which means you may as well be using a shared drive instead.

For SharePoint to truly function as a document management system, you need to use:

• Strict naming conventions (to prevent duplicate documents)
• Version history. No more MYSUPERIMPORTANT V1.DOCX and MYSUPERIMPORTANT V2.DOCX. (seriously, stop doing that! It’s soooooooooooooo annoying!). This ensures that only the most current version of the document is used, not earlier versions.
• Metadata to help make content more findable. Or not. If you’re going to use metadata, use only that which will be helpful for your end users, or for your reporting (what you’re actually reporting on now, not what you think you might get around to reporting on). Do not include stuff that you think might be “good to know” or “interesting” – unless your authors can see the value of the metadata, they won’t enter it. And whatever metadata you have, make it easy for your authors to enter it.
• Approvals. Now, SharePoint’s basic approvals is, well, basic. You may need to build something more complex within SharePoint. But if you’re going to have SharePoint be your single source of truth for your documents, it makes sense to include approvals in that.

Once you’ve taken these steps, THEN SharePoint can function as a document management system. Until then, it’s nothing but a black hole of documentation.