PAVING THE WAY FOR SIMPLER DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
CMS Watch
by Jim Till
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., January 10, 2005 - Increased security and compliance requirements coupled with growing problems associated with email-based collaboration are forcing many organizations to consider alternative methods to help users manage and share information.
Recently, analysts have predicted an increase in demand for enterprise content management systems to help organizations gain better control over their content and manage it more effectively throughout its life cycle (from creation to destruction). Sometimes they posit that these ECM systems can manage every interaction between the organization and its content, including acting as an enterprise portal, document and records management system, even automate how content flows within and between the organization and its partners.
The Case for Simple
While the promise of ECM systems should not be denied, the process of introducing it to the majority of employees ultimately may not be a practical reality for many organizations. ECM applications are well-suited to addressing complex business processes and sophisticated document management requirements but, as a result the ECM applications themselves have grown unwieldy and sometimes difficult to use for typical document-sharing requirements.
Although ECM applications are likely to continue to support processes such as financial records management or drug development protocols, organizations are also seeking simpler document management solutions that can deliver core document management features to typical users in and easier to use and less costly package.
Enter WebDAV
The WebDAV specification, or the "Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning" extension to HTTP, may provide the technology foundation to support these simpler document management solutions that distributed organizations often seek. A quick review of the current WebDAV specification shows that it now provides several of the key components of traditional document management applications including:
- Document check-in/out - This automatically protects a document from being changed by more than one user at a time - essential for workgroup collaboration.
- Version control - Maintains a complete history of every version of a document - allowing document editors to easily chronicle and revert changes.
- File-level access control - A security requirement for any shared environment - controls read, write, and administrative permissions for every document and directory.
- Integrated search - Allows a user with access rights to query documents and files stored in the system to improve knowledge sharing and content re-use.
WebDAV also provides support for URL-based name spaces and XML based metadata, helping simplify remote file access and easing integration with other web applications and services. For example, a popular use of WebDAV is to include the web address of a file (URL) in an e-mail, instead of attaching the file. This eliminates the burden of file transfer from the email server, and allows document collaborators to work together on a single instance of the file, instead of exchanging multiple versions back and forth via email. WebDAV metadata has already been used to help automate insurance underwriting processes, drug discovery, and research compliance protocols.
When WebDAV is used in combination with a common web or application server such as Apache or WebSphere, it can provide the foundation for a document management system that also provides comprehensive file auditing and the secure user authentication required by a growing list of national and international regulations.
WebDAV in the Marketplace
So where can we find WebDAV solutions today? Perhaps most importantly, WebDAV support can now be found within tens of millions of Microsoft, Apple and even Linux desktops having become a part of their operating systems. This broad level of client system and application support for WebDAV is really what helps make simple document management solutions a realistic alternative today.
WebDAV is also widely supported on the server side. Common web servers such as Apache and Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS), as well as traditional ECM vendors including Documentum, IBM, OpenText and others now support WebDAV. However, it's important to note that most of the ECM applications only support basic WebDAV functions like file "open" and "save", continuing to rely upon proprietary methods to offer higher level document control.
While many ECM systems tend to treat WebDAV as just another method to add content to their existing repositories, newer simple document management solutions can use WebDAV at their core, eliminating many of the proprietary methods and technology employed by the traditional vendors. As a result, organizations can now choose between a variety of simple document management solutions (e.g., Xythos and Xerox) which already support their desktop application standards and datacenter infrastructure architectures.
Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft have not overlooked the simple document management market either. After helping to develop the WebDAV standard with other IETF sub-committee members (Adobe, Apple, and Xythos), Microsoft has shipped two major releases of its SharePoint Portal Server (SPS) to take advantage of its support for WebDAV at the desktop level. SPS 2003 has been enormously popular with smaller businesses which depend upon Microsoft's server technology and the benefits of Microsoft's all-inclusive approach to managing information.
Enterprise application developers are also putting WebDAV to work inside of their own systems, essentially integrating simple document management within existing applications so that entire structured and unstructured data management processes can be accomplished within a single application. Because WebDAV has become a well-supported standard it helps developers reduce the time and cost associated with document management integration and simplifies customer deployments just as it does for stand-alone, simple document management systems.
Out from the Shadows?
While WebDAV certainly appears to be helping provide organizations with more choices to tackle their document management challenges don't expect to be hearing a lot more about it. Unlike better known Internet protocols like HTTP and HTML, WebDAV tends to linger in the shadows.
This may be because some vendors view it as a necessary evil. Extensive client support has made it a checklist item for ECM vendors but, who among them really wants to give up more control of their document repositories to an open standard? Even Microsoft's SPS leverages proprietary Windows 2003 functions to perform certain higher-level document management tasks.
Fortunately, continued introduction of WebDAV standards based applications including simple document management systems has already helped certify the protocol's place in our technology ecosystem and most importantly provided organizations with new cost-saving choices.
James Till is Vice President of Marketing for Xythos Software Inc., a provider of document and file management software for the enterprise.