How To Successfully Carry Out Enterprise Content Migration To Alfresco?

Category: Alfresco Development

How To Successfully Carry Out Enterprise Content Migration To Alfresco?

Posted on by conTceNt_paNeL

Content migration requires a thorough strategy and in-depth planning. Because moving content from existing platforms to a new digital platform is a complex task! It also depends a lot on the objective of ECM content migration – is it for replacement of the existing platform, or upgrading the platform, or for carrying out infrastructure changes. Every organization has content of different magnitude and based on the objective, we can identify the best way for content migration.

It is important to avail of reliable ECM content migration services in India, to ensure safety and efficiency! A good enterprise content management company will be able to acquire content from all the different legacy sources and consolidate it over CMS such as Alfresco Content management system. And there are different ways – different migration models for implementing this.

ECM Content Migration Models

Content Migration Models

The three major models for migrating enterprise digital content are – Big Bang Model, Parallel Model, and Incremental Model. You need to choose the migration model wisely, to ensure there is no data loss or data damage as well as system damage.

BIG BANG MODEL

Systematic content migration in one go – from the old to the new platform

PARALLEL MODEL

Content migration while both old and new systems are running parallel

INCREMENTAL MODEL

Gradual content migration in small, incremental datasets over time.

The Big Bang model of content migration is highly risky and is virtually useless when it comes to massive datasets. Also, it has high downtime and glitches once content is migrated to the new platform. The parallel model is good but it requires you to run two platforms parallel which adds up cost and energy. For big organizations, an incremental model is ideal. It has its own challenges and issues, but it remains the best way to migrate enterprise content on platforms such as Alfresco.

Enterprise Content Migration to Alfresco

While migrating the enterprise content to Alfresco, one of the biggest factors you should consider is – DOWNTIME. There will be service disruption but it should be controlled and brought to a minimum. There should be thorough planning for your existing and future business content management systems. The ultimate goal here is minimum impact on the business operations and ease of access for the users, in the future. Here is how it happens.

enterprise content management

5 Stages Of Content Migration

Each of these stages is equally important and they will have an overreaching effect on the ease of using the content in the future.

Stage 1 – Content Discovery and Data Inventory

Stage 2 – Migration Process Planning

Stage 3 – Ensuring Data Quality

Stage 4 – Delta handling and Change Management

Stage 5 – Execution, Testing, and Verification

Ultimately, the enterprise content migration process will include so many different processes such as analysis, mapping, high-level design, detailed design, configuration, testing, deployment, etc. And every stage will be built upon the strong foundation of the preceding stages.

#Stage 1: Content Discovery and Data Inventory

CONTENT DISCOVERY

The first step is to let the technical and functional teams – including users, stakeholders, and IT staff – have an insight into the legacy content system. The teams can identify the location, volumes, and migration targets for the content through workshops and discovery sessions. This exercise helps not only in the discovery of content but also helps the organization realign the business model and business decisions. Your enterprise content management consultant’s responsibility is to guide you through this process and help your team identify risks and plan for any eventualities.

DATA INVENTORY

The content inventory is a quantitative and qualitative assessment of every single type of content in the existing repositories. A report is prepared with all the information about the classification of content and the planning for its migration. This exercise allows you to launch an effective content migration strategy by breaking the content down into manageable chunks.

At the end of Stage – 1, you should have at least these collaterals ready…

  • Content Inventory Report
  • Content Inventory Analysis
  • Content Security Audit

#Stage 2: Migration Process Planning

Every planning requires a unique approach and blend of automated tools and manual human processes. But overall, you must be clear about at least the following aspects of the entire migration process.

  • ORGANISATION EXPECTATIONS

It all depends on the understanding and expectations of all the stakeholders who are associated with or will be impacted by content migration. To achieve this, a series of interviews and brainstorming sessions should be planned.

  • IDENTIFYING MIGRATION ASSETS

The assets involved in the migration should be identified and analyzed for different parameters such as – information architecture, content sources, business processes, regulated content, and compliance standards.

  • KEEPING EYE ON THE DETAILS

Understanding all the complex elements in detail is vital for planning a successful migration.  Keeping an eye on any associated dependencies such as content complexity, relationships, quality, and volume; is necessary to have a detailed understanding.

  • DATA SECURITY

The security of the data is very important. The content might have sensitive information that might expose unsafe conditions, ultimately leading to business loss. Such content should be tagged and secured with extra care.

  • RISK MITIGATION

To mitigate the migration risks, you should run a beta migration program using a representative set of the content, in a safe environment. This can be done by building and testing a prototype system. You should also be prepared with a contingency plan.

  • PERMISSION MAPPING

You also need to synchronize the different authorities used for authentication and authorization purposes. Also, a strategy needs to be prepared to define how permissions on the source legacy systems will map to the Alfresco permission model.

At the end of Stage – 2, you should have at least these collaterals ready

  • Migration Plan
  • Migration Infrastructure
  • Migration Tool Kit

#Stage 3: Ensuring Data Quality

You need to assess what is important and what is useless for you. In fact, the content usually evolves during the content migration process such as data normalization or enrichment. It allows you to get innovative while doing digital transformation and create a new content management model for your organization.

Usually, enterprises have unstructured data which is accumulated over the years because of the lack of systemic data management. So, it requires a more concerted effort to integrate this data into a unified digital content structure in such a case.

During this stage you should also be prepared with a content clean-up plan, to eliminate duplicate content and ROT (redundant, obsolete, and trivial) data. This is important to make the data more relevant and save storage space.

At the end of Stage – 3, you should have at least these collaterals ready…

  • Content Inventory Clean-up Plan
  • Content Enhancement Plan
  • Content Archiving Plan

#Stage 4: Delta handling and Change Management

DELTA HANDLING

Delta refers to the content which is added, removed, or modified during a specific delta time period. Having a system that helps you define and distinguish such added, removed, or modified data is very important. Usually, a time-stamp can help in spotting delta.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

The delta content generated during the migration process needs to be managed and done through Change Management. You should have this system to rescan the content to identify the new content and existing content.

At the end of Stage – 4, you should have at least these collaterals ready…

  • Delta Content Migration Plan
  • Freeze Cycles Definitions

#Stage 5: Execution, Testing, and Verification

EXECUTION

The execution of the content migration process is carried out through execution cycles. Several execution cycles are executed for migrating data without compromising its integrity, accessibility, and manageability.

TESTING

Testing should be done on different interfaces, to see if the content is correctly displayed. Also, testing by the end-users is necessary because they have experience of using it daily and hands-on knowledge of the content. Their testimony is the ultimate success.

VERIFICATION

Verification by subject matter experts and business units should be done to ensure that the content has not been compromised. Also, you need to create checklists to effectively check and track the data. The actual results of the verification process should be saved in a report to guarantee the quality of the migrated data and completion of the migration process.

At the end of Stage – 5, you should have at least these collaterals ready…

  • Content Migration Report
  • Content Validation Report

After all the five stages are finished, one important task remains – Housekeeping. This is the process of archiving all the tools and processes used for content migration. This is important because you can later analyze the processes and if required, redo some processes. So, the tools, protocols, mappings, and scripts should be saved for future utility; and a comprehensive report should be created for reference.

To Know More About: What It Takes to Migrate Alfresco Content and Database from Community 4.2 (PostgreSQL) to Enterprise 5.2 (MySQL)

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By now you must have understood that enterprise content migration is a very complex process that depends on so many different factors. But with a good strategy and planning, it can be executed well. The need for organizations to leverage the latest web content management and enterprise content management is perennial. Every organization would want to change and upgrade its content platform. But you have to wait for the right time, the right technology, and the right Enterprise content management company to give you reliable content migration services.

Get in touch with ContCentric – An enterprise content management company in the USA, UK, and India.

Do you want to migrate data from Enterprise Content to the Cloud

How to Accelerate Digital Transformation using Digital Adoption Strategy

Posted on by conTceNt_paNeL

‘Work from home’ is not just a buzzword, it has already become the next normal in the corporate world. In this pandemic age, it is highly difficult for companies to survive amid global turmoil and WFH policy in place. What makes things more complicated is the fact that companies have to adopt a completely new working style in the post-COVID age.

document management system

It is imperative for companies to focus on defining digital strategies in line with a changing business scenario, customer expectations, and market trends. In other words, a digital adoption strategy needs to be defined for business process management to ensure a seamless workflow.

Let’s dig into this topic in detail now.

A digital adoption strategy can be considered the first step toward digital transformation. These days, many entrepreneurs are familiar with these terms and some of them are already in process of implementing a digital adoption strategy. An official survey has revealed that 87% of businesses consider digital transformation as their top priority. However, the road to digital transformation is full of hurdles. These hurdles can slow down the transformation.

Key Challenge of Digital Transformation
Digital transformation drives changes in the company’s core processes. It disrupts business process management by reducing paperwork and increasing automation. Digital transformation strategy is mainly associated with the changes in various operational and non-operational activities. The company management can expect flawless services and a rich customer experience from digital transformation.

  • Lack of expertise
  • Lack of support from employees
  • The rigidity of the organizational structure
  • Absence of a long-term strategy and roadmap
  • Budgetary constraints

In the current situation, the market has remained highly competitive and the customers are fully acquainted and tech-savvy. It is, therefore, necessary for the company to segregate itself from its competitors. There, an advanced enterprise content management system and other digital transformation techniques can lend a helping hand and assist entrepreneurs to enhance the customer experience

The digital adoption strategy ensures frictionless transactions with a customized and multichannel journey for every customer. Seamless communication, real-time support, quick execution, and exceptional customer services are some of the building blocks of the digital adoption strategy that can make the digital transformation of your organization successful.

Also, Read- Top Business Benefits of Customer Communication Management

Digital Adoption Strategy and Flexibility
When it comes to digital transformation, the change is slow but perceptible. However, you may face resistance at a minute level, when employees do not want to move away from their natural processes or comfort zones. At times, your teammates may not determine how to cope with an entirely different set of principles and protocols. For example, what if you introduce a robust document management system in a paperwork-dominated business? You may get some resistance initially.

Digital transformation or digitalization is basically a change in the way we work, collaborate, and serve our customers. The digital adoption strategy adds flexibility and innovation to the entire process of digital transformation. Companies have to test various software solutions for accumulating data to customize the journey of their customers or clients. The data can help companies make informed decisions in real-time.

Digital transformation can make businesses agile, scalable, and flexible for implementing changes. It can enhance the ecosystem in favor of customers. The digital adoption strategy, on the other hand, can help companies make their employees ready for upcoming changes and improved processes.

Concluding Lines
The recent pandemic period has brought drastic changes in people’s necessities and expectations. The corporate world also undergoes a turbulent time amid social distancing and other protocols. There, digital transformation has become more necessary to adopt than ever for modern businesses. The right digital adoption strategy can make the digital transformation seamless and smooth for businesses.

ContCentric is a well-known enterprise content management services provider. We offer top-notch document management services to modern enterprises in a cost-effective way. If you want to transform business processes digitally or give your company an advantage of an advanced ECM system, simply send us an email at marketing@contcentric.com. We will get back to you soon!

Customer Communication Management- Basic Features You Need to Know

Posted on by conTceNt_paNeL

Today’s competitive business scenario has compelled entrepreneurs and business persons to focus on establishing robust customer communication management (CCM). Ever-changing customer expectations and challenges in the market have expanded the definition of customer communication manifolds. Be it billing or call marketing, customer care, or e-marketing, customer communication has become imperative in the corporate sector.

Customer Communication Management

Though banks and financial institutions are the torchbearers of customer communication by providing 24/7 services to enhance customer experience, various industry sectors have also followed suit by offering multiple communication channels to their customers. As a result, customer communication management has become a necessity to make customers happy and retain them with business.

Let’s understand the basics of customer communication management and its major benefits for modern enterprises.

Basics of Customer Communication Management

Effective customer communication holds a key to survival and thriving in this turbulent time. The right customer communication strategy addresses the core objectives like reduced customer acquisition costs, maximizing the value of every customer, and improved retention rate. Customer Communication Management (CCM) is, therefore, a set of technology solutions that assist enterprises to achieve these objectives.

CCM takes care of every aspect related to customer communication including content creation, enterprise content management, personalized experience, and multi-channel distribution of different forms of content. CCM acts as an integrated solution and bridges the gap between the company and its customers.

Higher dependency on vendors for implementing minor changes to the business system can increase the cost and waste time. CCM tools can overcome this issue effectively and empower business persons to manage customer communications efficiently.

Data-rich industry sectors like banking, retail, and eCommerce have to deal with volumes of transactional documents on a 24/7 basis. The document management system, connected with the customer communication system can work wonders by providing customers with bank statements, invoices, etc. in real-time. Also, companies can offer marketing collaterals to promote their products or services with ease.

Simply put, a properly implemented CCM solution can bring significant benefits to any enterprise. Here we make a list of some of the top benefits of customer communication management.

Major Business Benefits of Customer Communication Management

A robust and reliable customer communication management solution can-

  • Bring automation in creating and delivering highly personalized customer communication
  • Assist companies to execute multi-channel marketing campaigns with clarity and consistency

Also, Read- Top Business Benefits of Customer Communication Management

  • Enable the company management to change the existing communication method by incorporating a mechanism for version control
  • Assist companies to focus on the particular requirements of every customer effectively to provide more relevant information
  • Enhance visibility and control over corporate communications to ensure seamless business operations
    Integrate enterprise data into transactional communications for agile marketing that leads to improved up-selling and cross-selling
  • Reduce dependency on the IT team for performing trivial changes
  • Help enterprises comply with regulatory standards with real-time audits and reporting

By giving these benefits, CCM can take the enterprise to a new level as a customer-centric entity.

Concluding Lines
Customer communication management is essential to attract and retain more customers by offering them a personalized and pleasant experience. You can grow your business by increasing sales and achieving a loyal customer base. It is better to consult a reputed customer communication solution provider to integrate CCM into your business system.

ContCentric is a leading Alfresco development company that offers high-end solutions in enterprise content management and customer communication management domains. If you want to delight your customers with real-time communication, simply send us an email at marketing@contcentric.com. We will get back to you soon with the right strategy.

Top Business Benefits of Customer Communication Management

Posted on by conTceNt_paNeL

Let’s start with the fact- as many as 67% of customers hang up on an automated customer service call if they do not reach good customer service. What’s more, as an entrepreneur, if there is one negative customer experience, you need to provide twelve positive experiences to compensate for it. These facts are enough to show us the importance of a Customer Communication Management (CCM) solution.

A robust and seamlessly-performing CCM platform can effectively bridge the gap between your business and customers. These days every industry sector including banking, real estate, manufacturing, and retail use customer communication management system to maintain better communication with customers and offer them n excellent experience. The centralized customer communication management solution has many benefits to offer to modern businesses.

Here we mention the top ways in which CCM can benefit your business. Let’s start with the obvious one-

1. Improved Custome Experience– The centralized CCM platform enables businesses to establish real-time, cross-platform communication with a highly interactive customer experience. Here is how your enterprise can offer an improved customer experience-

Personalization– CCM-based solution facilitates customers to select the communication channel as per their choice. It is possible to create relevant communications across any channel in a personalized way using the customer communication management system.

Consistency and Convenience– The centralized approach of CCM brings consistency and convenience in a channel-agnostic way. Consistency can build trust among customers and a seamless onboarding experience can enhance the convenience of your customers.

Interactivity– The real-time mobile and web experiences enable customers to engage with the content consisting of interactive charts and sliders. In a way, CCM ensures an interactive experience for your customers.

2. Digital Transformation– BFSI, government, and other traditional industrial sectors have a complex and complicated infrastructure of legacy IT technology that is not fit for the modern business structure and competitive scenario. Today, it is necessary to integrate the existing business system with CCM for offering a seamless cross-channel experience through a user-friendly interface. All you need to contact a leading CCM solution developer and transform your communication digitally.

Also, Read- How Document Management System Benefits Manufacturing Sector?

3. Reduced Risk– The enterprise content management system has a major obstacle in the form of compliance, but the CCM solution can assist companies to eliminate it by establishing a collaborative content development process. The CCM solution can also enable companies to reduce time-to-market and provides them greater control. Compliance officers can easily track, audit, manage, and approve the processes easily.

4. Enhanced Efficiency– Business persons can easily create, edit, and manage content without depending on the IT department. Also, the CCM platform can eliminate issues like operational inefficiency, inconsistency, and high costs effectively. Better customer experience and higher operational efficiency can be achieved as the CCM platform propagates changes across various touchpoints and channels effectively.

Apart from these benefits, the customer communication management solution can bring automation in distributing large volumes of customer’s documents. The document management system or enterprise content management system can leverage the benefits of the CCM platform.

Concluding Lines
Customer Communication Management enables companies to establish effective communication with their customers in a convenient way. CCM also facilitates companies to generate high-volume communications while ensuring compliance and reducing the chances of errors. In a way, companies can increase a higher ROI through improved customer experience.

ContCentric is a leading Alfresco development company that can easily integrate the key features of the document management system into the customized CCM software. Our in-house team of expert developers assists enterprises to transform customer communications from capacity-based into the outcome-based model.

Just drop us a line at marketing@contcentric.com to know more about our services and solutions. Our expert consultants will contact you shortly.

Customer Communication Management

Why Your Company should Opt for Alfresco Cloud PaaS – Here are the Reasons

Posted on by conTceNt_paNeL

The document management system plays a crucial role in managing and accessing all corporate data. It gives modern companies the strength to survive and thrive amid increasing competition and challenges. Advancing cloud technology can take the document management system to a new level. It facilitates entrepreneurs to spend less on infrastructure while enabling them to enhance business value.

Alfresco Cloud PaaS

Alfresco, one of the globally acclaimed enterprise content management development platforms has integrated the advancements of cloud technology in Alfresco Cloud. It offers corporate users the benefits of a Platform-as-a-Service delivery model along with a robust, cloud-based environment for managing all new apps and services efficiently.

Top Advantages of Alfresco Cloud PaaS for Modern Businesses
The Alfresco development company can leverage the following advantages of Alfresco Cloud Paas by building and deploying various apps-

  • Alfresco Cloud consists of several on-demand services including Process as a Service, Governance as a Service, and AI as a Service to meet different needs.
  • It needs minimal configuration for enterprise content management consumption as a services
  • The cloud-based platform enables organizations to build, deploy, and run processes in a fully hosted environment

Alfresco Cloud is hosted on Amazon Web services to offer highly reliable architecture with high availability. The platform is fully redundant and provides high-end security features along with the following features-

  • Scalability and Speed– With 99.9% availability and an auto-scaling option, Alfresco Cloud enables users to manage the document management system of business while delivering a highly reliable experience and functionality.
  • Seamless Upgrade– Users can seamlessly manage automatic upgrades within Alfresco Cloud. It ensures continuity in business operations and provides immediate access to the latest and innovative versions of the Alfresco platform.
  • Reduced Operational Expenses– Alfresco Cloud leverages the computing power of AWS and reduces operational costs significantly. With extra storage and scalability of the platform, corporate users can easily manage the content management system.

Let’s go through six compelling reasons why your company should use Alfresco Cloud-

1) Time to Value Advantage
Alfresco Cloud is ready to run and keeps the enterprise content management system running. There is no need to wait for specific applications and data centers for managing the content management system. In a way, Alfresco Cloud offers instant operation and the advantage of Time to Value (TTV) to enterprises.

Also Read: Top Tips to Create Effective Document Management Strategy for Your Enterprise

2) Access to New Solutions
Cloud-based solutions act as a game-changer when it comes to innovation and creativity. Agile development and the ability to implement changes quickly assist the Alfresco development company to offer seamless access to new features and solutions. As a corporate user, you can get access to new features as and when they become available thanks to Alfresco Cloud.

3) Effective Resource Allocation
Your team can focus on enhancing business value while allocating the available resources effectively. Alfresco Cloud makes it possible by enabling the company management to get rid of data centre operations, upgrades, and backups frequently.

4) 24/7 Support and Maintenance
A robust Alfresco development company provides technical assistance and maintenance services on a 24/7 basis. These services help you keep your enterprise content management system up and running for a long time.

5) Industry-standard Practices
One of the biggest benefits of Alfresco solutions is they comply with the prevalent enterprise standards. With the insights, experiences, and excellent operations, Alfresco Cloud supports tens of hundreds of organizations across various industry verticals globally.

6) Competitive Edge
Alfresco Cloud offers multiple benefits to modern enterprises and keeps them updated with technological advancements. It is easy to manage the operations as there is no version lock-in and other hurdles. As a result, you can get an edge over your competitors.

The Alfresco development company can mention other benefits of the Alfresco cloud platform.

7) Concluding Lines
Alfresco Cloud provides excellent PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) offerings to build and manage apps as well as digital operations without spending additional money. It is better to consult a reputed enterprise content management system development company to know other benefits of Alfresco Cloud.

ContCentric is a reputed Alfresco development company that has successfully developed complex ECM solutions for the global corporate clientele. Just send an email at marketing@contcentric.com with your document management system-related requirements and our expert business consultants will get back to you soon.

Document management system

Custom Content Encryption in Alfresco Community

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Alfresco is a leading open-source ECM (Enterprise Content Management) system. Modern companies, irrespective of their size and business model can leverage the benefits of the feature-rich Alfresco Community Edition. As an entrepreneur, you can consult a reputed and robust Alfresco development company to build a customized ECM powered by Alfresco.

The Alfresco Community Edition enables users to store the corporate documents in a ‘content store’ which is a normal file system. It is an open file system for all users including server administrators, developers, and maintainers. In this system, all the content (documents) can be stored in the form of a .bin file.

The file names within the content stores are referenced through GUID which is maintained within the database. Specifically, in the Alfresco community edition, these .bin files can be converted back to the original document by changing their extensions if the original extensions are known.

These content stores are often exposed during the backup and restoration of the repository in the document management system. If the documents are confidential then there is always a risk of getting these documents into the wrong hands. Therefore, we have developed a custom encryption component that encrypts every document within the Alfresco instance before it gets stored.

As the encryption is being done at the time of the documents/content being stored to the content store, encryption will be the background process. Similarly, the document will be decrypted while accessed within the Alfresco only by Alfresco users.

The best part of the component is- it does not affect the content which is already present in the content store. It means the component can be applied to the Alfresco instance already having content, which is in use. The component will start encrypting the content right from the implementation.

Technical Details

  • We have implemented custom encryption using AES with CTR mode of Encryption algorithm.for the alfresco community edition.
  • The encryption operation is performed as and when the document/content being stored in the content store.
  • AES Algorithm detail

– AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) with CTR(Counter) mode Encryption
– 16 bytes key to encrypt-decrypt
– 16 bytes Initialization Vector(IV) param

Also Read- How to Set Workflow Due-date Reminder in Alfresco DMS

  • Classes Overridden for Encryption

The following classes are being used internally while creating a unique .bin file at the physical content store. We have to override these classes to encrypt the content before they get stored in the content store.

org.alfresco.repo.tenant.TenantRoutingFileContentStore
org.alfresco.repo.content.filestore.FileContentStore
org.alfresco.repo.content.filestore.FileContentWriter
org.alfresco.repo.content.AbstractContentWriter
org.alfresco.repo.content.LimitedStreamCopier

  • Classes Overridden for Decryption

These two classes are used to read the content from the content store. Normally, these classes expect the normal content from the nodes which have been stored in the content store. As we have are encrypting the content of a node before it gets stored in the content store, we have to override these classes to decrypt the content using the decryption key.

org.alfresco.repo.content.filestore.FileContentReader
org.alfresco.repo.content.AbstractContentReader

  • Performance

These encryption and decryption of content are adding little extra operations to the process of storing and retrieval of content. However, it will not affect the user experience if the server configuration is done according to the standard recommendation by Alfresco.

Talking about the benefits of customized content encryption in the Alfresco document management system, we can include the following ones-

  • Security for stored or archived content
  • Does not affect other features and operations
  • Custom encryption key restricts decryption of the content outside the alfresco without key
  • Does not affect old or existing content of the content store and indexing

ContCentric is a renowned Alfresco development company with a team of highly skilled and certified Alfresco developers. We can come up with a user-friendly and feature-rich document management system for companies of all sizes and irrespective of industry sectors. You can contact us by sending an email at marketing@contcentric.com. Our expert consultants are happy to help you!

Alfresco Custom content Encryption Customization

How to Set Workflow Due-date Reminder in Alfresco DMS

Posted on by conTceNt_paNeL

Alfresco is one of the most robust and reliable Enterprise Content Management and BPM (Business Process Management) systems. SMEs and large enterprises across various industry verticals use it for managing document systems.

Alfresco has gained ground over the period by adding new features and add-ons to meet modern enterprises’ complex document management requirements. The platform has many useful features and functionality, and companies can make the most of them by consulting a reputed document management company.

Let’s take an example of one of such features of Alfresco-
Workflows or business processes are one of the most used functionalities of Alfresco. The Alfresco Community Edition has some built-in workflows to streamline and manage various processes. Now, every business process has a fixed deadline to achieve a bigger goal. There, reminding of the due date of the individual’s tasks can play a vital role in meeting the deadline.

But, there is no such functionality available in Alfresco to send due-date reminders to the users for their assigned tasks. We have developed this functionality or module to assist the Alfresco system administrator to set the due-date reminders for any business processes.

Let’s go through the step-by-step guide on how to set the due-date reminder in your enterprise content management system powered by Alfresco.

How to Use Workflow Due-date Reminder in Alfresco-based System

Step 1:
Deploy the workflow due-date reminder module to your Alfresco document management system

Step 2:
The Workflow Due-date Reminder option is available on the Admin Tools page

Document management system
Document management system

Step 3:

  • Choose the workflow to set the reminder
  • Select the workflow priority (high, medium, low) to set the priority-wise separate reminder
  • Select the email template for the reminder notification to be sent to users
  • Choose the number of days before which reminder should be sent from the due date
  • There is an option for sending the notification daily from the days chosen to the due date itself, in case the employees/users have not taken any action

Note:-
The workflow reminder notification will be sent on a specific day from the date from which the reminders are due. For example, workflow is due on 30 July. The workflow reminders can be set for 3 days prior i.e. 27 July.

But When you select Daily workflow reminder, a notification will be sent on each day from the (due-date – number of days set) to the due date.

Document management system

Document management system

document management system4

Step 4:

  • Already set reminders can be edited and deleted
  • A single reminder can be set for all the deployed workflows by selecting the ‘All’ option in the workflow selection dropdown

Step 5:
The sample email notification is mentioned below

Document management system6

However, the available email templates (from Data Dictionary/Email Templates/) will be listed while setting the reminders

Benefits of Workflow Due-date Reminder

  • It enables the admin to set workflow specific reminders
  • It is possible to set a general reminder for all the workflows
  • It assists the admin to set priority-wise reminders for workflows
  • It gives separate email templates for each and every reminder

Concluding Lines
We, at ContCentric, strive for offering the best enterprise content management system based on Alfresco to address the diverse needs of our global clientele. Just send us an email at marketing@contcentric.com to know more about our services like Alfresco support and consultancy, Alfresco performance optimization, and Alfresco content migration.

Enterprise content management

How Document Management System Benefits Manufacturing Sector

Posted on by conTceNt_paNeL

The manufacturing industry is the backbone of the economy of any country. It is not just the process of transforming raw materials into valuable products, but it is a driving force for adding value to the country’s GDP by making electrical goods, vehicles, beverages, medical supplies, and the like.

Document management system

The manufacturing sector deals with raw materials and provides finished goods to consumers, and here, it is necessary to maintain a supply chain.

What’s more, the manufacturing industry needs efficient planning and proper maintenance of various equipment. Be it research, design, development, production, or quality assurance, every process generates a lot of data and the manufacturing company has to manage it effectively. There, a robust document management system lends a helping hand to manufacturers.

We are going to see the importance of the Document Management System (DMS) in the manufacturing sector and its major benefits in this blog. But, before moving to the role of DMS in the manufacturing domain, let’s understand the composition of this sector.

Manufacturing Industry Composition

The manufacturing industry focuses on the fabrication of products from raw materials. These finished products are intended for use in other industries and machines. The sector has an enormous potential in manufacturing useful products that can bring more comfort and convenience to our lives. Paper, packaging material, glass, hardware, and other finished goods fall under this sector.

The aim of the manufacturing industry is to reduce human effort or manpower to accomplish various tasks. It can assist other sectors to increase efficiency and enhance productivity. Manufacturing goods and services play a vital role in driving the economy of any country. Let’s see how the DMS or enterprise content management system is useful for this industry.

How DMS Works in Manufacturing Sector

Structured data is crucial for managing processes effectively and staying ahead of the curve. Every industry tends to leverage the benefits of data, and the manufacturing industry is no exception! Manufacturers face many challenges in managing documents and accessing them in real-time. All four types of manufacturing processes- casting, machining, joining, and forming generate enormous amounts of data and the company has to manage them properly.

The manufacturing document software can assist the manufacturers in data management. Effective data management can resolve some common manufacturing challenges like forecasting demand for products, inventory management, sales management, resource management, etc. The enterprise content management system can also enable the manufacturing unit to improve efficiency and increase ROI.

It is fair to mention that paperwork can take a huge chunk of valuable time and needs a lot of effort. Paper is revenue-draining as it is hard to find and highly degradable. It causes various problems for manufacturing and other industries simply because of difficulty in maintenance. The document management system can easily solve this issue and anyone in the manufacturing unit can get access to necessary documents anytime and anywhere.

Manufacturers can stay ahead of the curve while leveraging the benefits of technological advancements. Let’s understand how the document management system resolves some of the big issues of the manufacturing sector.

How DMS Addresses Big Issues of Manufacturing Companies

The document management system not only addresses the challenges related to extensive paperwork but also helps the manufacturing unit to grab the opportunities. In other words, DMS can convert challenges into opportunities if it is implemented in a proper way. Users can easily access, modify, and store necessary documents in the system. Sharing, distributing, and archiving of documents can be handled efficiently through the document management system.

Also, the DMS can enable manufacturing companies to bring radical changes in their operations while resolving the problems like-

Related services page: Enterprise Content Document Management Solutions for all Industries

Intensifying Competition

The manufacturing industry is full of uncertainties and faces tremendous competition. It is difficult to make informed decisions based on real-time insights, and many manufacturers have faced many difficulties due to this issue. Thankfully, the DMS can address this problem while giving more time to manufacturers to spend on other critical processes.

Resource Planning Issues

Another major issue for manufacturing companies is training employees for various projects. Now, proper integration of the document management system can help companies to improve workflow by giving access to necessary documents to employees on their devices.

Inventory Mistakes

Discrepancies in inventory and records can cost a lot to the manufacturing sector. Paper-dominated inventory management systems have many issues and manufacturers find it difficult to resolve them. The document management software can keep the documentation process easy and prevent mistakes in inventory.

Poor Data Sharing

Anytime access and sharing of data are important for the manufacturing sector. The DMS makes it possible by bringing automation to paper-based processes. It directly results in improved efficiency and productivity. Also, the data is shared securely using the DMS to mitigate security-related threats.

Many manufacturing companies have zillions of data but they just do not have any idea to utilize them for improving critical operations. There, centralization or indexing of data can remain handy to analyze. The document management system can give the advantage of Big Data to manufacturers and they can optimize their processes using the stored data effectively.

The DMS streamlines the work processes, improves workflow, and facilitates employees to work with more efficiency. The document management system also enables employees to find the necessary documents using meta tags and keywords. It also brings automation in document-related operations like inputting similar information. It saves time and effort of all employees. In a way, manufacturing companies can stay ahead of the curve.

Concluding Lines
In a nutshell, the manufacturing industry can get the advantage of a document management system in bringing automation and increasing convenience in every process.

ContCentric is a leading Alfresco content management company. We have a team of certified Alfresco developers who have hands-on experience in developing enterprise content management systems for SMEs as well as Fortune 500 companies. If you want to give your manufacturing company an edge over peers through a robust document management system based on Alfresco, simply send us an email at marketing@contcentric.com. Our expert business consultants will get back to you soon.

Top Tips to Create Effective Document Management Strategy for Your Enterprise

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A robust document management system can ensure the growth of any organization. However, it is necessary to make an effective document management strategy to make the most of the document management system.

The document management strategy can define a roadmap to handle documents efficiently so that the company can easily create, store, organize, and share critical corporate data.

Document Management System

As a result, your business can get benefit from a seamless flow of information. When you implement a proper document management strategy in the enterprise content management system, your company can get the following benefits-

  • Higher workflow efficiency
  • Reduced operational costs
  • Security of data and regulatory compliance
  • Risk reduction and anytime access

These benefits show the importance of making an effective document management strategy for your company. Be it increasing productivity or simplifying complexities, this strategy can always remain helpful. Let’s go through a step-by-step guide to make a proper document management strategy.

Major Steps to Consider for Creating Effective Document Management Strategy

Define accountability

The first step in the strategy-making process is to define the role and responsibility of every person engaged in making and implementing the strategy. You need to establish a project team for overseeing the process from beginning to end. For implementing an efficient document management system, the team should have members from all departments of your company like administration, manufacturing, etc. Every member of the team acts as a mediator between the project team and their respective department. They will determine all necessary documents to be saved, and the way they can be saved.

Determine requirements

Just like any other project, it is necessary to define requirements while making the document management strategy. Your project team should identify necessary documents that can be stored, reviewed, shared, and updated over the period in your company. As mentioned above, the project team has members from all departments, and every department has different necessities related to documents. The enterprise content management system consists of different aspects, and you need to ensure that all these requirements are addressed effectively. It is advisable that you take the assistance of a document management company in identifying requirements and implementing the proper strategy to meet them.

Also Read- How to Make the Most of Enterprise Content Management System in 2020

Make inventory

A reputed Alfresco content management company can assist your project team to understand the importance of documents across various departments. The project team checks every location to find every document and make an inventory. The inventory makes it easy to classify all the documents in the following categories-

  • Review and reference material
  • Company records
  • Copies of important documents
  • Forms and Invoices
  • Client information
  • Employee details

When it comes to accessing critical corporate documents on a 24/7 basis, the inventory can play a vital role in the document management system.

Make roadmap

After knowing the types and importance of all the documents in the company, it is easy to define the way to store them. Modern enterprises tend to save documents in cloud-based servers to ensure safe and quick access. Here, you can make an outline by keeping daily usage, objectives, and other aspects of document sharing in mind. In your roadmap, you can also find out whether you want a standardized or customized document management process. Also, the strategy needs to include a plan of removing unnecessary documents from the system. Simply put, all the steps are considered while making a roadmap for managing the company document.

Get rid of unnecessary documents

Once the classification is done and the inventory is created, now it’s time to get rid of all unnecessary documents and files that take up additional space. The project team starts removing all redundant documents to keep the document management system working flawlessly. It can be done manually by the team members or automatically by taking the help of AI technology. Some companies prefer to archive the records for future reference.

Maintain process

Now, the document maintenance strategy is ready to implement. With powerful ECM platforms like Alfresco or Liferay, you can easily index all the documents electronically. Here, all the employees need to follow this strategy and keep all the records updated. It is advisable to make this strategy a corporate policy to make sure that every employee uses this new system.

Here are some important tips to maintain the document management process effectively-

  • Upload every new document as and when it comes
  • Protect all the records by implementing authentication and user authorization
  • Establish an effective document tracking system for finding edits
  • Destroy unnecessary documents securely to remove the risk of a data breach

The electronic document management system powered by Alfresco or Liferay can easily address all these objectives. The enterprise content management system developed using any of these platforms is way more efficient and compliance-friendly then the traditional paper management system.

Concluding Lines

You need to consider two big aspects while making the document management strategy- easy accessibility and improved security. Alfresco and Liferay are robust platforms to meet document-related complexities. All you need to find a reliable ECM services provider to make and implement a document management strategy.

ContCentric is 100% operational amid nationwide lockdown thanks to the cutting-edge tools and ‘Work-from-Home’ concept. Our expert business consultants are happy to help you make an effective document management strategy. We also offer high-quality ECM services using Alfresco and Liferay platforms.

Enterprise content management system

Enterprise Content Management Moving to the Cloud and Role of Alfresco

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The cloud technology lends a helping hand to modern business by offering scalable and flexible solutions for data storage and access. Companies have also started moving their workflows and apps after seeing the value for money in the cloud. Enterprise content management is one such system that can leverage many benefits by moving to the cloud.

The North American region has the highest share in the enterprise content management market. This market is expected to reach $80 billion by 2023. Various benefits including seamless integration and lower initial cost move the ECM market to the cloud.

Here are the top five benefits ECM offers to the corporate world by embracing cloud technology. Let’s start with the most obvious one- cost-effectiveness.

1) Reduced cost– Like other business applications, the integration of ECM into the cloud can reduce maintenance and ownership costs significantly. The cloud-based document management system does not require any particular hardware and software. Also, companies can save big by avoiding a high capital cost at the initial level. On one hand, companies have to pay a regular operational cost in the form of subscriptions, and on the other hand, they can get rid of staffing expenses thanks to automation provided by the cloud-based ECM.

Hybrid cloud-based ECM can enable enterprises to get rid of up-front IT expenses and management-related issues associated with on-premise operations. In a way, ECM can bring down various expenses.

2)Easy access – Why do companies integrate enterprise content management into their systems? The answer is- they want to make the content more accessible while establishing a paperless system. Now, cloud-based ECM not only makes the content accessible to users anytime, anywhere but also facilitates enterprises to impose access restrictions for enhanced security. Cloud-based solutions for enterprise content management can provide a rapid response time with improved user experience.

Ease of use, quick sharing, and anytime access are three major factors that lead to great user experience. Cloud-based file sharing is either free or requires a nominal cost, which is convenient even for startups.

3)More security – The cloud-based data is more secure than on-premise or shared file services because of centralization. Employees and management can share and edit documents from a single place with version control and audit trails. Companies can prevent confidential data from going into the wrong hands by using firewalls. What’s more, file synchronization in the cloud network helps companies manage records and implement disaster recovery.

Also, the cloud-based enterprise content management system facilitates employees to work from remote locations during any natural calamities or pandemics. Simply put, ECM services can break the barrier between borders with the help of cloud technology.

Also, Read- How Alfresco Application Development Framework Benefits Enterprises

4) Quick configuration – If ECM is based on the cloud, companies can get rid of spending a lot of time and effort in procuring, configuring, and maintaining the system. The entire document management system can be deployed in the cloud in a short time. In a way, enterprises can achieve their business objectives faster and more effectively. It is possible to get the ROI from the same year of deploying the ECM system into the cloud.

Also, cloud technology enables to establishment of data centers in different geographical locations. It is easy to comply with prevalent standards and laws by deploying documents to the cloud.

5) Competitive edge – When your document management system is run into the cloud system, it can perform better with more security as compared to the on-premise ECM system. What’s more, the cloud-based ECM is flexible enough to meet the growing user requirements. Be it storing or computing, the cloud-powered enterprise content management system can efficiently meet all the requirements.

As a result, the ECM can offer modern enterprises a competitive edge with the help of cloud technology.

How Alfresco Cloud PaaS Helps Enterprises Make the Most of the Cloud
Alfresco Cloud PaaS facilitates enterprises to build applications and manage them together with digital operations in the cloud. This cloud-based platform also enables entrepreneurs to get rid of additional costs and complexity associated with deploying and managing the ECM system.

Here is how Alfresco Cloud PaaS benefits modern enterprises

  • It offers various on-demand services for the enterprise content management system like CaaS (Content as a Service), GaaS (Governance as a Service), and AaaS (AI as a Service)
  • It has a digital workspace, therefore, the minimal configuration is sufficient for the enterprise content management system.
  • It enables organizations to deploy and run various processes as well as content-oriented apps in a fully-managed environment

Alfresco development services offer a cloud-based platform and other services to meet the diverse business requirements in the best possible way.

Concluding Lines
Enterprise content management system is the future and it has started moving to the cloud to become omnipresent. As ECM gains ground in various organizations worldwide, entrepreneurs wish to increase the growth of their businesses by embracing cloud technology. Alfresco Cloud PaaS can make this shift from on-premises to cloud as seamless as possible. It is advisable to consult a reputed Alfresco content management company to make the most of the cloud.

We are 100% operational as all our employees work from remote places dedicatedly. ContCentric is committed to ensuring the health and well-being of all employees without affecting productivity.

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