DMS: Using a document management system for higher education.
Learn how colleges and universities can ditch the paperwork and streamline their documentation processes by going digital.
The move to go paperless in higher education doesn’t just benefit the classroom — it can save a lot of stress and create efficiencies on the administrative side, too. One way to do this is with a Document Management System (DMS). What is a DMS, and how can it transform education? Let’s explore how colleges and universities can use this software to keep processes moving without having to push physical paperwork.
What is a DMS in general?
A Document Management System, or DMS for short, is a type of software that helps your school go paperless with administrative tasks. With a DMS, you can digitally receive, track, manage, and store student documents in a single, secure place.
What is a school document management system?
A school document management system is a document solution designed for the education industry. Most DMS companies offer a suite of services so you can customize the software to fit your school’s needs. Common paperwork and documentation that schools may choose to take online include student enrollment, transcripts, health records, financial aid, housing, food services, and tuition bills — just to name a few.
Benefits of a document management system for schools.
- Streamlined enrollment processes. Managing enrollment processes for incoming students, student records, and other paperwork reduces a significant burden for office staff.
- Searchable parameters. The software makes it easy for you to quickly find a given document, which helps to improve efficiency and save you from administrative headaches.
- Space savings. Traditional paper storage can also take up valuable real estate on many college and university campuses — space that could be put to better use as offices, classrooms, or for other needs.
- Secure storage. A DMS can also offer your school a way to store files securely rather than paper copies in a filing cabinet.
Features to consider for a school document management system.
- Web and mobile access
- User-friendly interface and accessibility considerations
- Integration capabilities
- Access permissions and auditing security
- Multiple file type input and storage
- File indexing, search, and sharing features
- Version management
Does a school DMS include version control?
Version control is an important consideration in a document management system for higher education. Not only does versioning allow you to view a prior version of a file, but you can audit the file and see who last accessed or modified the file. If needed, you can revert to a previous version.
Version control also guarantees that an authorized user is only editing the most current version of a file, as well as only allowing one user to edit a file at a time.
School document management system compliance.
A DMS avoids many of the problems associated with compliance because it provides workflows and enforces policies without requiring much manual effort. Automation assists with user identification, audit trails, and reporting.
Depending on whether you work for a private or public school, some document types may be subject to FERPA or HIPAA regulations. A DMS can restrict user permissions to these types of documents to only allow visibility to designated personnel.
It’s important to use a secure document management system to stay in compliance.
If you need to keep important campus documents moving, discover everything you can do with Adobe Acrobat to send documents, collect or request signatures, share online PDFs, and more.
