Like good blood circulation in the body, efficient document circulation is an important indicator of the health of the entire organization. But when there are a lot of documents, a whole team of employees works on each one, and approval chains resemble lace, you cannot do without tools that can bring complete order and clarity to this process.
First, let’s look at Microsoft 365 tools that help build document workflows and are already used by organizations around the world. Then we’ll talk about how SmartPoint DMS powered by Microsoft 365 extends the capabilities of these tools.
If you want to learn more about this by talking to our experts, order a consultation and we will contact you as soon as possible.
Microsoft 365 tools and capabilities
To build effective document management system, the following Microsoft 365 solutions are usually used:
- SharePoint and OneDrive as a convenient digital environment for collaborating on documents,
- programs for co-authoring of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents,
- Microsoft Teams for quick access to documents and Outlook for notifications about activity related to documents.
It is important to note that since all these tools belong to the same platform, they are best integrated and work effectively together.
Collaboration on documents in OneDrive and SharePoint
Without cloud services like SharePoint and OneDrive, employees would still have to store all their documents on their devices and email them to colleagues for collaboration. Fortunately, this is no longer necessary. Several authors can simultaneously work on the same document, securely stored in the cloud, and have access to it from any device and anywhere in the world where there is an Internet connection. At the same time, the document is well protected by backup and cloud security.
OneDrive
Documents saved to OneDrive – Word, Excel, or PowerPoint – can easily be shared with colleagues for collaboration by clicking the share icon in the upper right corner of the document. In the window that appears, you can select the users for whom access is granted. These could be individual colleagues or groups. Then the access level is set from among the viewing, reviewing, or editing options.
After clicking Submit, all selected employees will receive an email notification in Outlook about being granted access. Or you can simply copy the link to the document and send it to users, say, in Microsoft Teams. After this, you will be able to track all the changes made by your colleagues (and who exactly made them), as well as see all versions of the document by clicking the appropriate buttons in the Review tab.
SharePoint
While OneDrive is widely used for business work, SharePoint provides more opportunities for team collaboration. For example, it allows you to more flexibly set access rights based on roles and create document approval routes, etc. After setting up and launching the approval process, those who must approve the document will receive a card of this document with a proposal to approve or reject it.
Work with SmartPoint DMS is even more convenient
The SmartPoint DMS tool is designed to make working with documents as simple as possible, which is especially important for organizations where document flow is bogged down due to large volumes of documentation and branched approval chains. But, of course, this solution will also be useful for optimizing less complex processes.
The tool is powered by SharePoint and Power Platform, a low-code platform from Microsoft that allows each user to set up business processes without special knowledge.
For convenience, the tool is divided into modules such as Outgoing and Incoming documentation, Contracts, Tenders and Requests. As in SharePoint, here you can systematically work with various kinds of documents, launching approval processes, but these operations are significantly simplified.
When creating, say, a vendor contract card, the user assigns ready-made, pre-configured values to it. Next, depending on who creates this card, as well as on various metadata of the contract – for example, on the contract type or amount – the system creates an approval chain. Users who must approve the document at different stages will receive the contract card one by one. However, you can configure both sequential and parallel approval, which is especially useful for complex approval schemes.
It is important that thanks to the built-in designer, employees can easily model approval processes without having technical skills. That is, processes that required certain knowledge and effort in SharePoint are set up intuitively and automatically in SmartPoint DMS, which significantly saves employee time and simplifies document management.
Of course, SmartPoint DMS provides such basic functions as the ability to record and view the history of changes in a document, see who exactly edited it and open its previous versions, save comments, etc.
All information in one card
The card of each document accumulates all the necessary information, which greatly simplifies collaboration on it. The main document is added there, for example, the contract itself, as well as any additional files, such as PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, etc. All communication on the document is also stored there. You don’t have to look for all this in folders on your computer and in correspondence: a couple of clicks and everything you need is right in front of your eyes.
All cards and documents are logically structured, making them very easy to find. It is also convenient that the card visualizes the process of approval of each document: at any point of time, you can see what stage it is at. At the same time, participants in the process get a notification in Outlook about all actions with the document, so there is no need to constantly monitor its status. If a document is approved, rejected, or edited, the initiator gets a notification of it. If a contract must be reviewed, the approver gets an email with all the necessary information.
Work in a Teams window
A document can also be easily approved in Microsoft Teams. In this case, the approver gets a more detailed document card containing information that will allow them to quickly understand what kind of document it is, approve or reject it without leaving the program directly from the message. Overall, it is possible to work with all the functionality of SmartPoint DMS from a single Teams window.
Documents are in order!
SmartPoint DMS, combined with Microsoft 365 tools, can turn a burdensome paperwork routine into an easy and smooth job. Thanks to this solution, document management processes in your company will be automated and clear, and any employee without special knowledge will be able to build them. If you want to learn more about how SmartPoint DMS can help you get rid of unnecessary effort and chaos in working with documents, order a consultation from SMART business’ experts.
