Document Management Systems: The Essential Guide for 2026

Learn what a document management system is, compare 10 top software picks like PowerDMS and SharePoint, and get best practices for security and compliance.

Article Highlights

• What is a document management system?
• What is document management software?
• Document management system best practices
• How to choose a document management system
• The best document management software
• How to implement a document management system
• Benefits of a document management system for healthcare and enterprises
• Frequently asked questions

Businesses of any size collect documents over the years, such as files, policies, invoices, billing statements, work orders, memos, and personnel files. And in the 21st century, companies have two options:

1. Store everything on paper and keep it in physical storage.
2. Go paperless and store everything in the cloud, where it's safely out of the way.

With a cloud-based document management system, files can't be misplaced because they can be found with a quick search. There's no worry about what version a certain document is.

A document management system organizes, secures, and controls every document your organization creates. Cloud platforms add version control, approval workflows, and signature tracking, cutting approval turnaround by up to 80%. This guide covers system types, best practices, and 10 software options. Start by auditing how your team stores and shares documents today.

What Is a Document Management System?

A document management system is a system to manage all of your organization's important documents, including:

• A business that needs to keep track of sales information, quotes, invoices, business processes, and proprietary information.
• A healthcare facility that needs to keep track of patient data, billing data, and the policy and procedure manual.
• A law enforcement agency that keeps track of arrest reports, departmental memos, subpoenas, and, of course, your own policy and procedure manual.

A document management system describes the method and processes you use to keep all of those documents organized and accessible. For example, you might use the old-school file-and-folder method, where all information is kept on paper documents and stored in file folders or binders. The files are stored in filing cabinets, and the binders are stored on bookshelves.

Or you could use a cloud-based system where all documents are stored on either an in-house intranet server or a server in another part of the country. All documents are password-protected and accessible only to authorized personnel.

Depending on the system, the organization's protocols may be created and developed by someone in the organization, which can make things hard to find. Access may also be difficult for anyone using a mobile phone or a tablet.

You also have the option to use a mixed-media system, which is a combination of electronic and paper-based documents. Choosing the right system for your agency will help you stay organized while saving time and money. Read more about document management systems and how they work.

What Is Document Management Software?

Document management software is a system, just like the mixed-media and file-and-folder systems.

But an electronic document management system is an improvement over the more generalized cloud-based system. With an electronic system, everything is stored in specialized software made specifically for the purpose of managing documents.

Files, policy manuals, training content, and even accreditation-related data are all stored, cross-indexed, and easily accessible on any kind of device, whether it's a mobile phone, tablet, or laptop/desktop computer. We put together a comprehensive article about document management software and what it does to help you get started.

Document Management System Best Practices

Regardless of which method you use, that is your system for document management. Even if you kept documents in neatly stacked piles around the room, that's still a system.

The question is, do you have the right system that works best for your organization? The best document management solutions follow these practices to ensure they're working as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Consistent Naming Structures

Everyone has their own method for naming and filing documents, but it's impossible to keep track of hundreds of individuals' different standards. Specify one single naming structure for all your files and folders. There's no right or wrong method; just pick the one that works best for your organization.

Version Control

Another issue, especially with policy manuals, is version control. Some document management software doesn't allow for effective collaboration, and you end up with several different versions of the same document. Use a policy management software that ensures everyone has access to the latest version of policies.

Document and Signature Tracking

Some organizations, especially those that are accredited by a professional agency, need to track the number of people who have read an updated document, like a policy or professional standard.

Rather than sending around a signature sheet to everyone in the office, the document management system can track signatures from people to show that they read and understood these digital documents. This can improve productivity and result in as much as 86% savings in documentation expenses.

Set Up Approval Workflows

Good document management software streamlines the process of creating, updating, and filing your critical documents.

Rather than emailing all parties a copy of the document and collecting approval signatures, your document management software can collect the signatures automatically and notify you when they're completed or even send reminders after a certain time period. This can cut approval time turnaround by as much as 80%.

Mobile Access

Since many people work on their phones, it makes sense to give everyone access to necessary documents and manuals via a mobile device. Not all employees have desks or workstations (i.e., nurses in hospitals) or they're rarely in the office to use the computers (i.e., law enforcement patrol officers).

In these scenarios, easy mobile access makes document management more convenient for your organization.

Storage

Your documents can take up gigabytes, if not terabytes, of storage space. That can add up to anything from a few to several dozen filing cabinets and storage boxes.

And since most people save their documents and policies in their own filing cabinets and storage areas, you can imagine how much square footage is being wasted just to store documents that someone might only need once a year. A cloud storage solution through your document management system can solve this problem.

Document Security

Believe it or not, a cloud-based document management system is more secure than keeping your documents on an in-house server. That's because the traditional cloud-based servers (Google, Microsoft OneDrive, AWS) have very complex and robust AI-driven cybersecurity systems.

These cybersecurity systems are expensive enough to require Fortune 500 budgets, which means your average healthcare facility, law enforcement office, business organization, or municipality will have the same kind of cybersecurity budget as the Fortune 500 corporations. Plus, those AI systems help further train the cybersecurity software to fend off new types of attacks.

In-house servers don't have this kind of software, so they're more vulnerable. You can read more about security for cloud-based software and learn more about using document management system best practices to improve your organization's processes.

How to Choose a Document Management System

Best practices tell you what a good system does. Choosing one means weighing your organization's specific requirements against what each vendor actually offers. Work through these five areas before you request a demo.

1. Must-Have Features: Start with the non-negotiables, including version control, approval workflows, signature tracking, and access permissions.

2. Compliance and Accreditation Requirements: If your organization answers to a regulatory body, whether that's HIPAA in healthcare, a professional accreditation agency, or industry-specific records management rules, your system needs audit trails that show who accessed, edited, or approved a document and when.

3. Integrations: Your document management system doesn't operate in isolation. Check whether it connects with the tools your team already uses, such as Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, Slack, or your HR and training systems.

4. Mobile Accessibility: If your workforce includes people who aren't at a desk all day, such as nurses, patrol officers, field technicians, or firefighters, mobile document access isn't a bonus feature. It's a requirement.

5. Budget: Cloud-based document storage and enterprise content management (ECM) platforms price differently depending on user count, storage volume, and feature tier. Get quotes from at least two or three vendors, and weigh the subscription cost against what your organization currently spends on manual document lifecycle management, including printing, storage space, staff hours spent searching for files, and the risk cost of a missed compliance deadline. Once you know which features matter most for your organization, you're ready to compare specific platforms.

The Best Document Management Software

When it comes to selecting the best document management software for your organization, you have a wide array of options.

The table below gives you a quick side-by-side view, and the write-ups after it go into more detail on each platform.

Microsoft SharePoint

Microsoft SharePoint is a general system for document storage and management, and it integrates easily with the various Office products, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This centralized storage system allows for collaboration and sharing, as well as mobile accessibility. It's complex enough that it will require a full-time developer to install and manage it.

Best for: Organizations already standardized on Microsoft Office that have IT resources to manage a more complex setup. Read about how SharePoint performs on our website.

Google Drive

Google Drive/G Suite is a cloud-based document management system that can replace Microsoft Office. It has its own word processor, spreadsheets, slide deck creator, and other apps. It lets you share documents and folders across a company-wide account, giving access control to specific people. And you can have unlimited storage and users, track changes in documents, and create automated approval workflows.

Best for: Teams that want document management and productivity tools in a single, familiar platform. Read our review of Google Workplace.

Box for Business

Box for Business is another centralized cloud-based storage system. It integrates with Adobe, Slack, G Suite, Office 365, and other applications, but it doesn't have its own productivity apps. You can collaborate with others, synchronize any changes, and even view version histories to compare old and new versions of documents.

Best for: Organizations that need deep integrations across a wide range of third-party applications.

Dokkio

Dokkio is a document management solution that brings all your files together in a single web interface, whether they're stored in Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, or Microsoft OneDrive, as well as documents shared in Slack or via a Gmail message. Dokkio uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to suggest and automatically place files into categories and contexts themselves. But this is only a document storage system, so it doesn't let you manage version control, collaborate, create workflows, or track signatures.

Best for: Organizations that just need to organize files already spread across multiple cloud drives, not full document control.

Rubex

Rubex by eFileCabinet offers secure file sharing, encryption, version control, saving all versions of documents as they are edited. It integrates with Microsoft Office, QuickBooks, and SalesForce; it offers user-level access; and it has a mobile application. You can also track changes through audit trails, which show every action taken by every user, with a date and time stamp. Rubex also has manager and admin approvals and workflow automation.

Best for: Businesses that want document management tied directly into their accounting and sales software.

Onfinity

Onfinity (formerly VIENNA Advantage) is an open-source document management software platform with a variety of key features and functions beyond simple document management, including ERP, CRM, and business intelligence. As a corporate-wide solution, Onfinity provides nearly every back-office function, including accounting, material management, purchasing, and warehouse management. You can add documents through a variety of methods, like email, scanner, web services, and bulk upload. You can also search documents through different attributes or metadata. It also lets you "check out" documents to make edits and changes before anyone else.

Best for: Organizations that want document management bundled into a broader open-source ERP system.

DocuWare

DocuWare is a cloud-based and on-premises document management platform built around workflow automation. It uses OCR and intelligent document processing to capture and index paper and digital files, then routes them through customizable approval workflows for tasks like invoice processing, contract management, and employee onboarding. DocuWare tracks version history automatically, offers role-based access controls and audit trails for compliance, and includes a mobile app so teams can review and approve documents from the field. Electronic signatures are available through a DocuSign integration rather than a native feature.

Best for: Organizations that want to automate document-heavy approval processes, like invoice or contract workflows, rather than just store files.

M-Files

M-Files includes image scanning and OCR, which means you can upload old paper files into the system and make them as easily accessible as newly created digital files. You can also automate certain workflows, use version control to keep track of each document's history, allow different access levels based on a person's role, and share documents with colleagues without sending email attachments each time a document is updated. On the downside, M-Files uses local storage, such as a user's hard drive, which requires installing software and giving permissions.

Best for: Organizations digitizing a large backlog of paper records.

Ideagen Quality Management

Ideagen Quality Management (formerly Q-Pulse) supports document management, co-authoring and review, and policy management. This last feature helps you acknowledge regulatory requirements and turn them into actionable items. Colleagues can collaborate on documents, create new policies to share across the entire organization, select user-based access levels, and manage the documents' version control. It cannot perform document archiving, which means you need a separate archiving solution. It also doesn't offer electronic signature tracking.

Best for: Organizations prioritizing policy acknowledgment over e-signature functionality.

PowerDMS

PowerDMS by NEOGOV offers a policy management platform that helps you create a living connection between your policies, training, and accreditation. Our cloud-based system allows for policy creation and collaboration, version control, organization-wide distribution, mobile apps for 24/7 access, signature tracking, and more. It can manage new policies and procedures for healthcare, municipalities, fire/EMS, and businesses in general. The platform also offers access through a variety of devices, automated workflows, signature tracking, version control, and automatic distribution.

Best for: Accredited or regulated organizations that need policy management, training, and compliance tracking in one platform.

Looking for more insight into document management software options? Check out our top 10 list of solutions and how to choose the best one for your organization.

How to Implement a Document Management System

Picking a platform is only step one. A smooth rollout determines whether your team actually adopts the new system or quietly reverts to email attachments and shared drives. Follow this process to move from paper or mixed media to a fully electronic document management system (EDMS).

1. Audit your current documents.
2. Set naming conventions and folder structure.
3. Define your permission structure.
4. Migrate from paper or mixed media.
5. Train your staff.

Treat implementation as an ongoing part of document lifecycle management, not a one-time project. Revisit your naming conventions, permissions, and training materials periodically as your organization grows and your document volume increases.

Benefits of a Document Management System for Healthcare and Enterprises

We've covered the advantages of implementing a document management software. So, let's highlight the most important benefits of electronic document management systems for healthcare and enterprise organizations.

Healthcare

Healthcare organizations can absolutely benefit from a document management system, especially one that's geared to healthcare's specific requirements.

Your document management system should include:

• Document access control: Give control of certain documents only to those authorized to view them.
• The ability to demonstrate regulatory compliance: During accreditation and compliance audits, you want to be able to show the necessary information quickly and easily.
• Signature and review tracking: Gathering signatures electronically can save hours per document.
• The ability to adjust to changing requirements: Professional associations change their requirements frequently. You want to be able to easily adjust as those changes are made.
• Workflows to help approve changes: You can automate the approval review process to get feedback and approval from compliance team members, as well as executive leadership.
• Version control: Control which version of a policy or document is available to your employees. No more working from contradictory versions.
• Collaboration tools: Work together with your compliance team to write policies by working on the same document instead of passing around different versions.

Enterprises

Large businesses have some of their own specialized needs. They may not have to comply with HIPAA and other healthcare laws, but they have their own regulatory compliance issues for things like tax law, financial disclosures, and so on.

An enterprise document management system also needs:

• Document storage: Off-site, cloud-based storage is more secure, easily scalable, and saves money over an in-house server system.
• Workflows: Automate workflows to improve policy creation and updates.
• Audit trails: These let your accreditation and compliance professionals see what changes have been made to your policies and compliance documents.
• Version control: You can ensure that people only have access to the latest version of a company policy or process.
• Document security: You need to protect your proprietary information and personal/private data. This helps you control access to sensitive information.

Learn more about how document management systems can help your enterprise organization.

Using a Document Management System to Promote Organization and Transparency

A cloud-based document management system can offer many benefits and advantages over the older, legacy document management systems, like ones that rely on paper-based documents or even a mixed-media system.

The right document management software can let you:

• Share documents only with the appropriate people
• Ensure everyone is getting the right version of a document
• Collaborate with colleagues on document creation and managing the lifecycle
• Automate workflows to speed up creation and approval steps

Learn how the right document management system can benefit your organization by scheduling a no-obligation demo today.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a document management system and document management software?

A document management system is the overall method your organization uses to store and organize documents, whether that’s filing cabinets, shared drives, or a mix of both. Document management software is the electronic version: a dedicated platform that stores files in the cloud and adds version control, approval workflows, and signature tracking. Every organization has a system. Not every organization has software built for the job.

How much does a document management system cost?

Pricing varies by vendor, user count, and features. Most cloud-based platforms charge per user per month, while enterprise tools price by storage or module. The bigger number is what manual processes cost you: organizations that switch report up to 86% savings in documentation expenses and 80% faster approval turnaround. Request quotes from two or three vendors and compare them against your current admin hours.

Is a cloud-based document management system secure?

Yes, and in most cases more secure than an in-house server. Major cloud providers run cybersecurity programs with budgets only Fortune 500 companies could match internally, including AI-driven threat detection that improves with every attack it blocks. Look for a vendor with role-based access controls, encryption, and audit trails so you can see exactly who touched each document and when.

What features should I look for in document management software?

Start with version control, automated approval workflows, signature tracking, and role-based access permissions. Accredited organizations like healthcare facilities and law enforcement agencies should also require audit trails and compliance reporting. Mobile access matters if your staff works away from a desk, which covers nurses, patrol officers, and field crews. Pick the features your daily operations depend on, then compare vendors against that list.