New version of DocMaster: 4.2.14

DocMaster is a Single Database Document Management System. Its is used to manage large collections of loosely related documents, for example Policies & Procedures, Application Help, User Manuals, System Documentation etc. Of course the DocMaster User Manual and Application Help are written in DocMaster. Originally developed in 1994, it has been constantly enhanced over the years in response to user suggestions. Here is a link to the original DocMaster posting with more details.

Added Document Issues in DocMaster release 4.2.x

What do you do when you are reading though a published document like a policy or procedure, and find a problem or error? DocMaster now has an answer: create an issue. Issues are a special form of comments, complete with a simple (but customizable) workflow. In the screen shot below you can see an example of a new issue, along with the issue categorization and workflow.

Added Sarbanes Oxley (Sox) to DocMaster in release 4.2

One of my responsibilities at work is to ensure that IT is Sox compliant. Unfortunately the usual manual processes based on spreadsheets and word documents simply don't work very well, and are a lot of effort to maintain. And since Sox procedures should be integrated with other IT procedures, it made sense to extend DocMaster to specifically support Sox.

Possibly the most useful feature added is the "Sox Documentation" view, which includes a color coded calendar showing the current status of Sox monitoring. This is a huge time saver, and has organized our Sox work so well that, at the end of May 08, we are completely up to date! See screen shot below with annotations.



Adding monitoring tasks to the calendar is pretty easy: simply check the appropriate month check box on the control document. See screen shot below.



Sox documentation usually consists of control narrative documents, which are summarized by a spreadsheet. The problem is that it is impossible to keep the narrative documents in sync with the spreadsheet. DocMaster solves this problem by using a separate document for each control, and then summarizing these documents in a Control Matrix view. That normalizes the information, and because the information is now only maintained in one place, total solves the synch problem. DocMaster has special views of the Sox control documents, but those control docs can also be put in folders, along with other policies & procedures.

Once Sox controls are in place, you are required to monitor them to ensure they are working. DocMaster allows you to attach monitoring documents to the controls. This means that when the next monitoring event is due, you can use previous monitoring as a template - a tremendous time saver. It also means that when auditors look at your documentation, they can easily find all monitoring - a tremendous money saver! To track actual monitoring there is a view of all monitoring, categorized by month. See screen shot below.



Release 4.2 also added document issues, but more on that tomorrow.

DocMaster - Single Database Document Manager

When I started working with Notes in 1994, one of the first things I developed was a "Help" database. Over the years this has travelled with me and been used at almost every company I have worked at in one form or another. With input from dozens of people the original Help database has grown into a single database document manager called "DocMaster". A number of people have asked me to post the code, so here it is.

Bear in mind that this is NOT a commercial product; it is unpolished working code with some documentation. The database is both the help file, and the template. Email me with any questions.

DocMaster

Document management systems range from managing papers in a folder up to managing libraries of documents. There are many high end document management systems on the market, for example Domino.Doc or Documentum. If you think of these systems as a library, you can think of DocMaster as a filing cabinet. While there are many libraries in the world, there are many more filing cabinets. And if document collections grow to big for filing cabinets, they can be moved into the larger systems.

DocMaster is a "Single Database Document Manager" that is a place to manage collections of loosely related documents. Although DocMaster is structured like a traditional book, you don't read it as you would read a novel. Rather you read it as you would read a technical manual - typically you find the content you want and then do something with it, e.g. make a decision.

Typical Uses for DocMaster

• Corporate policies, procedures and standards.
• User manuals.
• Help documentation for Notes databases.
• Design notes for in-house software.
• All information on a particular project, e.g. a software upgrade. The next time that software is upgraded, all the notes etc. are in one place.
• All information on a particular piece of equipment, including user manuals, repair notes etc.
• A shared collection of links, pdf docs etc. on a particular subject.
• "Living" documents that often change.
• Meeting agendas and minutes.

DocMaster is easy for end users

• It uses a "Book" metaphor with a Table of Contents, an index, glossary of terms and a FAQ.
• It can use the same 3 pane interface as email, and uses folders as email does.
• It supports full text searching of all content.

DocMaster is easy to work with

• It is simple to set up, and easy to customize and includes tools to customize it for common uses.
• There is security, with document owners, editors, authors and readers.
• Work is tracked as it progresses, and you can easily see what remains.
• Audit trails. Tracks who did what, when and why. You can view or recover earlier  versions of documents.
• Highly customizable sorting: by date (up or down), by title or by doc number.
• Templates to control title format, date, author or many other fields. Templates can include content. Folders can be linked to templates so documents are created with standard settings (e.g. sorting).
• Document counter show total number of documents per folder, person, department etc.
• Tracks the size of documents.
• Any folder can have its own help documents, or one help document can be shared amongst several folders. The folder help document describes the purpose of the folder.

Advanced features

• Use Template documents to create documents with the same initial content.
• Add your own document types.
• Use "shared text" to include the same text in multiple places. Update the shared text once, and it is updated everywhere.