Document Management
Document management is certainly a component of knowledge management. Every law department needs a "system" to manage its paper and electronic documents and information, but does that mean you need a full-blown (expensive) commercial document management system? Maybe not. Sometimes simpler systems make more sense for small offices. Take a look at this debate that was published in Law Office Computing for a couple of opinions on this question and some guidelines if you want to set up an effective yet simple system on your own. As noted in the article, many practice management systems incorporate document management capabilities. These may be more than adequate for most departments.
Obviously, document management can get much more sophisticated. Ross Kodner of Microlaw has posted some of his CLE materials on document management.
LLRX.com Article: Roads Diverge in Knowledge Management: A Tale of Two Law Firms, By Wendy R. Leibowitz, Wendy R. Leibowitz is an attorney and technology writer in Washington, D.C. Her Web site is http://www.wendytech.com.
Some of the better-known document management programs in the legal world include:
PowerDOCS and DOCS Open from Hummingbird, which also owns Law Pack
WORLDOX - Widely used in small to medium-sized law firms, relatively low cost, integrates with many popular practice management systems.
Last updated: 12/18/01