CMS vs Document Management

[rkochis]

Can anyone explain....in simple terms... the difference between the two?
Thanks

[jgoddard]

CMS stands for Content Management System, which is usually a way for you to update the content within your web site. Allowing you to add,update, and delete pages from your site, including images, multimedia etc...

Document Management is similar,yet different, because it isn't maintaining your web site, but a bunch of documents you may have for download on your web site. Think of it like a library of files on your site, and you allow the user to search them, bookmark them etc... but it isn't the actual site content itself.

[CrimsonLink]

A DMS is concerned with a Document in its entirety and less interested
in what the document contains. A CMS effectively manages at a micro
level the individual pieces/units of info that go to making up a
document or web page.

Since a document (such as a technical manual) may contain one or more
units of digital information - or content - a document is in essence
comprised of content.

[gflaig]

Seems to be a lot of confusion in these terms. AND, even professionals use it crosswise.

Basically, in my opinion a CMS is a kind of a repository, that allows to
- eventually CAPTURE information (all kind, images, videos, HTML whatever)
- for SURE allows to store information,
- supply "metadata", sometimes called attributes, some times called key field, to re-identify the piece of information (lets call it content now) again.
- find the content back, means allow to search , by metadata or by content itself (full text search
or even better, content specific search - image search, face recognition, whatever)
- deliver a result list of a search
- deliver the content back (depending on the end user interface) by standard protocols, eventually viewer.

This was the very generic view.

If you use such a repository to be connected with features that
- allow to do authoring and editing websites
- store page templates, style sheets, logos, whatever as content,
- display working, dynamic data , eg database columns etc within this maintained website
THEN you do have, what often is just called a CMS, EVEN when it IMHO is just a subset of the complete functionallity of a CMS and should be called a Web-CMS.

A DMS is a kind (or subset) of a CMS, that brings the functionallity to maintain "documents".
- this can be simple documents like A scanned paper
- a typed note
- an email
- a tax declaration
- BUT this can be also very complex "documents"
- lets think about a word-document that references an exel-spreadsheet,
which is external to the word document
- or a CAD drawing of a car, that references another cad drawing of a motorblock,
which references a cad drawing of the gear changer which etc etc etc
All these references have to be maintained and held complete and consistent by the DMS, on top of storing and retrieving the "documents"
- on top a DMS should take care about states of a document , eg, new, draft, approved, to be published, published, outdated etc

The document management system usually is exposed to the end user, but should not show up with its interna - best type of implementation, when it hides behind standard applications, like the CAD system or an office suite.

Lot of words, and , as mentioned before, just ONE view of the theme :-)