Open-Source Enterprise Content Management using Workflows: An Implementation Case-Study for Higher Education Institutions

• Author: Maican, C. - Lixandroiu, R.
• Position: Centre 'Advanced Research on Mechatronics', Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 319-326

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series V: Economic Sciences • Vol. 7 (56) No. 2 - 2014

OPEN-SOURCE ENTERPRISE CONTENT

MANAGEMENT USING WORKFLOWS:

AN IMPLEMENTATION CASE-STUDY

FOR HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

C. MAICAN1 R. LIX;NDROIU1

Abstract: Organizations are continuously challenged by the management of

increasing amounts and varieties of digital information types and formats. In

the form of a case-study, this paper presents a small part of the

implementation process of an open-source Enterprise Content Management

software and a workflow for routing documents within a university. The first

part of the paper makes and introduction to the concepts surrounding the

Enterprise Content Management software, the second part of the paper

briefly presents the Business Process Management (BPM) and the third part

focuses on the workflow process as part of the BPM within an organization.

Key words: enterprise content management, open source, university.

1 Centre “Advanced Research on Mechatronics”, Transilvania University of Braşov.

1. Introduction

Like other major organizations,

universities nowadays cope with new

sources of content that influence the

growth in volume of enterprise content.

Additionally, they control increased

volumes of paper-based documents, from

which higher and higher percentages is

digitized. As a reaction, large enterprise

content management (ECM) platform

vendors change into “information

management frameworks”[2]. While the

literature tends to focus on an ECM in the

relationship with administrative purposes

such as digitizing services, document and

records management, and, lately, email and

web content management, there has always

been a digital asset function, which is

underpinned by repositories [14].

Attempting to state what ECM is, some

authors (e.g. [1], [11]) rely on the

definition instituted by the Association for

Information and Image Management

(AIIM): “Enterprise Conte nt Management

(ECM) is the strategies, methods and tools

used to capture, manage, store, preserve,

and deliver content and documents related

to organizational processes. ECM tools and

strategies allow the management of an

organization’s unstructured information,

wherever that information exists”. In

addition, other researchers have presented

wider explanations of ECM: for example,

[3] explains ECM as “the strategies,

processes, methods, systems, and

technologies that are necessary for

capturing, creating, managing, using,

publishing, storing, preserving, and

disposing content within and between