Documents from your DMS archive your document management records, with sources.

Everything archived for years in a DMS such as DocuWare, ELO or a similar system – contracts, receipts, correspondence, minutes, file notes – becomes searchable in the knowledge base. Access is read-only; nothing in the archive is changed.

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Existing DMS

subject to a feasibility check · database export

Example question

“Which version of the maintenance contract with Berger is archived, and what notice period does it set?”

1 Answer with source

Connection

How the connection works

A DMS usually keeps documents in its own archive, with the index terms – client, receipt, date, file reference – in a separate database. There are two possible routes: a scheduled export that outputs documents with their index terms, or an interface provided by the vendor. Transfer is encrypted and outbound only; nothing in the archive is created, moved or changed. Before we start, we check with you and your DMS support partner whether and how your DMS can be connected – that depends on the system, version, licence and the vendor’s approvals.

Once set up, synchronisation runs automatically: new and changed documents from Existing DMS are added without anyone having to upload anything.

Set-upFirst, we work out with your DMS support partner which route is feasible for your installation; then we estimate the effort and agree it with you before anything is set up. Set-up and maintenance are charged on a time-and-materials basis, agreed in advance.

Documents

Typical content: Existing DMS

Incoming invoices and receipts with the index values entered in the input form when they were filed – supplier, receipt number, receipt series, cost centre, year.
Contracts with their amendments, often kept as versions of the same document, with term and notice period as separate index fields.
Archived correspondence with authorities, clients and tradespeople – often filed straight from the mailbox, with attachments, and the subject line as a keyword.
Minutes and notes: meeting minutes, minutes of owners’ meetings, handover records and file memos.
Outgoing documents from other systems that reached the archive via the print route: statements, fee notes, official notices and closed matters.
Batch scans from the migration years: paper files scanned in one go, split using separator sheets and indexed as a block.

Example questions

Questions you might ask your documents

“Which version of the maintenance contract with Berger is archived, and what notice period does it set?”
1 Answer with source
“Where is the receipt for invoice 2021-0447, and what does it relate to?”
2 Answer with source
“What was filed on this matter between 2016 and 2019?”
3 Answer with source

Start

Before a connection is set up

This connection is set up for you rather than switched on in one click. Every source has its own logins, permissions and folder structure – so before we start, we check with you whether and how it can be connected at your company. Set-up and maintenance are charged on a time-and-materials basis, agreed in advance; the amount depends on the source.

You can also upload files, whole folders, emails, photos and voice notes at any time. In the demo you see the answers using sample documents from your industry; you check them against your own documents in the first weeks after go-live.

Preliminary check

What we check in advance

A DMS keeps part of its information alongside the file itself: stamps and annotations often sit on separate layers over the document, while follow-ups, links and log entries live in the database. Before we start, we check with your DMS support partner whether the export route includes these layers – some systems write visible annotations into the output file, others don’t. We also check whether the archive holds only references to files stored elsewhere, and where those files are. Batch scans without a text layer go through text recognition (OCR); how well this works on faint copies only becomes clear from the documents themselves. Archive permissions are not copied one to one, but set up afresh through document types and roles.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions about this connection

Our archive goes back to 2008. Does all of it have to be included?

That’s up to you. A selection is usual: current matters and the most recent years first, older ones later. Adding more later is just another export run, not a rebuild – what is already in the knowledge base stays in place. The index terms come across too, so a receipt from 2011 stays filed under 2011, not under the day of the export. Years kept in the archive only to meet retention requirements can be left out from the start if you wish.

Everything here runs on index fields rather than folders. How does an answer reach the right matter?

The index terms from the archive are carried over as field values: client, receipt number, date, file reference. Where a field was left empty at filing, the system reads the values from the document; if the two differ, both are given. Someone from your company confirms each document’s type on the first run, because visibility depends on it. The answer names the source with receipt number and year, so you can check it in the archive – and if the system finds nothing, it tells you so.

What happens when our document management system is upgraded?

That depends on what the upgrade changes. If the export route, access and target directory stay the same, nothing needs doing. If index fields are renamed or the export route is moved, no new documents are added until it has been updated; the content already read stays in place. We coordinate the update with your DMS support partner, and it is charged on a time-and-materials basis, agreed in advance. A quick note before the switchover date helps, so we can check the export route at the same time.

Each department has its own permissions in the DMS. Will that stay as it is?

In the archive, everything stays as it is – access is read-only, and nothing in the permission profiles is changed. In your instance, visibility is set up afresh: not document by document, but through document types and roles, optionally from a cut-off date. An archive area that concerns only one department can also be left out and added later. If someone lacks permission, the system tells them so rather than showing the content.

Industries

Typical for these industries

Guides

Request a demo – with examples for Existing DMS

In a 30-minute video call, we use sample documents to show what answers with sources look like. Before we start, we check whether and how Existing DMS can be connected at your company.