By bartt2 on

I have a set of requirements (not well fleshed out) that cover a system to manage documents (word docs, designs, etc.) for both internal and external use. Basically what we need is a system that allows users to have multiple versions of docs online, publish at will and keep working on new revs. We also need to have inside and outside facing interfaces with access control and permissions enforcement (this might be best covered with separate sites and doc pushes to the outside facing interface). Conversion from word docs to html or XML has been discussed as part of this.
I looked at OpenPublish, but I am not sure that it really fits well..
So, the question is: Is there a distribution or a set of modules already in place that closely approximates this set of requirements, or am I looking a tough rocky climb to get where we need to be?

Thanks in advance.
Bart

⋅ Categories: Drupal 7.x

Comments

WorldFallz’s picture

WorldFallz commented

True document management is the one area where drupal is still really lacking. There is the http://drupal.org/project/document module, but I haven't tried it yet. Low usage modules with a single maintainer always make me nervous-- I wouldn't want to commit an important functionality like document management to a module that could easily end up abandoned.

If I had to do doc mgmt now, I'd look at integrating with alfresco-- even if the drupal module dies, alfresco itself is still a solid product. There's the http://drupal.org/project/cmis and http://drupal.org/project/alfresco modules (though the cmis one seems more solid atm).

bartt2’s picture

bartt2 commented

Thank you for your reply.
The research that I conducted while waiting lead me to the same conclusion. While Drupal seems a natural for this non-trivial task, I guess it needs some time to mature in this area.
I'll look more closely at your suggestions to see if I can afford the time to get them working for us.

zeezhao’s picture

zeezhao commented

Also look at:
http://drupal.org/project/filedepot

http://drupal.org/project/webfm

bartt2’s picture

bartt2 commented

Thank you for the suggestions..

WorldFallz’s picture

WorldFallz commented

Those are more file management than document management. Though filedepot mentions document management, I don't consider versioned files to be true document management.

hondaman900’s picture

hondaman900 commented

Hi Bartt2, did you ever find a good document management solution for Drupal? I'd love to know if you reached a resolution/conclusion as this is a current topic of discussion/debate at our college.

Thanks in advance.

jim.applebee’s picture

jim.applebee commented

Has anyone found a decent solution for this area yet? If so please share! :-)

Thank you!

garek007’s picture

garek007 commented

+1!

WorldFallz’s picture

WorldFallz commented

True document management still involves integrating alfresco. There is no native drupal doc management... just file management.

j2b’s picture

j2b commented

I was inspired by this article, and am willing to test it on my own. Yet, haven't got a time:
http://www.codeenigma.com/en/blog/document-management-drupal

WorldFallz’s picture

WorldFallz commented

I hadn't seen that one-- excellent article.

However (from the article):

Drupal also handles revisioning,

I disagree, and this is the crux of the issue for me. Drupal does revisions for the nodes to which files are attached-- not the files themselves (at least, afaik). For anyone who has used a true sharepoint or alfresco doc library, the differences will be immediate and hardcore. My users simply will not accept document management that does not function as seamlessly as those do. They're not going to download a file, open it in the correct app, make changes, re-upload the new version, and write a paragraph describing the changes. And anyone who thinks that's acceptable to document creators is kidding themselves.

From what I can see, the most crucial features are auto check-out/check-in, complete office integration (and i'm in a MS shop, so open office doesn't count) and complete document (not file) revision history. As far as I know, that's still means alfresco for a drupal site-- although I would love to be proved wrong.