System of electronic circulation of documents. Electronic document flow: how to register? Benefits of automated document management systems

Working with documentation takes the lion's share of the time and resources of any organization, because papers accompany all stages of entrepreneurial activity. Streamlining the workflow processes immediately dramatically increases the efficiency of management and accounting, the shortcomings of the document circulation system create many problems for the business.

Automation has also affected this side of entrepreneurship.

• Consider the features of the creation and functioning of a single organizational system providing the movement of documents in electronic form,
• we will discuss how to choose the most suitable system,
• let's get acquainted with the most popular EDMS.

The essence of EDMS systems

Document flow- a term that characterizes all the processes at the enterprise associated with the fixation of various acts in the form of documentation:

• initial writing or receiving;
• registration;
• ensuring the execution of the appropriate actions on the document;
• control over execution;
• accounting;
• archiving;
• storage;
• reuse;
• inquiry;
• mailing.

REFERENCE! The workflow also includes the process of organizing all of the above activities. It is important to distinguish between paperwork and office work: the latter concept is broader, it denotes the entire business industry related to documentation, and includes the former.

For a long time, the workflow process was carried out exclusively in paper form, but modern technologies allow you to automate this system and switch to a completely paperless option or significantly reduce the flow of documentation on paper.

There are several options for naming such an automated electronic system work with documentation:

• EDMS - electronic document management system;
• SEDD - system of electronic document management and office work;
• SAD - office automation system;
• SEDO - electronic document management system;
• SADO is a document flow automation system.

The most common abbreviation is SED.

An obligatory component of the EDMS is the use electronic signature- the identifier of the electronic document, which guarantees its authenticity (plays the role of a personal visa on a paper document).

Advantages of the EDMS implementation

The most obvious advantage of using electronic document management in an enterprise is the ability to happily avoid many problems that are almost inevitable in traditional paper-based office work. These include:

• human error;
• loss of the required document;
• time spent looking for the required paper;
• problems with sending, delivering and receiving documentation;
• difficulties, if necessary, to make duplicates;
• additional actions related to storage, archiving and destruction of accumulated papers;
• stationery costs;
• a lower degree of protection against counterfeiting and possible harm, etc.

The positive qualities of the EDMS, which dramatically affect the efficiency of business processes, stem from the principles of using this system.

1. Unique identification- in electronic form, the document is registered once, after which it can be easily identified automatically.
2. Parallel operations- in electronic form, you can interact with several documents almost simultaneously, hence increasing efficiency and reducing time costs.
3. Unity of the documentary base- all documents are brought together in an agreed system, as a result of which they are not duplicated or lost.
4. Easy search- the automatic identification system allows you to quickly find the required document with a minimum of initial data.
5. Possibility of attachment- to any document in in electronic format you can attach one or more files, which allows you to provide it with the necessary applications and attributes.
6. Advanced reporting- the electronic form allows you to group documents according to the necessary grounds, which allows you to control all stages of the movement of documents and ensure complete and reliable accounting for the necessary factors.
7. Flexible adaptation- electronic document management is easy to quickly adapt to any production needs.

NOTE! To provide all the noted advantages of the EDMS, the personnel working with the documentation will need to retrain and learn new skills.

What are the EDMS

A software product designed to perform the functions of document flow automation differs in the set of functions incorporated into it.

1. Universal EDMS(they are also called "packaged" or "boxed" - standardized systems that provide basic office work functions.
   • relatively small functionality;
   • inadaptation to the specifics of the company;
   • availability and ease of installation and implementation;
   • the most inexpensive in terms of cost.

ATTENTION! When introducing a universal EDMS at an enterprise, the employer will have to acquire a license for new jobs being introduced.

2. EDMS of individual development- systems made specifically to meet the needs of a particular customer. These products are characterized by:
   • maximum personification;
   • additional expenses for retraining employees and purchasing equipment;
   • high price;
   • takes more time to develop, install and implement.
3. Combined EDMS- on the basis of the universal platform, additional individual add-ons are introduced. Installing such a system allows you to solve the following tasks:
   • fully suited to meet the needs of the organization;
   • development, installation and commissioning costs are reduced;
   • basic modules allow you to quickly master the system and train personnel;
   • can interact with others software products;
   • the customer receives full rights to the software product.

Depending on the configuration, the capabilities of one or another EDMS provide automation different areas production activities that can be combined in different ways:

1. Office work.
2. General circulation of documents.
3. Contract management.
4. Archiving.
5. Project management.
6. Special documentation.
7. Interaction with incoming documentation.

How to choose a suitable EDMS

To pick up the best option to automate the workflow of an organization from a fairly wide range of products on the market, you need to know what parameters you should pay attention to.

The key factors in the selection are the following organization-specific points:

• readiness to replace paper documentation with its electronic counterpart (“maturity” of document flow);
• goals implementation of EDMS;
• the possibility of further development;
• resources allocated for implementation (time and money).

Let's consider each factor in more detail:

1. The maturity of the original workflow. The better the paper workflow is organized in the company, the easier it is to implement the EDMS, since it will immediately remove all the difficulties, providing in return the benefits of more efficient office work. Relatively small temporary and financial expenses for the installation of the system and the training of personnel. At the lower levels of document management, you will first have to spend energy on formalizing the main document management processes, and then translate them into electronic form.
2. Implementation goals. The choice is dictated by a set of functions that will be provided by one or another EDMS. In each specific case, the sieves management, whether the basic characteristics will be enough or personification will be required.
3. Reserves... When automation is required for already formalized processes, there is a high likelihood of their specificity. The development of the organization provides for changes in the workflow, which the system should potentially be capable of. Therefore, given the reserves of development, the implemented EDMS should be as flexible as possible.
4. Resources... Value in terms of time and money is ultimately the investment component. Therefore, you need to take into account not only the price of the software and its installation, but also how much it will cost to own this system. Additional costs there may be funds for the "upgrade" of an already functioning EDMS, retraining of employees, etc.

A brief overview of several popular EDMS

In the modern market of Russia today, about 20 different EDMS are used. Let us analyze the most commonly used of them, which have successfully proven themselves in improving the efficiency of enterprise management.

1. "Practice". In 2012, the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications introduced this system as the main one for document circulation, it has about 4 thousand clients. The system is used by the majority government agencies Moscow. This program can be used in cloud or server version. The cost of a subscription fee for an organization is relatively low; an additional payment is made for each additional user.
2. "Naumen DMS"- development based on NauDoc (in the recent past one of the most popular EDMS), but in an improved and expanded version. It is part of a wider business process management system.
3. "Directum"- a system that focuses on the principles of collective interaction. Contains convenient mechanisms for creating databases for documentation, organizing conferences, interviews, meetings, etc.
4. CompanyMedia- on the contrary, it provides maximum personification. With the help of this EDMS, it is easy to create personal jobs and ensure their functioning.
5. "Business"- the leading product, occupying almost half EDMS market in the Russian Federation, which is used by the Central Bank, Sberbank, Rostelecom and other large organizations.

Today, most companies are moving from paper to electronic workflow. This saves both time and money for the organization. Electronic document management eliminates paperwork. You can exchange information 24 hours a day from the office or any other place. You just need to have a computer with an electronic signature and Internet access at hand. In addition, the electronic document management system makes it possible to monitor the progress of work in real time.

What is electronic document management

If we speak in simple words, electronic document management is the exchange of electronic documents through a local network, the Internet or other channels. Electronic document flow can occur both within an organization and between companies.

EDF allows you not only to exchange documents, but also to organize work without using paper media: searching for documents, drawing up reports, maintaining an archive and much more.

Electronic document circulation is carried out through the system of the EDM operator included in the trust network of the Federal Tax Service of Russia. One company sends another electronic document. The addressee receives it within a few seconds on his PC. At this time, the operator automatically checks the electronic signature with which the document is endorsed, and whether the document format complies with the legal requirements. With the help of statuses, the sender can see how the document is moving.

Types of electronic documents

Almost every document can be converted into electronic form. Typically, companies are switching to electronic contracts, invoices, various invoices, reports, and so on.

Electronic documents are divided into non-formalized documents and formalized documents.

Unformalized documents - letters, contracts, powers of attorney, technical documentation and other documents, they are exempted from strict regulation by the state.

Formalized documents have strict requirements for the format and transfer regulations. Formalized document - a document that was created in the format of the Federal Tax Service, for example, an act of acceptance of work. Formalized documents affect the correctness of tax calculations, therefore, compliance with all transfer procedures is essential for them.

Note that unformalized electronic documents can be in any format: doc, xlsx, pdf, jpg and others, while formalized documents can only be in the form of a file with the xml extension.

Functions of the electronic document management system

The electronic document management system performs the following functions:

• registration of a document;
• control over the execution of documents;
• creation of reference books;
• control of the movement of paper and electronic documents, keeping the history of work with documents;
• creating and editing details of documents;
• generation of reports on the document flow of the enterprise;
• import of documents from the file system and the Internet;
• creating a document directly from the system using a template;
• work with document versions, complex multi-component and multi-format documents, attachments;
• electronic distribution of documents;
• work with documents in folders;
• obtaining documents using scanning and recognition;
• reducing the cost of accessing data and processing documents.

EDF options

There are two ways to organize an electronic document management system. Firstly, it is possible to conclude an agreement on electronic document management with counterparties and exchange documents that will be signed with an electronic signature via e-mail.

Secondly, you can organize EDM through a special operator. In this case, you need to join the rules for the exchange of electronic documents. After that, an exchange with counterparties is available both with formalized documents and non-formalized ones.

Automation of electronic document management. Pros and cons of EDF

Electronic document management is a whole Information system, which includes specialized software, e-mail, Internet, local area network and more.

Electronic document flow in comparison with paper looks much more attractive. Let's highlight the main advantages of EDF.

• the simplest one - costs associated with paper costs are reduced;
• saves time - employees spend less time to find a paper document;
• increased transparency inner work companies - the electronic document management system makes it possible to track the status of the document;
• a personal history of each file and accompanying documents is kept - at any time you can open all the necessary documents containing requirements related to various types of relationships between the company and external entities;
• reports of the organization are promptly prepared;
• increased data security.

Among the minuses, one can note the high cost of software and the costs associated with training employees and digitizing all available documents.

What is needed to switch to electronic document management

In order to introduce electronic document circulation, it is necessary to develop and approve the procedure for electronic document circulation; name those responsible for its maintenance; organize an electronic archive of received and sent documents; prescribe in the accounting policy the rules for creating, receiving and storing electronic documents; appoint those responsible for the formation and signing of electronic documents.

All employees who are authorized to sign documents must have an electronic signature.

Approximate algorithm of actions:

• a technical assignment is being developed;
• an IT solution is selected;
• business processes are described;
• estimates, schedules, lists of required resources and general plan works;
• EDF is being introduced;
• the program is being tested;
• the electronic document management system is launched;
• the use of the system is monitored.

Electronic document management system

Any EDI system can contain the properties of the categories listed below, however, most of them have a specific orientation associated with product positioning.

1. Electronic archive is an EDM system, which is aimed at efficient storage and retrieval of data.

2. Electronic document management systems with advanced workflow tools - provide the movement of some objects along a certain path, which is set in advance. At each stage, the object can change, which is why it is called the general word "work". Documents are attached to the work, however, they are not the main objects here. Thanks to these systems, certain work is organized.

3. EDI systems, which are focused on supporting the management of the organization and the accumulation of knowledge. These are systems that combine the properties of the systems described above. Here the basic element can be anything - a work or a document. These systems are used by government agencies, large companies, where there are certain rules and procedures for the movement of documents.

4. EDF systems that are focused on supporting collaboration - such systems differ from the previous ones and do not have a clear hierarchy in the organization and formalization of the work flow. The task of such EDF is to ensure the work of employees in the company, wherever they are, and to preserve the results of the work done.

5. EDM systems that have developed additional services. A prime example is the customer relationship management (CRM) service. These types of services are varied and may include different sets of services.

"," Thesis "and 1C: Document flow. The share of these solutions in the TAdviser base exceeds 60%.

At the same time, over the past year, information about 600 new projects has appeared in it. In 2019, the TAdviser base was most often replenished with information on the implementations of the Elma, Thesis, DirectumRX and 1C: Document Management systems.

If we consider implementations by vendor, taking into account all the decisions of a particular company related to EDMS / ECM, then in this case the Top 5, as of the end of 2019, will look like this: Directum, Elma, Doxvision and Haulmont ...

2018

According to data for December 2018, the database of the EDMS / ECM projects of TAdviser included information on more than 5.1 thousand implementations. Since December 2017, i.e. since the publication of the previous report, it has expanded by almost 700 new and archived projects.

Half of all projects, information about which is available on the site, falls on 5 domestic systems - Directum, Elma, Docsvision, Delo and Tezis.

If we look at the implementation of all EDMS / ECM class products of specific vendors, then the five leaders by the number of projects will look like this: Directum, Elma, Electronic Office Systems (EOS), Doxvision and Haulmont.

2017

The most popular EDMS / ECM systems

According to the data as of the beginning of December 2017, the database of the EDMS / ECM projects of TAdviser included information about about 4440 thousand implementations. Since November 2016, i.e. since the publication of the previous report, 460 new and archived projects have been added to it.

More than half of all projects, information about which is available on the site, falls on 5 domestic systems - Directum, Docsvision, ELMA, Delo and 1C: Document Management.

If we look at the implementation of all EDMS / ECM class products of specific vendors, then by the number of projects the top five, as a year ago, will look like this: Directum, Electronic Office Systems (EOS), ELMA, Doxvision and 1C.

2016

The most popular EDMS / ECM systems

As of the beginning of November 2016, the base of TAdviser projects included information on 3980 implementations of EDMS / ECM systems in various industries. According to these data, the largest number of projects was completed using Directum (677 projects), ELMA (446), Delo (430), DocsVision (428) and 1C: Document Management (164).

Of course, these figures are far from the real number of implementations, because, for example, only on the 1C website there is information about more than 1.5 thousand implementations of 1C: Document Management. Nevertheless, the voiced data makes it possible to understand which systems are most often used in Russia.

Only two foreign solutions are presented in the top ten of the most frequently implemented systems - Documentum and SharePoint. This is explained, first of all, by the fact that projects where foreign products are used are taken by volume, not quantity.

Vendors by the number of EDMS / ECM implementations

The graph above shows the total implementations of all systems of specific vendors that belong to the EDMS / ECM class. If in one project two or more solutions of the same vendor were used, which in the TAdviser base are classified as EDMS (ECM), then the implementation of each solution was taken into account separately.

2015

The most popular EDMS / ECM systems

According to TAdviser, the Delo electronic document management system is the leader in the number of implementations. In the TAdviser base for the entire observation period, there are 418 projects executed using this solution. Few fewer projects implemented with DocsVision - 416 implementations. Also, the five leaders in quantitative terms include ELMA, Directum and 1C: Document Management Systems - 393, 368 and 124, respectively. In total, the TAdviser base, as of November 2015, contains information on more than 3.3 thousand projects.

Among all projects completed in 2014, and there are about 500 of them in the TAdviser database, the largest number of implementations fell on the ELMA, Directum, Delo, DocsVision and

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Electronic document management or EDM is a segment of information technology (and, at the same time, a large-scale sphere of legal relations), which can be classified as one of the most actively developing in Russia and in the world. Let's get acquainted with its essence, history of development, as well as with the most popular software products, with the help of which electronic document flow in an organization can be organized.

Electronic document management (EDF): what is it - definition by law and in essence

An organization planning to participate in electronic document management must know, first of all, what, in fact, this term means. The definition of EDF can be found by analyzing the provisions of the legislation - which directly or indirectly regulates legal relations typical for the fields of EDF application, or by studying the popular points of view of experts.

Let's start by looking for the definition we are interested in by legal framework.

It should be noted that electronic document management, on the one hand - especially in private organizations (in state and municipal structures, things may be different - but the difference is not too big), does not belong to the number of areas that would be strictly regulated by special legislation. On the other hand, EDF itself is a rather complex sphere of legal relations, within the framework of which each of the participants in such legal relations may have a variety of rights and obligations - in turn, quite regulated, and often very actively, at the level of regulatory acts (including special legislation).

One way or another, the definition of the concept of "electronic document flow" is not unambiguously given in the Russian normative legal acts adopted at the federal level. At the same time, this term obviously consists of two components:

1. Phrases "electronic document".

The concept of an electronic document is disclosed, in particular, in the provisions of Article 2 of the Law "On Information" dated July 27, 2006 No. 149-FZ (LINK). It says that such a document should be understood as documented information in electronic form, intended for placement or processing on computers, as well as transfer between them. In turn, under "documented information" the law understands information recorded on a tangible medium by means of documentation that has requisites that allow this information (or its tangible medium) to be determined.

In turn, what is “documentation”? It will not be a mistake to turn to state standards in order to reveal the meaning of this word. So, in GOST R 7.0.8-2013 (LINK) it is said that documentation should be understood as "recording information on a medium in accordance with the established rules." In this case, various documentation tools can be used - for example, computer technology, with the help of which data is recorded on a medium.

1. The words "workflow".

It is, for obvious reasons, older than the first phrase. Its definitions can be found in some normative acts adopted back in the USSR (despite the fact that many of them retain legal force still). So, in the "Regulations on documents and workflow in accounting", which was approved by the USSR Ministry of Finance in 1983 (LINK), it is said that workflow is the movement (creation, receipt, processing, archiving) of primary documents. This definition is still quite relevant today - since it is quite consistent with the typical cycle of circulation of documents on modern enterprise.

It turns out that, guided by a direct reading of the law (and its admissible interpretation according to the principle of legal analogy), we can conclude that under "electronic document flow" should be understood the creation, receipt, processing and archiving of information recorded on an electronic medium in accordance with the established rules.

Does this mean that data processing on a computer that does not meet (or partially meet) the specified definition cannot under any circumstances be considered an "electronic document flow"? Of course not, if only due to the fact that any law, even the strictest, allows in the course of law enforcement practice an adaptive interpretation of its norms in the interests of improving the quality of regulation of legal relations in its jurisdiction.

Therefore, we have the right to be guided by the specified norms of the law - in particular, those establishing the definitions of the concepts of "electronic document" and "workflow", but we are not obliged to follow them in all cases. Moreover, among experts, various alternative interpretations of the concept of EDF are widespread - both similar to the one that we derived based on the norms of the law, and very original.

For example, there is a popular approach assuming that "electronic document management" is the transfer from one computer (one logical part of the computer carrier) to another (to another logical part) documents that:

• have legal force equal to that which characterizes non-electronic objects of document flow similar in purpose;
• have a fundamental similarity and commonality of the field of application with similar non-electronic document flow objects.

At the same time, an electronic document can have, in principle, any form - both unified and free (like the file format of such a document - it can be text, a picture, or, for example, a video).

Thus, in the definition of EDF, it is proposed to use phrases such as "similar legal force" and "fundamental similarity and commonality" - in the context of comparing electronic documents and non-electronic documents. As a consequence, it is assumed that the object of electronic document management can be:

• a document that has (in principle can be formed) that is not an electronic analogue;
• a document that can be created on the basis of a non-electronic analogue (or, conversely, can be the basis for creating a non-electronic analogue).

The approach under consideration makes it possible to "weed out" from the number of electronic document management objects, for example, such types of information as system files, scripts, hash tables (since they have no counterparts that are not electronic - neither from the point of view of "generality of use", nor from the point of view of of legal force) - even though they may meet the criteria for an "electronic document" enshrined in federal law, which we discussed above (and even are subject to "document flow" in accordance with the same legal criteria).

Before the subject of document flow - for example, commercial enterprise, there may not be a problem at all to "isolate", in fact, an electronic document from something else electronic, which cannot be considered an EDF object. At the same time, when establishing the rules of electronic document flow in an organization in local regulations, such an enterprise, one way or another, will have to somehow fix this concept in the official formulation. Without this, the employee responsible for EDF will automatically cease to be responsible for anything - due to the absence of the subject of such responsibility (and it will be impossible to ask anything from him).

Thus, when establishing local standards for electronic document flow in an organization, one can focus, relatively speaking, on one of two approaches in defining the term "electronic document flow":

• an approach based on the disclosure of the concepts of "electronic document" and "workflow" at the level of existing regulations;
• an approach based on the separation of EDM objects from electronic information that cannot be attributed to such objects due to the fact that it does not have (cannot be formed) "legally equal" (or have a "similar scope") analogues, which are not used electronically.

Accordingly, in order to avoid a situation when the employee responsible for EDM will not be responsible for the processing of certain documents, the company should stipulate in local regulations which documents will be considered the object of electronic document flow in the organization, and which will not, based on the first or the second criterion (or another that is developed by the enterprise independently).

It will be useful to determine why the company needs EDF in principle.

What are the benefits of the introduction of EDI at the enterprise?

Among the most obvious advantages of electronic document management in an organization and an individual entrepreneur - in comparison with paper, include:

1. Ensuring traceability of document transactions.

This “traceability” can vary depending on how EDF is presented. But even if this is a workflow at the "copied-pasted" level, then, one way or another, attributes are assigned by default to each file, reflecting, in particular:

• the time of their creation;
• editing time;
• opening time.

"System" EDM - carried out with the help of specialized programs - electronic document management systems (we will talk about them in more detail later), is characterized by the ability to record on the basis of electronic documents not only, in fact, transactions with them, but also business events related to the properties of such documents ... Thanks to this feature, the business becomes transparent for any interested parties - owners, management, potential investors.

1. Improving the efficiency of document processing (and, as a consequence, improving production performance at the enterprise).

An electronic document is almost always filled in, sent (if necessary, corrected, duplicated) much faster than a paper one. Maybe, this advantage electronic document management should be called key. Counter-arguments to this thesis may be, perhaps, the periodic occurrence of technical failures in the enterprise's EDM system, as well as the appearance of user-related problems - when a particular employee does not know how to properly use the required EDM function at a certain moment. Indeed, in such situations, the workflow is strongly "slowed down" - but with competent preparation for the implementation of an electronic document management system in an organization, the probability of their occurrence will be minimal.

An employee of the company working in the framework of EDI has every chance to improve his production indicators - in comparison with those that would be observed with paper workflow. Reducing the time spent working with documents allows him to concentrate on his main work.

In addition, the advantage reflected in the item under consideration is formed, among other things, due to the "traceability", which we mentioned above: thanks to the transparency of the movement of documents, the management has the ability to control the work of subordinates, give it an objective assessment, monitor the quality of their compliance with instructions and prescriptions - and all very quickly.

1. Information protection using cryptography or access restriction, backup.

Access to electronic documents and their content can be extremely reliably protected using digital technologies. At the same time, it is possible to establish different access rights to certain documents for certain categories of users. Availability of the required number of EDM objects backup copies, moreover, on distributed media, is an important condition for ensuring the overall high level data protection.

Data on paper can be protected in one or two really effective ways - and almost always this is placing documents in a safe (or in another place protected for free access). Of course, somewhere this method of ensuring data security is more reliable - but in the list of modern threats to information confidentiality, those that require, relatively speaking, the use of a safe instead of crypto protection - are far from the first places.

1. General acceleration of business processes (in terms of internal communications at least, and when using EDM by counterparties - in terms of external ones).

Within the framework of electronic document flow in an organization, the search for the necessary information by an employee or a manager is carried out, as a rule, incomparably faster in comparison with the search for data recorded on paper. In many cases, it is carried out according to the given algorithms with minimal human participation - when he receives only the result for his request, without performing any significant additional actions from the point of view of labor costs.

1. The ability to organize remote work with documents (both at the level of interaction of employees with each other within the corporation, and in terms of interaction with counterparties).

Thanks to the Internet (and other types of infrastructure for network communications), employees can work with key documents not only at their workplace, but also remotely - at least from home. At the same time, thanks to encryption technologies, the necessary security of access to documents is ensured.

1. Reducing (minimizing) the cost of providing paperwork- submitted by:

• the purchase of the paper itself;
• purchase and maintenance of printers;
• the purchase of the necessary office supplies;
• payment for the services of transport companies (when delivering paper), IT specialists (when installing and maintaining printers).

Documents printed on paper must be placed in a special archive - which simply takes up space (and requires arrangement - for example, buying a metal safe). These are direct costs - which will stop when the relevant documents are transferred to EDF.

Energy is also saved when printers are not in use. Although the thesis on electricity is controversial: ensuring electronic document management in an organization often requires the use of high-performance servers, constantly running routers - which are powered from an outlet. In total, they consume a lot of energy.

It will be useful to say about the obvious disadvantages of EDF.

What are the disadvantages

The bottlenecks for EDF application include:

1. The risk of data interception by "hacker" methods.

This is exactly the case when information is best stored on paper in a safe place. With the spread of electronic document management systems in Russia and in the world, hackers are creating more and more sophisticated means of obtaining unauthorized access to electronic documents. Of course, thanks to the means of cryptography and anti-virus protection, the likelihood of unauthorized persons gaining access to EDM objects can be minimized - but it will still remain.

1. The impossibility of a guaranteed establishment of the fact of a person's operation with a document.

All operations with an electronic document are formally performed by a computer, not a person. The fact that the PC processes the document exactly at the user's will is not considered "proven" by default: there must be a technically flawless confirmation of this. Which in its pure form the leading IT specialists of the world have yet to develop sometime, but for now, in necessary cases (for example, in litigation between corporations), various indirect confirmations are taken into account. A variety of judicial precedents show that the use of digital signature- seemingly the most reliable tool for certifying the processing of a document by a person, belongs to the number of circumstantial evidence.

As a result, electronic document management is practically not widespread (or is used in a limited range of functions), in particular:

• at the initial stages of credit and financial legal relations - so that it does not happen that the bank opened an account or issued a loan to a computer virus (but sometimes this also happens);
• in notarial legal relations - when it is desirable for a notary to see a person in front of him, and not a virtual character;
• in immigration legal relations - when the border guard is unlikely to agree to let a person go abroad (or let him into the country) without seeing him and his paper documents.

1. Dependence of the subject of document flow on various types of external infrastructure:

• communication;
• services involved in the supply and maintenance of computers;
• information security in a broad sense (which may include EDS providers and anti-virus developers, since both create solutions, one way or another, aimed at ensuring information protection).

If any of these infrastructures fails, then the workflow can suddenly get up. And in the case of using paper, the subject of document circulation is left “to himself”, and technologically does not depend on anyone, strictly speaking (even if his printer breaks down, he can, if desired, write the necessary documents by hand).

A firm that has become convinced of the advantages of introducing electronic document management in an organization (and has taken into account the disadvantages of such a document circulation) will have to carry out this implementation. Roughly speaking, if a company has at least one computer - on which at least one production document is processed, then we can assume that it has EDF - at least at the “grassroots” level.

But this thesis should not be taken seriously - since the real practical application of electronic document management in an organization is the present stage nevertheless, it is performed at levels higher than the one at which the case is limited to the "copy-pasted" procedure. EDM today is implemented in the course of the operation of special software products - electronic document management systems or EDMS (in some cases supplemented by functionality, which together can turn a software product into a special type of document management platform - ECM).

Let's take a closer look at what the EDMS is (and how they relate to similar ECM systems) in more detail.

What is an EDMS and how does it differ from an ECM system

Above, we have considered several popular definitions of the concept of "electronic document management". Its main object is, which is quite obvious, an electronic document - an object that can be "created, received, processed, archived" (and much more - the lists of operations can be much wider in comparison with what is given in the Soviet normative act on document flow of accounting primary).

The key task of the user who carries out the workflow - "creating, receiving, processing, archiving" (using the capacity of these terms, we agree to limit ourselves to them - when designating the main operations within the EDM), is to keep records of these operations with documents. He must know when, by whom (for what purpose, with what result) this or that document was “created, received, processed, archived”.

Corresponding records can be kept:

1. By the user manually- taking into account the capabilities that are provided by the operating system that serves the data carrier, by default, and also taking into account the functionality of the programs it uses (which can be used with limited active, moderate or very active use).

For example, if individual entrepreneur conducts a very simple business in structure and works with 1-2 counterparties, then he can establish (in fact, for himself) a number of simple data processing rules used in business. Alternatively, he can, with a frequency set by himself:

• request invoices (or invoices) from counterparties by e-mail;
• download them to your "Desktop", then - sign using EDS, and send them back to the counterparties by mail.

It turns out that the entire EDM of an entrepreneur will be reduced to literally a few operations - which do not require the use of any additional software: you can get by with Windows and server tools Email... They allow you to keep a complete record of the "creation, receipt, processing and archiving" of documents used by the individual entrepreneur.

1. Special programworkflowSED (set of programs) automatically- within the framework of the system algorithm (respectively, with limited active, moderate or very active user participation).

The SED will be such a program. In accordance with the specified rules, it will ensure timely and correct accounting of the "creation, receipt, processing and archiving" of data. In addition, the ERMS functionality can provide options that help the user to carry out the transactions subject to accounting. For example - assuming the use of a more convenient file program in comparison with Windows Explorer.

At the same time, specific EDMS can "specialize" in certain operations with electronic documents. Thus, systems are distinguished that are adapted mainly:

• to the accounting of documents within the framework of corporate office work;
• to the accounting of archival documents;
• to the accounting of documents that are associated with work flows - Workflow.

A work flow is a sequence of human actions that is common for a certain area of ​​business management - a business owner, manager, or an ordinary employee. Receiving invoices from e-mail, signing them with an EDS and sending them back to the counterparty is part of the IP Workflow in the example above. On the large enterprise Workflow, obviously, will be much more complex - and accounting for its constituent operations will almost certainly require the use of an EDMS.

There are, of course, various universal document management programs (EDMS) that support the above operations in all varieties. At the same time, in many cases, EDMS developers supplement their programs with functionality that provides:

• automation of collection (accumulation), storage and transmission of electronic documents;
• the required level of security for the movement of documents within the company and outside it;
• if necessary - creation, editing and correction of documents by internal means;
• collaboration of several users with one document.

In the presence of one or several functions from among the above (despite the fact that their list in practice can be much wider), a universal (in some cases, highly specialized) EDMS acquires the features of a more functional solution - ECM. On the market of modern software for organizing EDM, there are more and more such solutions, and therefore sometimes the Russian abbreviation EDMS is identified with the foreign ECM. In many cases, there will be no error here - however, you still need to see the fundamental difference between the EDMS and ECM.

EDMS (note that in foreign sources it corresponds to the abbreviation EDMS) - it is, mainly, only the accounting of transactions with documents (sometimes - assistance in their execution). ECM is not only accounting, but also:

• in many cases - assistance in their fulfillment;
• a large number of functions typical for EDMS at the same time;
• additional functions (but, in one way or another, directly or indirectly related to EDF).

Either way, a typical ECM system provides:

• input, formation, import of documents;
• registration of documents;
• data recognition;
• indexing of documents;
• ensuring the search for the required data;
• ensuring the network exchange of documents;
• ensuring the exchange of additional data that does not have the features of the documented (for example, messages and files in a corporate chat);
• protection of the content of documents and access to them;
• output, export of documents.

How does a typical EDMS that supports the specified functionality (completely or in certain combinations) work? As a rule, electronic document flow in an enterprise consists in the circulation of an electronic document within a typical cycle, which consists of stages that can be determined based on the content of typical operations familiar to us that characterize document flow.

It will focus on such stages as:

1. Document registration(created, received).

When creating a document, the EDMS assigns it the specified identifier (or reads those assigned to the file by default). Subsequently, using this identifier, the system tracks how the document is processed further (as well as establishes the fact that it is not being processed - if this is actually the case).

1. Accounting for transactions reflecting processing(editing, transmission, publication) of the document - using the identifier mentioned above.

If the EDMS functionality provides options for processing documents directly (in this case, it is legitimate to talk about the functionality of the ECM system), then the information on identifiers can be synchronized with the records reflecting the fact of using these options.

1. Accounting for archiving documents.

That is, moving to a medium for long-term storage (while providing, however, the possibility of quick access to it). Similarly, the means of archiving can be provided by the EDMS (most likely, by the ECM system). In this case, a record of their use is also kept.

Now - in more detail about what solutions are in the EDMS segment, what segments are classified into

What are EDMS electronic document management systems: product classification

Experts identify the following main types of EDM systems:

1. Systems that ensure document flow in order to optimize business processes.

Such systems are designed to carry out a full cycle of circulation of each document involved in business management. The main feature of an "optimizing" solution is its adaptability to documenting the business process at any production site, if required by the established rules of document flow in the company.

1. General corporate EDMS.

They are universal solutions adapted for use in any industry, but at the same time, they do not always provide the necessary localization of business process accounting. As a rule, they are designed for processing EDM objects presented in a small nomenclature.

1. Highly specialized systems.

For example - Workflow management systems. They are intended to achieve the highest optimization of the distribution paths of files used by employees of the corporation in various processes. As a rule, they are more effective in comparison with EDMS, in which Workflow management is only one of the functions on a par with the others (and not always basic).

At the same time, within the framework of each of these types of solutions, you can find a variety of combinations of functions characteristic of the EDMS (as a result, it is sometimes extremely difficult to establish the boundary between specific types of products).

The above classification of EDMS is not the only one among the common ones. There are others. For example, the one that assumes the division of EDM systems according to the criterion of the method of processing the identifier of the EDF object.

The fact is that within the framework of any electronic document management system, the processing of the EDF object identifiers - its attributes (by which it is possible to track operations with the object), which we have considered above, is carried out. In practice, the identifiers of EDM objects in modern EDMS and the files themselves are stored, as a rule, distributed - in special directories. This is the fundamental difference between the EDMS and the usual computer file system - in which, in the general case, no external identifiers are attached to the files (there are only basic internal ones that are included in the files themselves - for example, file editing time identifiers and others that are included in the accounting of operations with documents at the "grassroots" level we have considered above).

Thus, the efficiency of the electronic document management system itself largely, if not decisively, depends on the efficiency of the directory management infrastructure where the identifiers of files that are objects of the EDMS are stored. Depending on the types of files taken into account, their number and the intensity of requests to them (which can also be classified by purpose - reading, editing, copying files), the optimal type of directory is selected.

Modern developers of electronic document management systems offer two basic principles for ensuring the functioning of such catalogs (and, accordingly, two types of EDMS, classified according to the criterion of the method of processing attributes):

• using the internal database in the program, which is the main working module of the EDMS;
• the use of an external - and, moreover, in many cases, a standardized, universal database (often open source, and therefore available to competitors).

In electronic document management systems designed to ensure the circulation of a relatively small volume of documents, a database may be absent altogether: identifiers are placed in ordinary folders on a computer (but at the same time effective access to them is organized). In fact, this is the third way to manage attributes. But if it is he who is used, then the EDF system will be much more difficult:

• to ensure the restriction of user access to identifiers;
• provide the required data processing speed.

At the same time, the implementation of the use of databases in the EDMS is a procedure that significantly increases the cost of developing the system. For the end user, especially if his activity does not involve processing a significant amount of documents, the cost factor can be significant when choosing an electronic document management system (deciding whether to continue using the existing platform).

Now - about what specific tasks will be solved by the introduction of EDMS (and about in which cases EDM systems do not significantly affect the efficiency of the business).

What tasks does the EDMS solve and what does not

The greatest practical benefit from the use of EDMS can be traced when solving problems related to:

1. With the optimization of the search for the desired document.

It is assumed that the electronic document management system will allow you to find a document faster than searching through Windows Explorer (or the built-in search engine of an email client - as is the case with the examples of Entrepreneur Workflow we have considered). A quick search for documents can be accompanied by the presence in the program of an electronic EDMS document flow options for online viewing, editing, sending (forwarding) to the addressee (most likely, in this case, we will talk about a product in the ECM segment).

1. With control over the status of the documents of interest.

This function will be of interest, first of all, to the head of the enterprise: by sending this or that administrative document to a subordinate employee, he will be able to track the execution of the order using the electronic document management system (record the delay in such execution). Alternatively, you can also keep feedback with the subordinate employee (if the EDMS has such a function, despite the fact that it can also be classified as one that brings the EDMS closer to ECM systems in terms of functionality).

Explorer and "mailer" obviously do not have such functions (and if they do, they, as a rule, do not scale very well to the level of large business).

1. Taking into account the documents with an intensive turnover, as well as directly with the implementation of such a turnover in practice - by standardizing the procedures for exchanging EDF objects, as an option, using common interfaces, if the intensity depends on the productivity of workers.

So, if the individual entrepreneur and the counterparty exchange invoices and each of them, relatively speaking, uses its own mail program, then the speed of document flow will be lower than if the individual entrepreneur and the counterparty used common system electronic document management: in it, the invoice delivery procedure would be instant.

1. With a decrease in the number of time-consuming procedures for accounting for paper documentation.

From time to time, paper documents need to be inventoried, written off - and all "manually". When such documents are converted into electronic form, the time for their "service" will be significantly reduced, in fact, reduced to a minimum.

1. With the establishment of the current location of the document.

This function, on the whole, correlates with the control one - but it is somewhat broader, since it involves the prompt detection of a document, not only sent for execution, but also, in principle, somewhere placed. It is almost impossible to lose a document indexed in the EDMS, provided that it works correctly.

In turn, the EDMS will not be very effective in solving problems related to:

1. With the change and choice of the path of movement of documents.

An electronic document management system is, in fact, a "large and convenient" file of EDF objects, however, not a viewer, not an editor, and not a means of receiving and sending them. To solve each of these tasks, use certain types software. EDMS program in essence, it does not matter what kind of file is put into the "card index" - text, video, picture. Each of them will be assigned according to a single scheme attributes, thanks to which it becomes possible solution those tasks that the EDMS are designed to solve in the first place.

However, ECM systems are a more functional type of electronic document management systems that may well be adapted to solving such problems.

1. With updating (synchronization, coordination) of documents.

This function is close to the first - and can be one of the sources of information flow formation, reflecting the specifics of the choice of the paths of movement of documents. At the same time, it involves directly editing files - albeit taking into account their routes. Updating documents can be carried out manually by the user or on the basis of an automatic algorithm. EDMS - in the form of ECM, often supports the first method of updating, but rarely - the second.

Automatic updating of documents involves the use of algorithms, which in many cases are designed to ensure the simultaneous processing of different files, as a result of which changes can be made to other files associated with them. For example, if the document being taken into account is a payroll, then as data changes in those accounting documents that affect payroll (for example, a timesheet), it should be adjusted. The EDMS (and, as a rule, ECM systems too), as a rule, does not have sufficient performance for such an adjustment automatically - however, it is able to trace the sequence of this adjustment (as well as the facts of access to the files, on the basis of which it was made).

Note that in some cases, the electronic document management system can significantly speed up legal procedures - established in order to coordinate changes in various documents by the responsible employees. So, if it is accepted at the enterprise that the payroll is endorsed Chief Accountant if agreed with the general director, then the EDMS may provide special tools for the prompt sending of the agreed document from the accountant to the manager (and vice versa).

1. With simulation of document movement(for example, in order to establish the same optimal route of their movement).

EDMS works with documents in their pure form - without analyzing in any way the extent to which it is advisable to send them along the current route. The method of delivery of documents is also not taken into account - such as sending and receiving via a local network, the Internet or physical media.

In order to solve problems related to modeling the movement of documents, special BPM solutions are used. At the same time, the modeling algorithms implemented in them can provide for obtaining data for analysis from the registers of electronic document management systems. Thus, the integration of BPM and EDMS is possible - but only to ensure the functioning of the first type of platform.

Note that the massive introduction of electronic document management systems is considered a relatively new (and sometimes "little-studied") technological trend for Russia. There is still a huge number of enterprises - moreover, of various sizes, including those representing a segment of large business, have not implemented the EDMS or have implemented it with restrictions, which do not give reason to talk about the great importance of using such systems in the general document flow of an economic entity.

However, the novelty as such of electronic document management systems in Russia is a delusion, as evidenced by various historical facts. As well as the delusion - that in Western countries such systems are at the advanced level, and in Russia, as in other countries of the former USSR, there is a "little-studied", lagging niche. As proof - a small historical reference to the development of the EDMS market in our country.

Development of EDM systems in the USSR and the Russian Federation: historical background

The first steps in organizing document circulation in our country and in the world practically coincided with the appearance, in fact, of computers and means for ensuring the exchange of documents - electronic media, and then computer networks. In the USSR, computer networks were mainly used for military purposes, but civilian projects began to appear in the 60s and 70s. Among them are the automated systems Sirena-1 and Sirena-2, which were used to book air tickets from networked computers at Aeroflot ticket offices, which were located in hundreds of Soviet cities. The ACS "Express" became a similar project in terms of the specifics of the tasks set, but only adapted to the reservation of railway tickets.

In both cases, the object of electronic document circulation was thus airplane and train tickets. More precisely, their electronic formats, which were entered in the established order in the ACS database, are legally equivalent to records in paper air transport and railway registers, which were used before the beginning of the "computerization" of the USSR passenger transport industry.

In the 1980s, Soviet researchers became more actively interested in the problems of expanding electronic document management to other business segments. First of all - on the field of office work. First steps in this direction were carried out during the modernization of the document flow infrastructure higher bodies the authorities - first of all, the Central Committee of the CPSU. Further, according to similar principles, the introduction of electronic document management took place in other major power structures.

At the same time, the Soviet EDM systems used in office work were essentially experimental. They did not have generally accepted formats for the documents used, the lists and the procedure for using the software used to record such documents were not standardized. Having used the Soviet experience in organizing EDM, Russian enterprises also managed to get by with local rules for working with electronic documents - often unlike those used by counterparties.

The first full-fledged electronic document management systems were often developed by the forces of Russian enterprises themselves. A lot of effort went into creating such software tools, often turned out to be ineffective due to the lack of great potential for rapid scaling of the EDMS: in parallel production areas, in branches and subsidiaries, business processes were not adequately compatible with the specifics of the EDMS developed for the parent organization.

As a result, the practical application of EDF for Russian enterprises for quite a long time it was considered unjustifiably expensive (primarily in terms of the cost of implementing suitable software) a procedure, and many of them preferred to keep the workflow on paper.

At the same time, already in the early 90s, independent EDMS suppliers began to appear on the Russian market - they specialized in the development of universal software products. It can be noted that these products were created taking into account the Russian - which largely inherited the Soviet characteristics, the specifics of the movement of documents within the enterprise (and beyond). Namely - taking into account the predominantly vertically oriented movement of intracorporate documents (from bosses to subordinates and vice versa). While Western products, on the contrary, were adapted to horizontal document flow (which, moreover, did not take into account the need for documents to go through the procedures related to their registration, approval, control of execution). As a result, Russian solutions became more in demand, and the corresponding segment of the IT industry began to develop at a rapid pace.

In the mid-90s, professional conferences were held on a regular basis - with the participation of developers and major consumers of electronic document management systems. A variety of nuances of implementing such systems in Russian organizations, both state and municipal, and those related to private business, were discussed there.

The advantages of the EDMS implementation became obvious to the market participants and budgetary relations:

• reduction of the time of document turnover;
• reducing the cost of purchasing paper and other office supplies, printers and their maintenance;
• reducing the cost of storing documents (archiving, inventory);
• in many cases - increasing the level of security of documents (even in those periods when the use of cryptographic protection of data using EDS was not widespread, for example, password-protected RAR archives could be used).

Gradually, in the spectrum of EDMS solutions, the area of ​​products adapted to the provision of electronic document flow not only within the organization, but also between independent business entities (as an option, controlled and controlling persons - including in legal relations between private companies and government bodies) began to stand out. This is how electronic document flow began to develop in the modern sense - as a tool for ensuring the exchange of documents that are legally equivalent to those that would be drawn up on paper.

It became clear that the most effective way ensuring the legal significance of electronic documents will be the use of an electronic digital signature - which should be considered legally equivalent to the one that is affixed by a person on paper. In the early 2000s, the first federal regulations governing EDS application... At the level of federal legislation, 3 types of electronic signatures have been established - simple, enhanced and enhanced qualified.

When using a simple electronic signature, the legal significance of documents is ensured if the procedure for such application in a separate agreement has been established by all parties to the document flow - despite the fact that the provisions of such an agreement should not contradict the norms of federal legislation. The same rule applies to an enhanced EDS - however, it in itself may be preferable to a simple one due to the increased security (which is generally provided by the supplier of such an EDS - and therefore the agreement, as a rule, goes three-way - between the two parties to the EDS and the supplier ).

In turn, the use of a strengthened qualified EDS (in all cases developed by suppliers with a special level of competence) guarantees the legal significance of any document that is signed to it - regardless of whether the users of this EDS have entered into any agreement with each other or not. The very fact of its use in EDM by each of the parties is enough - which independently of each other conclude an agreement with the EDS supplier.

In modern electronic document flow, the use of electronic signatures is a widespread phenomenon. EDS are applicable in most legal relationships involving physical and legal entities... Although, of course, there are a huge number of exceptions to this rule: so far it is impossible, for example, to get completely electronic passport a citizen of the Russian Federation, or electronic rights, or a work book (although with regard to rights and work books, noticeable innovations are expected in the very near future in terms of ensuring their adaptability to use in electronic form, and, moreover, while maintaining their legal significance).

What is electronic document flow in Russia used for?

Taking into account the specifics of the use of EDS and the technical capabilities of applied software products that are used for EDM, there are several main segments of electronic document flow in Russia:

1. EDI between citizens and government bodies.

The simplest example of such interaction is sending documents to government agencies through the State Service website (and related websites of various departments - for example, the Federal Tax Service). A citizen who has a special EDS sends to the authority of interest legally significant - that is, similar to paper, requests, documents, statements - and receives from there equally significant legally documents in response.

1. EDF between business entities - individual entrepreneurs, legal entities.

Business entities can electronically exchange contracts, invoices, invoices, acts of acceptance and transfer, reconciliation and other legally significant documents that are used in business.

1. EDF between business entities and government bodies.

As a rule, this segment of electronic document management contains legal relations arising due to the fact that economic entities have certain obligations to government bodies. There are two main such obligations - reporting (on taxes, property, financial transactions) and the payment of fees provided by law to the budget.

In many cases, the use of EDF for a business entity interacting with government agencies is an obligation established by law. So, you need to submit VAT tax returns only in electronic form. Other declarations - in electronic form, if the indicators for the number of staff of an economic entity acting as an employer are exceeded.

1. EDI between government bodies (within government bodies).

Here, electronic document circulation can be carried out for a variety of purposes - as a mechanism for the current exchange of data when performing the work of employees of departments, as a way to control the activities of subordinate authorities by subordinate ones, as a tool for the implementation of contractual legal relations between different bodies.

1. EDI between citizens and business entities.

An example of such an electronic document management is a conclusion employment contract to perform remote work in accordance with Article 312.3 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. A significant part of personnel documents in this case is drawn up in the course of interaction between the employer and the employee using EDI systems.

With the development of interstate relations, the use of electronic document management is gradually reaching the international level. So, in the foreseeable future, the appearance of qualified signatures with the same legal force in the EAEU countries is expected. Similar initiatives are underway in countries South-East Asia.

With all the variety of EDM segments in our country, the national infrastructure of electronic document management is functioning, in general, according to the same principles. It is used in one way or another to ensure workflow in any of the above segments - let's get acquainted with its features in more detail.

How the EDF infrastructure works

So, we know that electronic document management in its modern form is unthinkable without an electronic digital signature. This allows us to say that without its application, it is - in its modern form, unrealizable in practice. At the same time, it cannot be said that it is the EDS that is the key condition for ensuring the exchange of documents in electronic form. So, theoretically, it is possible to legalize the use of the same password-protected RAR archives - which in many cases will protect data no worse than the most powerful EDS.

Still the main thing technical condition EDF functioning is not an EDS (which can be replaced by something else that ensures the legal significance of documents), but the presence, in fact, of channels for the exchange of electronic documents. The operation of such channels is provided at three levels:

1. Infrastructure layer- which provides the sender (recipient) with physical access to the document exchange channel.

That is - a physical connection to the Internet or another network - which, for one reason or another, can be used as an alternative to it. For example - if we are talking about the transfer of data between military departments.

But in general, this is, of course, the Internet. Thus, the provider to which the EDF participant is connected is primarily responsible for the operation of the EDM channel at the “infrastructure” level. By default, any Russian provider provides access to any Internet site. Therefore, for the organization of electronic document management there is no difference through which provider to work.

1. Gateway level- on which, with the help of special hardware and software, practical reception and transmission of established types of data is carried out through physical channels that are provided at the "infrastructure" level.

In turn, the provider is no longer responsible for the "gateway" - which has already fulfilled its task of providing the "infrastructure" to the parties interested in electronic document management. The main thing actor here - EDF user. In order to optimize the workflow, he can use the EDM systems we are familiar with. Their suppliers are often referred to as “electronic document flow operators”.

The task of the EDM operator is to accept the original document from the sender and transfer it unchanged to the recipient. In the stipulated cases - by providing the document with legal force (by certifying its EDS - which can be issued by the operator of electronic document management or a trusted certification center).

1. Roaming level- on which the interconnection and mutual compatibility of several independent EDF infrastructures is ensured.

Electronic document management systems from different suppliers (operators) can formally and in fact be completely independent from each other. As a result, the workflow that fully complies with the legal requirements can generally only be carried out between users who use the services of one operator.

At the same time, despite the independence of EDF, their work can be based on common principles and standards. Thanks to this, different EDI operators can carry out mutual integration of their infrastructures. As a result, each of them will be able to provide legally significant electronic document flow not only between their users, but also between their users and those who have entered into an agreement with another operator.

Thus, EDM “roaming” is formed - the expansion of its “coverage area” due to the integration of electronic document management infrastructures from different operators. If we talk about the integration of national electronic document management systems, then we will talk about "roaming" already at the interstate level.

At the same time, the development of "roaming" legal relations is characterized by the presence of a large number of obstacles, such as, for example:

• the need for additional investment by the operator in its hardware and software infrastructure in order to ensure its compatibility with the infrastructure of another operator;
• an increase in the risk of customers switching to another operator - which, with all the benefits of a roaming partnership, is nevertheless likely to be a competitor.

An alternative to the conclusion of "roaming" agreements between operators with each other can be the appeal of each of them to a specialized intermediary - a roaming center. He will, on the same terms for each EDM operator, carry out the integration of their infrastructures (and, accordingly, a result will be obtained similar to that which would have been achieved with the direct integration of operators' infrastructures). At the same time, operators of electronic document circulation will not need to worry about the risk of customers flowing to a competitor.

It is assumed that the roaming center will have advanced technical equipment and great financial capabilities - since the integration of different operators is an extremely capital-intensive procedure. Thus, in practice, such centers can become mainly the largest corporations - moreover, those directly related to the communications industry (since, first of all, the center will need competencies characteristic of this industry).

These features determine the leading positions of the roaming center from Rostelecom in the Russian communications market. The largest telecom operator has all the necessary financial capabilities and infrastructure to ensure the integration of various operators - more than 30 of them are connected to Rostelecom. Other major Russian roaming centers are Softechno and NIIAS.

It should be noted that one of the expected trends in the field of roaming legal relations between operators of electronic document circulation is the formation of "operator" roaming centers - that is, those that are established not only for the purpose of integrating the infrastructures of certain operators, but also for the provision of integration services for the request of any other operators.

Having considered the peculiarities of the development of the EDM market in Russia, we will get acquainted with the specifics of the legislation that regulates legal relations in this market.

What regulations affect the organization of electronic document management at the enterprise

Having decided what exactly is "turned around" electronically - any data that comply with Federal Laws and GOSTs, or any that do not correspond to non-electronic data in terms of legal characteristics and scope, the company introduces internal rules for electronic document management. They should be drawn up taking into account the current regulatory acts - that is, at least, not contradict them (or comply with individual provisions of such regulatory acts).

Main normative act, which should be guided in the implementation of electronic document management in the organization - the federal law"On information, information technology and information protection" dated 27.07.2006 N 149-FZ (LINK). In this case, its provisions are important not only as sources of definition of the concept of "electronic document flow", but also as containing norms that establish, in particular, the legal status of electronic documents that are exchanged between two different business entities.

So, if a document is signed by an EDS, then, in accordance with Federal Law No. 149, it should be considered as having equal legal force with the one that would have been signed by the usual signature of a representative of an economic entity - if such signing was carried out in the manner prescribed law or treaty.

As for the law, the main normative act regulating the use of digital signatures is the Law "On Electronic Signatures" dated 06.04.2011 No. 63-FZ (LINK). So, in accordance with it, any document signed by a qualified enhanced EDS is recognized as legally equal to a paper one - in the relevant area of ​​legal relations. At the same time, Law No. 64-FZ allows EDF participants to independently agree on the use of alternative signatures - simple and ordinary reinforced. That is, to apply the norms not only of the law, but also of the agreement.

Another important normative act in the organization of electronic document management is the Law "On Personal Data" dated July 27, 2006 No. 152-FZ (LINK). Not all types of data processed in the framework of EDF are personal (directly or indirectly related to individuals), but a significant part of them belongs to such. The circulation of personal data is very strictly regulated by law (while there is almost no place for a "contract" in terms of the application of the provisions of Law No. 152-FZ). The main task of legislation on personal data is to ensure their protection (confidentiality of access to them). If we talk about other types of data in respect of which special protection requirements are established, along with personal data, these include, in particular:

• state secrets (access to which is regulated by the Law of 21.07.1993 No. 5485-1);
• commercial secret (Law of 29.07.2004 No. 98-FZ).

The main state standards that can be applied in the framework of EDI include:

• GOST R 6.30-2003 (establishes requirements for the details of documents);
• GOST R 7.0.8-2013 (contains different definitions according to the terms used in the organization of document flow);
• GOST ISO 15489-1-2007 (establishes the procedure for managing documents);
• GOST R 54471-2011 / ISO / TR 15801: 2009 (establishes requirements for electronic document management systems);
• GOST R 54989-2012 / ISO / TR 18492: 2005 (establishes criteria for ensuring long-term preservation of electronic documents).

There are a large number official sources of a recommendatory nature that complement federal legislation. They are not normative, but de facto are actively used by private and state enterprises as guiding principles in organizing electronic document management. These sources include:

• State system of documentation support for management (introduced by the Collegium of the USSR Glavarchiv in 1988);
• A list of typical management documents with an indication of their storage time (order of the Ministry of Culture of Russia dated 25.08.2010 No. 558);
• All-Russian classifier of management documentation (approved by the decree of the State Standard of Russia dated 30.12.1993 No. 299).

It can be noted that in many industry-wide federal regulations there are provisions directly or indirectly related to legal relations that are related to electronic document flow. Examples of such regulations:

• Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated April 25, 2011 No. 50n (establishes the procedure for using electronic invoices);
• The Civil Code (which, in principle, provides for the use of electronic documents - primarily for the purpose of concluding contracts);
• Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (including provisions defining administrative or criminal penalties for offenses in the field of EDI);
• The Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation (which determine the procedure for the use of electronic documents as evidence in court);
• Tax and Customs Codes (establish requirements for the application of electronic reporting);
• Law "On Accounting" dated 06.12.2011 No. 402-FZ (establishes the possibility of using electronic primary documents and requirements for them);
• The Law "On Archival Affairs" dated October 22, 2004 No. 125-FZ (establishes the procedure for working with archival documents, including those used in the framework of EDM).

Thus, in practice, an enterprise that implements electronic document management may need to study a variety of combinations of regulations - directly or indirectly related to EDM. Knowledge of the regulatory framework will minimize the risks of committing violations that can lead to unpleasant legal consequences for the organization.

What liability is provided for violations

As we have already established above, EDF is not the most regulated area by law in general. However, within the framework, completely regulated legal relations cannot be carried out in the widest range - including those that are characterized by the presence of strict requirements for participants in terms of organizing electronic document flow.

But what exactly can an organization that has implemented EDF violate? For example - the following:

1. Provide improper storage(and get a sanction under Art.13.25 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation - LINK):

• securities (for which there is a fine for legal entities up to 300,000 rubles);
• related to insurance activities (fines up to 200,000 rubles);
• related to the activities of the credit cooperative (fine up to 50,000 rubles);
• others - according to which a special storage procedure has been established (up to 500 rubles for an official of the organization).

These violations may occur if the organization disregards the norms of Law No. 125-FZ or, for example, order of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation No. 558 (as an option, it will write off the document before the expiration of its storage period).

1. Violate the rules for working with documents used in accounting(and get a sanction under Art. 15.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation - LINK).

The main provisions of the accounting legislation, fixing the storage periods of the primary, are enshrined in article 29 of Law No. 402-FZ. In addition, this normative act also correlates with the order of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation No. 558 (for example, an accountant needs to pay special attention to the storage periods of accounting documents given in section 4.1 of the List).

1. Violate the procedure for processing personal data(and get a sanction under Art.13.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation - LINK).

A wide range of administrative measures can be applied to the offender. For example:

• a fine of up to 50,000 rubles (now and further - to a legal entity) - if unlawful or incorrect processing of personal data has been performed;
• a fine of up to 75,000 rubles - if the written consent of an individual to the processing of personal data is not requested;
• a fine of up to 30,000 rubles - if the organization has not formed and published a privacy policy in the public domain.

The disclosure of state and commercial secrets can lead to the fact that the organization will be fined 5,000 rubles (Article 13.14 of the Administrative Offenses Code of the Russian Federation - LINK). The disclosure of state secrets under certain circumstances is recognized as a criminal offense in accordance with Art. 283 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which provides for the application of such measures as against the guilty person:

• arrest for 4-6 months;
• imprisonment for up to 4 years with or without disqualification for up to 3 years.

1. Conceal certain documents for personal gain(and get a sanction under Art. 325 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - LINK).

For such an offense, criminal liability is provided in the form of:

• a fine of up to 200,000 rubles (or the salary of the guilty person for a period of up to 1.5 years);
• compulsory work up to 480 hours;
• correctional labor up to 2 years;
• forced labor up to 1 year;
• arrest for 4 months;
• imprisonment for 1 year.

1. Ignore the need to prepare primary tax or accounting documents(and get a sanction under Article 120 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation - LINK).

In this case, a gross violation of the rules of accounting and tax accounting is recorded. For this, the company can be fined up to 30,000 rubles.

Despite the existence of strict sanctions for improper organization of EDM, more and more enterprises are striving to introduce electronic document management at one level or another of business management. Such aspirations are not accidental: there are many advantages to the introduction of EDI, and we discussed them above.

Video - transactions using electronic document management and analysis judicial practice:

Let us consider in more detail how such an implementation is carried out in practice - having agreed that electronic document management will be carried out precisely with the help of the EDMS.

How to implement an electronic document management system in an organization

The implementation of the EDMS in the organization is carried out in the framework of the following stages:

1. Establishing a list of tasks that are supposed to be solved using EDI systems.

A common method for establishing the range of such tasks is to identify the most obvious problems in the organization's current workflow. For example, these may be problems:

• with tracking the status of the document (when it is not clear whether the addressee received it and whether he started working with it);
• with the search for the necessary documents (when they are lost or searched for an unacceptably long time);
• with the speed of workflow.

1. Choosing a specific program for organizing electronic document management- based on the tasks that the EDMS, which is planned to be implemented, is designed to solve.

In this case, the following is taken into account:

• how cost-effective the implementation of a particular program will be (in terms of acquisition costs and expected results);
• the planned intensity of EDM in the organization (how deeply EDF will be implemented in business processes) and the extent to which the selected EDMS are able to provide such intensity;
• the expected accompanying costs for the installation of a specific electronic document management system (for example, for improving the characteristics of computer equipment or for purchasing a new one - if necessary, for training employees - if required).

In large organizations, a preliminary survey of the current structure of the workflow can be carried out - paper, or submitted by EDF that does not form a system (as in the case of an individual entrepreneur who accepts and sends invoices by mail - only more large scale). The main purpose of such a survey is to establish the typical paths of movement of documents within the organization. Then the collected information can be transferred to suppliers of electronic document management systems from a short list - so that each of them can assess how the product they offer meets the needs of the customer.

It is optimal if the selected EDF program has a free test version, with the help of which it will be possible to “rehearse” the solution of these problems, and, if the result does not suit the enterprise, try another product (preferably one that also has a demo version).

And if free version no (or the functionality it supports is not enough for high-quality testing of the electronic document management system when solving specific problems), then you can try to agree with the supplier to provide a full version of the EDM system.

1. Purchase and installation of EDMS, employee training in the course of its practical use.

This stage of implementation of an electronic document management system in an organization, on the one hand, can be extremely difficult technically - since in practice there can be a large number of nuances associated with the installation of EDMS distributions, taking into account the current features of the enterprise computing infrastructure. On the other hand, as a rule, the final stage of the EDMS implementation does not imply significant organizational difficulties, since most of them have been solved (taken into account and taken as a priority) already at the previous stages of the system implementation.

In practice, two parties are involved in the implementation of an electronic document management system in an organization:

• the enterprise itself (represented by managers and responsible specialists subordinate to them);
• EDMS system suppliers (and their partners or contractors - to whom, for example, the function of installing the EDM system on the customer's side can be delegated, if the supplier himself does not perform it for some reason).

The main information source on the basis of which the interaction of the participants in the implementation of the EDMS is carried out is the technical task from the customer. It reveals the essence of his needs in terms of the implementation of electronic document management in the organization and, as a result, determines the list of requirements for the functionality of the established software... It is noteworthy that such terms of reference have state standard, and it can (in many cases - even highly desirable) be used by the customer when interacting with the supplier of the electronic document management system. We are talking about GOST 34.603-89, which establishes the requirements for the technical specification for the supply of an automated system, while the EDMS can be considered a special case.

The next step in the development of an EDI infrastructure by a business entity is building intercorporate document flow. Let's see how this can be done in practice.

Electronic document flow between organizations and why is it needed at all

The introduction of EDI with the participation of two or more business entities involves the solution of the following main tasks:

1. Formation by each enterprise of a working group that will deal with the deployment of intercorporate EDM.

In the general case, in such working group are included general director, chief lawyer, competent IT-specialists of the firm, document specialist.

1. Determination of the expected result of the implementation of the intercorporate EDMS by the future parties of EDM.

Such a result may imply the solution of only a narrow range of tasks - for example, those related only to the receipt and transmission of invoices through the EDMS, or be characterized by a wider scope of EDM issues (for example, reflecting the features of the procedures for concluding contracts, signing reconciliation statements, receiving and transmitting various accounting documents with the participation of the parties).

1. Establishment of lists of documents that will be accepted and transmitted via EDM.

At the same time, technical feasibility, legality and economic efficiency their reception and transmission in electronic form.

1. Selection of specific software products for the organization of intercorporate EDI.

1. Ensuring the technical feasibility of implementing the selected software products for organizing EDM, conducting preliminary training for employees.

But is it worth the two collaborating firms to undertake such an effort? The costs of implementing an EDMS can be significant - you need to make sure that they will be accompanied by the necessary economic effect... The key thing to know when planning the implementation of an intercorporate electronic document management system is the following:

1. An intercorporate EDMS is the more cost-effective economically, the more firms have:

• stably repeating areas of interaction;
• lists of nomenclatures of used documents;
• employees and positions interacting with colleagues with similar competencies from partner organizations.

1. The introduction of intercorporate EDM can be forced (despite the fact that if such an implementation is not implemented, the company may have significant costs or lost profits).

So, if a counterparty becomes a participant in electronic trading, then he will almost certainly introduce an all-encompassing internal EDF and will prefer to work mainly with those counterparties that have a similar infrastructure. And if they do not have it, they may refuse to cooperate.

1. The practical economic effect from the introduction of intercorporate electronic document management, as experts say, occurs in many cases not earlier than six months or a year after such implementation.

The reasons for the "inhibition" of the effect can be both organizational (when, for example, the responsible specialists do not have the authority to use EDF - due to the fact that they forgot to issue powers of attorney), and technical (when, for example, one company the local network turns out to have less bandwidth than is required taking into account the traffic intensity from a counterparty with a network that has a higher bandwidth).

1. If both counterparties are newcomers to the introduction of EDM for the mutual exchange of documents, then it makes sense to integrate gradually.

At the same time, in many cases it is advisable to start with departments that are among the "earning" - that is, sales departments, service departments. They, like no one else, will feel the time savings on the workflow and will surely direct the freed up working hours to new sales.

1. One of the key factors in the successful implementation of intercorporate EDM is to ensure mutual understanding of the responsible employees of each of the enterprises regarding the use of certain functions of the electronic document management system used by corporations.

For example, if an employee of one firm sends an invoice to his colleague in another organization, then the other should have no problem confirming receipt of the invoice. The best way to ensure that the interaction of the parties meets this criterion - to implement unified interfaces for receiving and sending invoices. If one side has questions about document processing, the other will be able to give answers to them - despite the fact that both sides will see about the same thing on the screen.

Now let's get acquainted with the popular software products for organizing EDM and their prices (and also take into account the estimated associated costs of their implementation).

What EDMS document management programs are presented on the Russian market: an overview of some of them and how much they cost

The specificity of the Russian market of solutions in the EDMS segment is characterized by the fact that the most demanded of them are, as a rule, ready-made - "box" products, or those that are created on the basis of any popular platform. Customized EDMS - common in the West, in Russia so far are not in significant demand, although it certainly is. The market of EDMS document management programs itself is more than 90% represented by Russian developments, which is not surprising: it can be difficult for a western supplier of EDM systems to adapt their product to the traditions of document circulation that have developed in our country.

If an enterprise solves the problem of introducing an all-encompassing intracorporate electronic document management system in an organization, then it will be about acquiring a full-featured specialized product released by one of the leading brands on the Russian market. These products include:

1. "BUSINESS"

This product is considered by many experts to be among the most functional and technologically advanced on the market. Such characteristics are confirmed by the consistently high demand for the corresponding product from businesses of all sizes - from large holdings to small enterprises.

EDMS "BUSINESS" (LINK) is one of the platforms that allow you to implement the greatest detail in the workflow: it can keep records of almost any data sources. The experts say that the system's disadvantage is a relatively complex interface: in some cases, it takes a lot of time to master it (train employees in it).

Video - an overview of the possibilities of the EDMS "DELO":

License cost: about 11-13 thousand rubles per 1 workplace when using Oracle DBMS, about 7-9 thousand rubles when using Microsoft SQL Server.

2. "SED logic"

The main advantages of "SED Logic" (LINK) include:

• excellent adaptability to EDF provision in organizations where multilevel approval mechanisms have been adopted for EDM objects;
• ensuring a high level of protection of EDM objects from unauthorized access;
• the presence of a large number of opportunities for flexible software customization based on the needs of the user.

Video - an example of registering an incoming document in the "EDMS Logic":

Experts' complaints about the program can be traced mainly in the part of its interface: it is sometimes called archaic.

License cost: 5-6 thousand rubles per 1 workplace.

3. "E1 EURHRAT"

"E1 EURHRAT" (LINK) is also one of the most technologically advanced, and this can be seen in the implementation of many innovative functions by the developers of this EDMS - which not all competitors have. Among them - the use of its own powerful DBMS "Nika", which is practically not inferior in terms of target functions of Oracle and Microsoft SQL. The program has a user-friendly interface, as well as an effective system for differentiating access rights to data.

Video - acquaintance with the E1 EVFRAT EDMS:

The main complaint of experts about this EDMS comes down to its exactingness to computer performance: on old PCs, the program "slows down".

License cost: 5-7 thousand rubles per 1 workplace.

4.1C: Document flow 8

Product 1C: Document Flow 8 (LINK) will be optimal for a business entity that is used to using other software solutions of the 1C line - since it is developed on the basis of the 1C: Enterprise platform. The product in question is universal: it can be successfully used by both state and private enterprises of various sizes. The programs of the 1C line are among those that can be most flexibly adjusted to the needs of a particular user, and the 1C: Document Flow 8 solution is no exception.

Video - acquaintance with the work of 1C: Document flow:

License cost: about 77 thousand rubles for 10 users (PROF version).

If the company already has a license for basic program- 1C: Enterprise, then the product 1C: Document flow 8 can be built on top of it as a configuration. Its cost will be about 36,000 rubles for the PROF version.

5. DIRECTUM

This decision DIRECTUM (LINK) is one of those that meet most of the criteria in terms of functionality, which allows us to call the product an ECM platform. So, its functionality includes the creation and editing of unstructured documents - texts, tables, pictures, videos, work with Workflow.

Video - basic features of DIRECTUM:

Again, the complex interface is one of the main objects of criticism of experts to the program. It also notes the product's dependence on external Microsoft platforms.

License cost: from 7 thousand rubles. for 1 workplace.

Of course, all the above prices are indicative. In practice, the cost of implementing an EDMS can be much higher due to the acquisition of additional functionality of the programs we have considered, which is necessary in many cases.

The prices for the EDMS in the server modification (when the main modules are installed on the main computer of the corporate network, and access to them from the user computers is organized) is almost always much higher than the license for a workplace.

6. EDO Kontur.Diadok and VLSI

It is possible that the enterprise will not need to introduce an all-encompassing EDM at all, but only at the level of individual document exchange processes. For example - in terms of basic conciliation procedures when interacting with counterparties, which are represented in small numbers.

Video - acquaintance with EDO Kontur.Diadok:

In this case, EDMS solutions from such suppliers as Kontur.Diadok (LINK) or VLSI (LINK) will be optimal. They are perfectly adapted for the "manual" exchange of two business entities with contracts, invoices, acts, the provision of electronic reporting to government agencies.

Video - acquaintance with EDO VLSI:

The cost of access to such cloud EDMS depends on the specific set of services for receiving and sending documents provided for by the subscription. In many cases, the basic functions of a cloud solution are provided to the client for free. There are also simply cheap options: for example, at the “Minimum” (LINK) tariff from Kontur.Diadok, the user can transfer 100 electronic documents to the supplier for 900 rubles, and receive incoming documents for free.

In most cases, by analogy with the use of mobile communications, users of such EDM systems receive incoming documents free of charge and pay only for sending outgoing electronic documents - on average, from 5 to 8 rubles per document.

Summary

Electronic document management is an extremely broad sphere of legal relations. It can affect the interaction of various persons within an economic entity, between business entities, between citizens and organizations and government bodies, between government bodies.

The simplest is “grassroots”, electronic document management is available to any PC user. Each file contains attributes that reflect the time of performing various operations with it - using this data, you can take into account the dynamics of these operations (at least manually).

However, the organization of EDM with the use of special electronic document management systems is becoming more and more common. They can vary greatly depending on the functions and tasks being solved.

In its modern form, EDM, as a rule, involves the receipt and sending of documents certified by one or another type of electronic signature. The use of EDF by a business entity may be prescribed by law - as is the case with tax reporting for VAT.

Video - electronic document management on the threshold of the digital economy: