Good file management software

Question

Currently all our files are stored on a windows network drive and with 15 members of staff and 3 external workers, file control is beggining to get a bit of nightmare. Even though we have a policy in place people still seem to save file to their pcs, make changes copy them back without notifying anyone, send files via email instead of its location and create folders/structures which only make sense to them.

Consequently on a recent project we found that 3 members of staff were using different versions of the same document and when those 3 people are editors and proof readers, you can probably imagine the problem that ensued in the end.

So we are looking for some nice simple file management apps. MS sharepoint has been mentioned but we are looking to get away from being tied to a windows machine, and the cost of setup etc seems expensive particularly for a non profit company. Also it seems sharepoint maybe a little OTT for our needs.

All we need is something that can be used to store and control files, allows different user access, can provide basic versioning and something that can hopefully be accessible through a web-browser so our remote workers can access it. we are not keen on SAAS solution because of the nature of our confidentiality and also because we use these files all day everyday and the internet connection does go down from time to time. We want to be able to install inhouse.

Ideally OSS although we will consider buying software if it meeets our needs.

Answer 1

Wouldn't something like a source control system be useful? SVN for example? admittedly binary files are a problem here, but if you're using a basic format you could convert to rtf or the new document standards used by Office 2007\OpenOffice.

It's worth noting that SharePoint and other variants are used widely for a reason; they do what you need.

Answer 2

The first question you probably need to ask is why the existing Windows file shares aren't working, and people are still saving files to their own computers.

For example, if they're often working outside of the office and can't access the file shares or they need to maintain a working copy, these are problems that can be fixed with SharePoint or other version control/file management software.

However, if they're just not following policy, then it's not going to matter what software you put in its place. Figuring out what problems the users have is going to help you choose the right solution.

Answer 3

Are you trying to avoid Windows Server completely, or just avoid buying Microsoft SharePoint Server?

If you are willing to purchase a Windows Server license you will get a basic version of SharePoint Server called SharePoint Services as part of the package. SharPoint Services allows you to have a powerful document management and collaboration system without having to buy an additional software package. It does include a version control system and you can integrate it with other applications. You can find more information here: Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 Overview.

Another MS provided solution that can handle file management and version control is Microsoft Groove. You can find more information on it here: Microsoft Groove. A great feature of Groove is that it can act as a front-end for Sharepoint (and most likely SharePoint Services) to allow users to more easily interact with the file storage mechanism.

A third option but will be less powerful would be to use your existing network file shares (through Windows or Samba), map the shares to local drives and/or reconfigure their My Documents to point to the network, and turn on Offline Storage. This will allow the users to interact with their documents as if they were local files even when they are offline. There will be a few small issues that you will experience with this route but it would break you from having to use a pure Microsoft solution.

Answer 4

Not sure this is the best place for such a question (its a discussio with no write/wrong answer) but anyway

Google apps for business?

http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/index.html

Totally easy, low TOC (OSS is not free in a time sense).

You can share docs (read/write or read only) with external people or just do the old fashioned copy/paste the detail into OpenOffice/Word/iLife whatever and send a copy to them

Answer 5

In answer to some of the above questions.

The main reason its not working is because. One person will open a document from the shared drive and save a copy to their pc, which they work on. The changes they make are then not on the shared drive, when they copy it back, which everyone does the changes they have made overwrite any anyone else has done, they also dont inform anyone so if someone is working from that document they are now working on an old document. It is a case of getting users into a better frame of mind! But we feel software may help that, plus our external workers do not have access to the internal drive at present.

We have a number of servers, only one is windows and so we want to get away from using that windows server and have all linux servers for ease of management. Any MS product will require we run a dedicated MS machine!!

Local drives mapped is not really a good option as many people work out of the office and so wont be on the network to contribute, plus the file structure would probably not allow it.

It does seem that a MS solution might be the only one, i was just hoping there were some good alternatives available which were also a little simpler.

thnkx

Answer 6

You can try Alfresco:

Alfresco is the Open Source Alternative for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) led by John Newton, founder of Documentum, and John Powell, former COO of Business Objects, and is backed by Accel Partners, Mayfield Fund and SAP Ventures.

Here has a good howto install it on linux.

Answer 7

A standard sharepont document library, with versioning turned on, and checkin/checkout required, would meet your needs. Like previously posted, WSS comes free with Windows Server.