EntSol Whitepapers Core ECM Features Documentum SharePoint 11 2011

White PaperComparing Core ECM Features of Documentum and SharePoint 2010 – Which Platform is Right for You? Complex, heterogeneous and fragmented Enterprise Content Management (ECM) landscapes across most enterprises trigger strong business drivers to converge to a smaller technology footprint. This needs to be justified with a compelling business case enumerating significant Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) reduction and Return on Investment (ROI). Enterprises with Documentum as their existing ECM standard and also considering (or implementing) SharePoint for collaboration and portal requirements need to objectively assess whether the latter can also fulfil ECM needs, potentially allowing convergence to a single platform for all information needs. The purpose of this white paper is to provide an objective comparison between the core ECM (Document and Records Management) features of Documentum and SharePoint 2010. This comparison will help ECM architects in establishing an evaluation scorecard to decide which of the two platforms would better suit or suffice an enterprise’s specific ECM requirements – or if they should co-exist to provide complementary services. About the Author Jaydev Kundurmutt Jaydev Kundurmutt is a Senior Consultant at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) with 20 years of IT experience. He is presently engaged as SharePoint Architect with the TCS Corporate Microsoft Technology Center of Excellence Group. 2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Evaluation Criteria 3. Comparison Matrix 4. Conclusion 5. List of Abbreviations 4 5 6 39 40 3 Introduction The ECM landscape in most organisations is complex, heterogeneous and fragmented. Lack of a unified view and platform for accessing and managing content leading to overall loss in productivity in information management and overheads on maintaining the ECM footprint both from an operational and capital expenditure perspective are few of the challenges associated with it. CIOs and Enterprise Architects are constantly faced with the need to critically evaluate options towards reducing this diverse footprint to the optimal extent that can result in reduction of TCO and increase in ROI. Narrowing this problem statement down to a specific area, organisations with heavy footprint of Documentum are increasingly challenged with the lack of a unified platform for all-round ECM, in addition to multiple, complex licensing options and associated costs, less than optimal user experience, customizability challenges, reduced developer productivity, lack of seamless interoperability and usability with Desktop productivity applications and weak offerings / roadmap for cloud-based ECM computing opportunities. Besides, many advanced features of Document and Records Management of Documentum are seldom used or complex to understand. It must also be acknowledged that SharePoint has assumed tremendous adoption in general, across most enterprises today as a platform for collaboration and intranet portals. Those that have not yet adopted SharePoint are seriously evaluating or planning to implement in the near future. Those that have already invested in earlier versions of SharePoint are looking to eventually upgrade to SharePoint 2010. These trends extend as much to organisations that have long standing implementations of Documentum. ROI calculations to determine the most optimal roadmap from a technology footprint perspective must critically and objectively evaluate the merits/demerits of maintaining both Documentum and SharePoint (as standalone or complementary platforms) versus converging to a single platform. SharePoint 2010, with its significant functional and scalability enhancements over MOSS 2007 in providing full-fledged ECM (Document and Records Management features) along with providing a capabilities-rich, unified ECM platform, its “relatively” simple licensing structure, strong interoperability with Office productivity suites and a definitive roadmap for cloud based computing, make it, all in all, a fairly strong contender for the ECM platform convergence road ahead. However, to make an objective assessment of what ECM roadmap to adopt, a detailed comparison of the two products namely Documentum and SharePoint is needed. The purpose of this white paper is therefore, to provide an objective comparison between the core ECM (Document and Records Management features) of Documentum and SharePoint 2010 that would provide guidance to ECM architects in establishing an evaluation scorecard to decide which of the two platforms would better suit or suffice an enterprise’s specific ECM requirements – or in some cases, should co-exist to provide complementary services. The emphasis is on the term “specific” since not all features that either product offers (or lacks in) may be applicable or critical to an organisation’s needs. While the article does not claim to be an authoritative compendium on every granular aspect of Documents and Records Management features offered by either product, it makes for a reasonable guidance primer. 4 Documentum version 5.5 has been predominantly referred to for the comparison. Virtual (Compound Documents) Common Document Operations Document Renditions Security Navigation Tagging and Rating Taxonomy Content Deletion Auditing Core Records Management Information Rights Management Managing Document Lifecycles Document Workflows Storage Programmability Search 5 . The paper concludes with guidance on how to best utilize the comparison matrix to arrive at an evaluation scorecard. followed by a detailed tabular matrix that compares both the products on specific Document and Records functionality and features under each criterion (head). Evaluation Criteria The comparison of features between SharePoint 2010 and Documentum is based on the following high level criteria (heads): n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n Core Document Management Client Integration Capabilities with MS Office Documents and MS Outlook Versioning Support for Links. The white paper first provides a listing of criteria that have been used for the comparison.3/6. as px?ID=<Document ID> Every content item in SharePoint is also identified by a GUID that changes once a content item is moved or copied to a different location. it is possible to configure the Document ID capability (to a limited extent) to choose the Document ID numbering schema. documents in a Site Collection can be uniquely identified by Document IDs and therefore URLs to documents can be restricted to the site collection followed by the Document ID (regardless of which sub site. Configurability of Document IDs No Yes In SharePoint 2010. document library or folder that the document may be physically stored in). In Documentum. the Document ID feature needs to be activated in the Site Collection. The Document ID is an alphanumeric string in SharePoint 2010 that comprises 2 parts: 6 . For the document numbering to be generated by SharePoint. The URL pattern to refer to a document by its Document ID is as follows: http://<sitecollectionurl>/_layouts/DocIdRedir. This capability allows a unique pattern to be manually chosen for each site collection where the feature is enabled. store and publish documents along with metadata Ability to edit metadata properties of documents Ability to identify documents uniquely using an ID regardless of location Documentum Yes SharePoint 2010 Yes Comments (Where relevant or required) Yes Yes Yes Yes In SharePoint 2010. every content object including documents are identified by a unique object ID that is generated as per a specific pattern that includes in it. the repository and object type.Comparison Matrix Feature Core Document Management Functionality Ability to create. It also ensures that the Document ID is truly unique even across site collections. Email a link (URL) as Document ID Support for Custom Document Types Yes Yes Yes Yes In SharePoint 2010. the probability of that happening is extremely minimal.Feature Functionality Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) <Document Prefix>-<-X-Y>. Document Centre. in Documentum. documents can be linked to Content Types that are logical metadata entities that can help conveniently classify and categorize documents based on their business or functional use as well as apply policies and workflows against. The Document ID feature is available at the site collection level and can be used across various site templates such as Record Centre. Similarly. documents are associated with Document Types. Team / Collaboration Sites and so on. Custom Content Types can inherit from and extend to another Custom Content Type. site collections and web applications. Support for Inheritance of Document Types Yes Yes Custom Content Types can be created based on OOB content types and can hold custom metadata (site columns). Only documents that inherit from the Document Content Type are capable of leveraging the Document ID generation feature. While it is theoretically possible for the same Document ID to be generated across site collections or web applications (in the event that we do not configure the Document ID prefix). Content Types and Site Columns (metadata) themselves are reusable across SharePoint 2010 sites. Documentum has similar inheritance and customisation capabilities on Document Types. The Document Prefix comprises of 4-12 characters. 7 . which in turn are comprised of fields (metadata). which can be manually configured (if required) whereas the Document Suffix comprises numbers that are auto-generated by SharePoint. enhanced • Allows option of appending of changes to existing text. Single Line of Text Yes Yes Multi Line Text Yes Yes Rich Text Yes Yes Date Time Boolean Yes Yes Yes Yes • SharePoint 2010 . Calculated and Currency. SharePoint’s equivalent is the GUID which is also system generated. which is a string field that is usually system generated. Hyperlink or Picture. • SharePoint 2010 . Documentum supports a metadata type called as ID. In SharePoint. rich. Support for Custom Document metadata Support for various types of Metadata Yes Yes Yes Yes In addition to those mentioned below. it is possible to associate custom metadata with a document library where such metadata may not necessarily be part of a content type.Mandatory or Optional • Allows enforcing of unique values • Allows setting of maximum number of characters • Allows setting of Default Value • Allows a Calculated Value.Feature Functionality Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) However. SharePoint 2010 provides additional OOB metadata column types such as: Person or Group. • Mandatory or Optional • Allows for unlimited length in Document Libraries • Can specify number of lines for editing • Allows specifying Type of text – plain.Yes/No check box • Allows default selection of Yes or No 8 . by contrast. a subtle point of difference: All documents in Documentum must necessarily inherit from a document type. Lookup Yes Yes Lookup from a Central Taxonomy Yes Yes SharePoint 2010 offers a centralized taxonomy store that can be shared across site collections. radio buttons (single value). Documentum allows selection of Multiple or Repeating values for a meta data field. Multi-Value Yes Yes Support for Folders and Sub Folders Yes Yes 9 . radio buttons (single value). Documentum represents lookup fields as “Value Assisted” fields – the domain values of the lookup are stored in “Registration” Tables. drop-down (single value) or list box (single/multiple values). Object types and metadata can be shared across a repository (docbase) but not across repositories. Double) Yes Yes • SharePoint 2010 .Feature Functionality Choice Documentum Yes SharePoint 2010 Yes Comments (Where relevant or required) SharePoint 2010 allows selection through check boxes (single/multiple values). web applications and even farms – this central term store can be linked into metadata columns (through managed metadata lookup columns) that provide intuitive as well as type-ahead features to suggest.Mandatory or Optional • Allows enforcing unique values • Allows specifying minimum and maximum values • Allows specifying number of decimal places (Automatic or Explicit: 0 – 5) • Allows specifying a default value: specific or calculated) • Allows showing number as a percentage. SharePoint 2010 allows selection through check boxes (single/multiple values). drop-down (single value) or list box (single/multiple values). Number (Integer. SharePoint stores lookup values either locally in a list as hard coded set of values or in a userdesignated list. Documentum has considerably greater limits than SharePoint in terms of length of file and folder names. which can be personalized. Documentum can store files of very large size as compared to SharePoint 2010. Both SharePoint and Documentum support configurability and creation of views of content. > 256 chars 256 chars > 128 chars 128 chars Documentum has considerably greater limits than SharePoint in terms of length of file and folder names. SharePoint has the following restrictions: · The period character cannot be consecutively used in the middle of a file name · The period character cannot be present at the end of a file name · A file name cannot commence with a period character.Feature Functionality Choice Documentum Yes SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) Yes SharePoint 2010 allows selection through check boxes (single/multiple values). this can be increased to a maximum of 2 GB. Also. radio buttons (single value). Yes Limited Maximum File Size that can be stored > 2GB 2 GB Support for multiple views of content including personalized views Yes Yes . SharePoint does not support special characters in file and folder names such as ~#%&*{}\:<>?/|". drop-down (single value) or list box (single/multiple values). SharePoint in addition supports the ability for content owners to target content to users and groups and the 10 Support for inclusion of special characters in naming of objects. While SharePoint 2010 is configured by default for a maximum file upload size of 50 MB. Implemented in SharePoint 2010 as custom folder content types. Support for Custom Folders (with custom metadata) Maximum Folder Name Length Maximum URL Length of any Document (including folders) File Name Length Yes Yes > 128 chars 128 chars Documentum has considerably greater limits than SharePoint in terms of length of file and folder names. 11 Limited Yes Limited Yes . Tasks. SharePoint either disallows this scenario or provides a configurable choice to store such documents as versions of the same document. Documentum WebTop 6. Client Integration capabilities with MS Office Documents Edit With Limited Yes Save As Populate metadata Check In/Out Create Versions Windows Explorer View of Content Bulk Copy. Paste. Duplicate Documents in same Folder Yes No Documentum does not prevent two documents (files) with the same name from being stored in a given folder. Documentum WebTop 6. through the separate purchase of client Application Connector Licenses. Documentum WebTop 6. client integration capabilities with MS Office Clients such as Excel. Move Integration with MS Outlook Synchronisation of Calendars. PowerPoint and Outlook exist for SharePoint 2010.5 offers exposure to similar capabilities – however. through the separate purchase of client Application Connector Licenses. through separate purchase of client Application Connector Licenses.5 offers exposure to similar capabilities – however.Feature Functionality Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) granularity of content targeting could be as fine as a list or document item. Contacts. Rich OOB. Documents Support for incoming mail Limited Limited Limited Limited Yes Yes Yes Yes Same as Above Same as Above Same as Above Same as Above Limited Yes Same as Above Limited Yes Same as Above SharePoint 2010 supports rich synchronisation (bidirectional) with MS Outlook clients.5 offers exposure to similar capabilities – however. Word. SharePoint 2010 supports rich synchronisation (bidirectional) with MS Outlook clients. major and minor. Site or Document Library where the alert is required. Alerts can be configured to notify of any changes to a document library or list. Alerts may be sent out to users individually. Subscribing to Content changes Versioning Check In/Out Major Versions Minor Versions (Revisions) Configurabil ity to create versions – major only. Alerts can also be sent to groups if either of the following is true: • The group is an e-mail enabled group • The group is explicitly added to a permission group in the Site Collection. none. Same as above. Delete minor versions while retaining the major (approved) version Publish / Unpublish Versions Overwrite a Version Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 12 .Feature Alerts Functionality Creating Alerts Documentum Yes SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) Yes SharePoint 2010 allows for users as well as content owners to configure alerts on content (changes). workflow. permissions and support for content types.Feature Functionality Version History Version Labels/Com ments Documentum Yes SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) Yes Yes Yes Documentum allows custom labels to be created as part of a version. can be provided on either platform as part of a version. There can be multiple such branches created in a version tree. SharePoint does not provide such capability. Support for Links. The closest “equivalent” otherwise. sans the ability to collectively version. versioning. SharePoint does not have an equivalent feature. download as a zip capability. download. Check in comments however. SharePoint 2010 introduces the notion of a Document Set which is more a physical (rather than logical) collection of documents that share common characteristics/behaviour such as metadata. of a Virtual Document in SharePoint 2010 may be construed as a hierarchy of folders that in turn contain links to documents – however. Documentum allows a version (revision) to be branched. Branching Yes No Restricting number of versions Support for storing most File Types. apply workflows and so on. This allows independently working on a specific version without impacting the current or published version. 13 . unique Document ID. in addition to generated version/revision numbers. Virtual (Compound) Documents Yes Yes Yes Yes Both Documentum and SharePoint support a wide array of File Types that can be stored Yes Limited No Documentum has a sophisticated and wellevolved framework for creating compound (or logical sets) of documents called as Virtual Documents that can be hierarchical in nature as well. No such capability exists in SharePoint 2010. 14 . Preserve referential integrity in links on documents. documents can be linked in a way that prevents deleting a document that is linked to another or conversely deletes the linked document(s) on deleting the source. SharePoint 2010 introduces the referential integrity and cascades delete relationships between two lists (but not document libraries). Yes No Support for linking to specific document versions irrespective of which version is "current" or "published". At best. cascade deletes and so on. Support for seamlessly viewing linked folders and documents as folders & documents Yes No Yes Yes SharePoint 2010 supports maintaining copies of documents with the ability to automatically update any changes to the originals to the copies. Yes No Links in SharePoint appear as distinct icons in their own right – they may almost be considered as shortcuts or hyperlinks – but no further intelligence beyond that. Links in Documentum can be configured for referential integrity and cascade deletes as compared to targets. In other words. Support for maintaining links as copies of documents with ability to reflect any updates to originals on the copies.Feature Functionality Link folders to folders and in many-tomany mode Documentum Yes SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) No Documentum can link a folder to multiple folders (that could be in any hierarchy) and further these appear on the User Interface as any other “normal” or naturally created folder under that folder. There is no OOB support for such capability in SharePoint 2010. by virtue of the fact that every object whether folder or document is always identified by an immutable object ID. workflows. Yes No Virtual Documents in Documentum support the ability for a document to be designated as a master document that in turn links into child documents. In Documentum. the links should also reflect or behave accordingly. this is implemented through a Document Set which is a physical (and not logical) grouping of documents. Yes No 15 . There is no OOB support for such capability in SharePoint 2010.Feature Functionality Support for creating shortcuts or links to folders or documents Documentum Yes SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) Yes SharePoint 2010 supports a Link Content Type that allows creation of links (shortcuts) to URLs from within a document library or folder. if the target is moved or deleted. these features are available on logical groupings. The links however are not bound to the target in that. There is no OOB support for such capability in SharePoint 2010. links are essentially object ID references which means that if an object is deleted. In the case of Documentum. all associated links are also automatically deleted and if an object is moved. Virtual Documents in Documentum support the ability to have nested / hierarchical links of documents/folders. downloads and versions Support for linking documents in a masterchild hierarchy Support for multiple linked nested documents Yes Yes Yes Yes In the case of SharePoint 2010. Support for logically grouping shortcuts (links) in a folder Support for grouping documents to collectively apply metadata. then the link continues to point to the object. Yes Limited Copy documents to other locations Yes Limited Documentum allows for bulk copy and paste through a Clipboard across locations such as folders and cabinets. In SharePoint 2010. SharePoint supports a “Send To menu” option on a per document basis to copy or move or move with a link behind to a different document library. this is possible through purchase of Application Connector licenses. On Documentum Web Top 6. SharePoint supports a Send To menu option on a per document basis to copy or move or copy as a link to a different document library. SharePoint 2010 can support this only through Explorer view but not as a “native” capability. Move documents to other locations Yes Limited 16 . Documentum provides bulk Content Export features to OOB. Otherwise.5. a bulk download of documents in a given folder (or root folder) is possible through a Copy-Paste operation using the Explorer View. Otherwise. while SharePoint 2010 can support this only through Explorer view but not as a “native” capability. Documentum allows for bulk cut and paste (move) through a Clipboard across locations such as folders and cabinets.Feature Common Document Operations Functionality Upload documents individually or in bulk Upload documents through drag-drop Download (Export) documents in bulk Documentum Yes SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) Yes Yes Yes Drag-drop based uploads are provided to OOB on SharePoint 2010 Document Libraries. Otherwise. SharePoint also supports a “Content and Structure View” as a site level administration option to bulk move or copy content. bulk download of documents is only supported for Document Sets (and that too as a single zip file). or a specific document template indicated by a URL. if the Office (2010) Web Client Access is enabled. In SharePoint 2010 as well as Documentum. for example. in SharePoint 2010. However. InfoPath to HTML.Feature Functionality Move documents to other locations leaving a link behind Documentum Yes SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) Limited Documentum allows for bulk copy as link through a Clipboard across locations such as folders and cabinets. SharePoint 2010 also offers Word Automation Services that allow conversion of the following source documents to PDF and XPS: 17 . there is no OOB feature to update metadata values in bulk unless a default value is assigned. Associate a default document template Yes Yes In SharePoint 2010. the default document template could be. using the datasheet view. Office documents can be directly viewed in the browser without the need for the corresponding Office Client application. Word to HTML. Further. it may be possible to copy-paste column values in bulk provided all the mandatory columns for multiple documents have already been entered or included in the bulk copy-paste operation. standard MS Office document templates such as Word. Office and so on. SharePoint 2010 supports a ‘Send To menu’ option on a per document basis to copy as a link to a different document library. Edit Document Metadata in bulk No Limited Delete documents individually and in bulk Checkout documents in Bulk Edit documents in Bulk Ability to convert documents between common formats (for example Word to PDF or Word to HTML) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Document Renditions Yes Yes SharePoint 2010 offers Document Conversion services for common document format conversions such as XML to HTML. xml) • Word XML Document (.doc. . PDF and HTML. Ability to render documents in different formats Manage links between the rendition(s) and the original Yes Yes See Above Yes Yes In Documentum.dotm) • Word 97-2003 documents (.mhtml) • Word 2003 XML Documents (.mht. . When a new version of the file is created.dotx. .Feature Functionality Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) • Open XML File Format documents (. are not carried forward with the new version of the file automatically.xml) Documentum Content Server provides two formats for transformation by default namely. Content Rendition Services can produce PDF renditions for the following source formats: • • • • • • Microsoft Word Microsoft PowerPoint Microsoft Excel Lotus WordPro WordPerfect PostScript Content Rendition Services can produce HTML renditions for documents in the following Microsoft Office formats: • Microsoft Word • Microsoft PowerPoint • Microsoft Excel Content Rendition Services can produce HTML renditions for documents in the following Documentum Media Transformation Services is an optional product (on top of Documentum Content Server) that lets one manage rich media such as jpeg and various audio and video formats. .rtf ) • Single File Web Pages (. including any thumbnail renditions. the renditions remain with the previous 18 . . All other formats are provided separately by Documentum Content Transformation Services. when a file is versioned.docx.docm.dot) • Rich Text Format files (. its renditions. It is possible to have changes made to the source document automatically propagate to the target format – this is configurable and optional. Documentum and SharePoint both essentially plug into external authentication stores in order to authenticate users. Documentum and SharePoint both essentially plug into external authentication stores in order to authenticate users. LDAP and custom stores. Both can be configured/customized to authenticate against various types of authentication stores such as Active Directory. Both can be configured/customized to authenticate against various types of authentication stores such as Active Directory. Both can be configured/customized to authenticate against various types of authentication stores such as Active Directory. It is possible to directly update and version target documents independently of the source. Both can be configured/customized to authenticate against various types of authentication stores such as Security Support for integrated Windows authentication Yes Yes Support for authentication against LDAP sources Yes Yes Support for authentication against custom sources like SQL databases Support for Web SSO Yes Yes Yes Yes 19 . Documentum and SharePoint both essentially plug into external authentication stores in order to authenticate users. All ACLs of the source object are automatically inherited by renditions. the Documentum Administrator may automatically cause generation of new renditions upon check in. and version a file if it was selected during rendition creation. Renditions themselves cannot be checked out/versioned/updated. However. Different document content types can be assigned different document conversions.Feature Functionality Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) version. LDAP and custom stores. SharePoint by default is configured to use Windows Authentication (against AD). LDAP and custom stores. Documentum and SharePoint both essentially plug into external authentication stores in order to authenticate users. In SharePoint 2010. a link is preserved between the source document and the target format. When the source document is deleted. all its renditions are also automatically deleted. Both platforms have a security model based on Groups and Users for content access. Documentum implements ACLs through Permits. SharePoint 2010 also provides default and customisable permission levels to users and groups on content. Documentum may not natively support claims based authentication yet. it is not possible to assign a permission that allows just browsing of document metadata without actually being able to view the content of the document.Feature Functionality Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) Active Directory. Contribute. Extended Permits. which means it can plug into any authentication provider (regardless of platform/vendor) that supports this protocol. 20 . SharePoint has default Permission Levels such as View. Control content access at User and Group level Support for Permission assignment to AD Groups Customisability of Permission Levels Yes Yes No Yes SharePoint supports security groups based on Active Directory groups if using Windows authentication. Permission to Browse Document Metadata Permission to Browse Content Permission to Browse Metadata but not Content Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No In SharePoint. Full Control. Read. and Designer which in turn are collections of permissions – custom permission levels with different combinations of permissions are possible. Yes Yes Documentum supports default and customisable permissions (ACLs) and privileges to users and groups on content. LDAP and custom stores including Web SSO providers. Privileges and Extended Privileges. Support for Claims based authentication No Yes SharePoint 2010 builds in native support for Claims based authentication. There is no equivalence of such capability and hence permission in SharePoint. Edit and Delete under the Contribute Permission level – custom Permission levels can be created to allow for any combination of these permissions or individual permissions. Sub Sites and Document Libraries. Permission to Create Security Groups Permission to Create Metadata (fields. modification and deletion of content. this includes permissions to create cabinets. Edit and Delete under the Contribute Permission level – custom Permission levels can be created to allow for any combination of these permissions or individual permissions. Permission to Version Documents/Ob jects but not Edit Permission to Edit Documents/ Objects Yes No Yes Yes Permission to Delete Documents/ Objects Yes Yes SharePoint has separate permissions for Add. 21 . Similarly Documentum has separate permissions for creation. folders and so on. this includes permissions to create content types and site columns. Similarly Documentum has separate permissions for creation. SharePoint has separate permissions for Add. there is a feature that allows objects to be related for example linking of folders and documents – there is a specific permission that allows a user to create such linkages and without necessarily having the permission to edit the content. Documentum allows versioning a document without necessarily being granted the permission to edit the document. modification and deletion of content. There is no equivalence of such a capability and hence permission in SharePoint. while in SharePoint. this includes permissions to create document types and fields. Yes Yes In Documentum.Feature Functionality Permission to Relate Documents/ Objects Documentum Yes SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) NA In Documentum. this includes permissions to create Sites. In SharePoint. document types) Permission to Create Taxonomy Container Structures Yes Yes Yes Yes In Documentum. Similarly. At best. Yes Yes Documentum supports ACLs at DocBase. In SharePoint 2010. No No Both Documentum and SharePoint support maximum security granularity up to the Document level. view and purge audit logs Multiple levels of permissions such as at folders and documents Yes No Yes Yes In Documentum. viewing and purging audits.Feature Functionality Permission to assign permissions to groups/users Permission to Audit content. Permission inheritance across container hierarchy including the ability to override at any level. Documentum has granular privileges for configuring. Document Library. Folder and Document Levels. Granular permissions to Users/Groups to configure. Documentum allows security groups to be nested so as to inherit permissions of the parent group(s). Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) Yes Yes Yes Yes There is no separate audit-specific permission at par with other permissions in SharePoint to be able to Audit content – this is more an administrator privilege. Metadata level security is not supported OOB. Cabinet. it is possible to have one level of AD group(s) contained in a SharePoint group. there is no OOB capability to nest security groups. In SharePoint. it is possible for a given user that is part of a group with an elevated set of permissions on an object to be explicitly denied one or more of those permissions. Folder and Document levels. Documentum has explicit privileges in respect of audits. Metadata level security on documents. SharePoint supports permissions at Site/Sub Site. there is no means of doing this and the user will always acquire the union of all permissions he/she gets through different group memberships. 22 Ability to nest security groups Yes No . grouping and filters – folder or “flat” views can be displayed. Granularity of targeting is possible up to a documents or list item level. Sites. This pane can provide the following navigational aids. TOC Web Parts. Quick Launch Bar. Navigation is provided through Global Navigation. Documentum Yes SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) Yes Documentum has global or default permissions such as dm_world for example that applies to all users. Site Directory and last but not least through Managed Metadata models. Summary Links Web Parts. Gantt views and Calendar views. Views on Document Libraries/Lists can be created exposing/hiding different columns or metadata (as desired) and then targeted based on Audiences through Web Parts such as Content Query Web Parts or Document Library Web Parts. SharePoint 2010 provides location and metadata based navigation as part of the Quick Launch Navigation pane on the left side for a Document Library. Similarly SharePoint 2010 has “global” or default permissions for example for all Windows Authenticated users. Site Collections. SharePoint allows OOB capability to configure views in the form of a Spreadsheet (DataSheet) views. Location (Folder) and Metadata based Navigation. SharePoint 2010 makes it possible to configure and display multiple views of content displaying the desired metadata and apply sorting. Users can be given the permission to create personal views as long as they have at least contribute rights (or "Manage Personal Views" permission). Document Libraries/Lists and Folders. Content Types and Tag Clouds. SharePoint 2010 provides content organisation through Web Applications. depending on Location Based Navigation settings chosen: • Navigation by folder trees • Navigation by Content Types as well as by Metadata • Navigation by Tags and Ratings Navigation Ability to view and navigate through hierarchical structures (organisation) of content Yes Yes 23 . Tree View.Feature Functionality Permissions at "Everyone" level. The designer is a power-user or Information Worker oriented tool that does not really demand core-development capabilities. There are no OOB secondary methods of visual navigability such as metadata driven navigation and tag clouds. Content organization is represented typically in a monolithic view of a file-folder structure. The ability for content owners to selectively “target” content to “audiences” may not be possible OOB. It is also possible for users to create personalized views of content. This pane can provide the following navigational aids. Documentum provides a Web Development Kit to enable customization of the User Interface whereas SharePoint provides designer tool (SharePoint Designer) based customization capabilities.Feature Functionality Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) Documentum offers a Web Top client as a browser based User Interface to navigating content repositories. which in turn are composed of Cabinets. Such keywords and terms also display as autosuggestions to allow intuitive selection of 24 . SharePoint 2010 provides location and metadata based navigation as part of the Quick Launch Navigation pane on the left side for a Document Library. filter and page. depending on Location Based Navigation settings chosen: • Navigation by folder trees • Navigation by Content Types as well as by Metadata • Navigation by Tags and Ratings Documentum does not offer meta data or tag driven navigation capabilities OOB. Content is organized as Repositories (DocBases). Folders and Sub-Folders. Metadata driven navigation Limited Yes Tagging and Rating Folksonomy Ability for end users to tag content and discover/naviga te through tags No Yes SharePoint 2010 offers an OOB Enterprise Keyword as well as Term Store that allow end users to tag content with a configurable option to restrict such capabilities as well. It is possible to configure views of content in folders to display metadata of choice and also be able to sort. Ability to annotate document content Taxonomy Ability to manage and organize content in a hierarchical system of folders and sub-folders. Notes can be added without the need to check out a document (even if check out required for edit option has been configured). Yes Yes In SharePoint 2010. one or more users to a document similar to Documentum can add multiple Notes – however. SharePoint 2010 does not support Content annotations OOB. web applications and site collections. Yes No Yes Yes Limited Yes SharePoint 2010 provides the Managed metadata model. Ability to have a centralized / shared taxonomy across content repositories. Documentum has OOB capabilities for Content Annotations.Feature Functionality Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) available taxonomy promoting re-use and consistency in content classification. which allows metadata to be reused across the Enterprise – in other words across farms. 25 . Comments can be added otherwise as part of out of box or custom text columns created in a Document Library – such comments would amount to one field per document item. Ability to add comments/no tes to documents and share notes. Ability to rate documents (by content consumers) No Yes SharePoint 2010 introduces a powerful folksonomy feature allowing end users (content consumers) to rate documents (and content) and then be able to browse/search for documents by ratings. this is more like a collaboration feature and is not a means of annotating a document like in Documentum. through managed metadata columns. SharePoint 2010 supports the concept of an Enterprise taxonomy that allows metadata in document libraries and lists to be linked into a central Term Store. Third Party vendor tools are typically required to provide for this capability. web applications and farms – essentially allowing for a shared (reusable) taxonomy. Ability to import taxonomies (csv files for example) No Yes SharePoint allows creation of Enterprise Taxonomies called as Term Sets that can be conveniently imported and generated from a spreadsheet. SharePoint also allows creation of content type hubs that can publish content types across site collections. No Yes SharePoint 2010 builds a rich taxonomy visualisation that allows easy and suggestive attributing of metadata to documents. Metadata value lookups Yes Yes Both Documentum and SharePoint support inheritance of document or content types. 26 . Documentum implements metadata value lookups through Value Assisted Fields and Registration Tables while SharePoint 2010 implements these through managed metadata (enterprise level). It is possible for this taxonomy to be controlled and restrictive or opened up to user communities to continuously build and evolve. Both Documentum and SharePoint allow mechanisms to enforce the entry of metadata and also to restrict the domain range of metadata values. Inheritance of content structures (document types. folders and documents. site column level lookups. folder types and so on) Intuitive navigation of taxonomy trees to guide attributing of documents.Feature Functionality Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) Documentum supports object types that can be shared across cabinets. May not be flexible enough to share across docbases (repositories). Yes Yes Enforce metadata values Defaults for metadata Bulk attributing of documents Yes Yes No No Neither Documentum nor SharePoint offer OOB features to bulk attribute a collection of documents with common metadata unless otherwise default values have been specified. This needs to be custom developed. SharePoint offers the ability to soft delete a document (which means it goes into a recycle bin) and then permanently delete this either based on a schedule or on demand. In general. SharePoint 2010 offers a configurable recycle bin feature OOB for deleted documents.Feature Content Deletion Functionality Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) Ability to soft delete documents Recycle Bin Limited Yes Documentum does not really offer an OOB Recycle Bin feature where deleted documents can be accessed and then permanently deleted or restored. Ability to hard delete documents Limited Yes Ability to restore soft deleted documents (from Recycle Bin) Ability to configure retention period in Recycle Bin Limited Yes Limited Yes Auditing Ability to audit viewing / downloading of documents Ability to audit changes to documents Ability to audit deletes of documents Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Ability to audit document versioning Yes Yes 27 . when a document is deleted in Documentum. it is only flagged as deleted and there is no OOB recycle bin feature to view this. Yes Yes Put Holds on Records Yes Yes Holds are a means by which records (documents.Feature Functionality Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) Ability to audit creation/upda te/deletes of document types Ability to audit changes to document permissions Create. whereas Documentum Records Manager and Documentum Retention Policy Services are required to avail of this functionality in Documentum. the ability to drag-drop e-mails from Outlook to SharePoint document libraries is limited and may require the use of third-party tools. SharePoint allows the ability to route e-mails from Outlook/Exchange to document libraries based on various parameters such as subject line fields. However. Yes Yes Yes Yes SharePoint 2010 allows many types of collaborative content such as wikis. Holds can be applied not only 28 . Documentum Email Archive Services offers the ability to route and archive mail messages from platforms such as MS Outlook. maintain and report on Hierarchical File Plans Declare documents as records Declare unstructured collaborative content as Records Declare emails as Records Yes Yes Yes Yes Core Records Manage ment Yes Yes This functionality is available by default in the core SharePoint 2010 Standard/Enterprise Editions. and forums that can also be declared as records apart from documents. list items and so on) can be prevented from being edited or deleted. blogs. Holds can be individually applied at item level manually or through bulk selection of items in a document library or list. It is also possible to do an eDiscovery Search for items based on search terms within a Site Collection as a whole or scoped to specific sites within the site collection and then apply Holds in bulk on items retrieved as part of Search results. Put Holds on Non-Records Carry out eDiscovery and move records to Hold Yes Yes SharePoint 2010 makes it possible to put holds on items not declared as records.Feature Functionality Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) within document or record centres but also in practically any kind of site and in-place. this method of applying Holds offers two options – the option of applying in-place holds or copying the items (identified for Holds) over to a different Records Centre and adding the same to a Holds List(s) on the target. Retention policies can be applied differently for documents that have been declared as records and for those that have not. Again. Yes Yes Route and Organize documents into Record File Plans based on meta data Ability to preserve complete audit data of a document Apply retention/dispo sition policies to Documents and Records Yes Yes Yes Yes Retention policies are part of SharePoint 2010’s Information Management Policy and can be configured at content type. All “Held” Items are tracked in what are known as Hold Lists. Retention policies can comprise multiple retention stages. document library or folder level. A summary of key Retention actions is as follows: • Move to a Recycle Bin • Permanently delete • Transfer to another location • Trigger a workflow 29 . the action could be for to transfer the document to a Record Centre by means of Copy. modified. trigger an approval workflow at a recurrence of 1 year. An example of the former is to subject a document to an action. for example. For example. for the first 3 years. Move or Move with Link options or to declare the document as an “in-place” Record. 30 . 2 years beyond that delete any versions created on the document at a monthly frequency for a period of 1 year. date when document was declared a record or custom formulas based on metadata). once its “contract date” exceeds 3 years. Retention events could be date based (like date created. The event can be based on a property of the document or it could be driven by a custom retention formula that is installed on the server. A separate retention stage can further specify how long a document should. for example. Ability to define Retention Policy templates and apply to Yes Yes Both Documentum and SharePoint allow creation of retention policies around document types / content types. We could also have retention stages where. after which declare the document as a Record by moving to a “Record Centre” preserving it for two years.Feature Functionality Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) • Skip to the next (retention) stage • Declare as record • Delete previous drafts • Delete all previous actions It is also possible to optionally specify a recurrence of Retention actions for a given stage till the next stage is triggered. Ability to have multiple retention stages on Documents and Records Yes Yes In SharePoint 2010. be preserved as a Record before it is either destroyed automatically or trigger a disposition workflow that will allow a Records Manager to manually intervene and decide whether to continue to retain the document or delete it. a retention stage allows defining an event that will trigger an action. then moved off to a third location for a year and finally delete the document permanently. it is possible to have multiple “Records Centres” in a web application depending on the nature and volume of records content. expiration. a retention policy applied at a Content Type level can be overridden at document library or folder levels if required. there is limited (pseudo) support for physical records tracking through Information Management Policy attributes such as barcodes. In SharePoint. Yes Yes It is possible in SharePoint 2010 to declare a Document as a “Record” at its existing location which may be in any document library in any site. printed. this is the Documentum Information Rights Management Services while in the case of SharePoint. In SharePoint 2010.Feature Functionality Document Types and Folders Ability to apply retention policies to Folders in a File Plan Ability to define In-place Records and Holds Central and Distributed Records Management Management of compound records Physical Records Management Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) Yes Yes Both Documentum and SharePoint allow creation of retention policies on folders. In case of Documentum. mailed. Both Documentum and SharePoint require a separate Rights Management service or add-on to provide this feature. Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Limited Informatio n Rights Managem ent Ability to protect documents from being locally copied. Yes Yes 31 . it is the Active Directory Rights Management Services. auditing and labels and workflows. and so on. be it a Document Centre or a Collaboration site and so on. Physical tracking and management of such records in conjunction with logical records representing them on SharePoint must happen manually or by other means. edited. it is possible to have Document Sets that in turn can be subject to Information Management Policies as well as Retention Policies. feature is provided through Documentum Physical Records Services. In case of Documentum. In SharePoint 2010. In SharePoint. MS Word) rather than a SharePoint server side feature. Ability to associate workflows with Document Types Ability to obtain collective review feedback on a document from multiple reviewers. Yes Yes OOB support from both platforms Yes Yes Yes Yes 32 . Managing Document Life Cycles Yes Limited Document Support for Workflows simple single step workflows for review and approval. digital signatures implementation is inherently through client application functionality (for example. this would be loosely achieved through a combination of state machine workflows. a Documentum Trusted Content Services license is required. The Lifecycle essentially promotes tracks and maintains the complete state transition of a document from the time it is create till the time it is disposed or archived – this may include several user-initiated as well as automated work steps applied on the document.Feature Functionality Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) In-built Support for Digital Signatures Yes Limited In SharePoint. event handlers and retention policy/stages but not as a formal “document-centric” feature. In SharePoint. Documentum on the other hand provides a more formal and rigorous implementation of digital signatures that are controlled on the server – for this. Documentum has a well-defined notion of a Document “Lifecycle” distinct from and a super layer over document workflows. conditional branching and looping of actions. and so on. Support for configuring multi-step workflows without need for coding Support for recording and displaying Workflow History Support for assigning. Support for automatic escalation and Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No While Documentum workflow allows the ability to configure automatic rule based delegations and escalations as well as manual delegations without 33 . copying. viewing tasks and alerting users on tasks Support for common workflow actions such as sending e-mail notifications. moving documents.Feature Functionality Ability to trigger a document workflow manually or automatically (for example upon upload or edit). developing a Modification Form with escalation parameters that can be included in the workflow configuration. Support for visually composing state machine workflows (without developer intervention) OOB configurability support for Exceptional conditions arising out of workflows. it does allow for reusable workflows including site level workflows. Automatically trigger workflows from office clients without configurations Support for Work Queues and task prioritisations Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes No 34 . which is more a developer. While SharePoint Designer 2010 is more limited in capability. Manual configurations for escalation by business users are not supported OOB by either product. Documentum Business Process Manager allows Information Workers to compose and configure reusable state machine workflows visually without the need to write code whereas SharePoint requires this to be done through Visual Studio.Feature Functionality delegation (without coding) Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) code. oriented tool. including Suspend and Resume capability. SharePoint 2010 requires this ability to be coded (using a tool like Visual Studio) for example. Native SQL Server based backup utilities can also be leveraged. While SharePoint 2010 is natively configured to store metadata and content in the database. SharePoint 2010 like Documentum can now scale up to store huge volumes of content. Similarly SharePoint 2010 offers client and server side API. FPRPC and JSOM (JavaScript Object Model) based interfaces for client applications to interface with. SharePoint also offers limited WSRP and CMIS support. running into terabytes. Documentum also supports native backup/restore utilities. Terabytes of data Yes Yes Backup and Restore Yes Yes Programm -ability Support for a full-fledged platform object model / API that can be leveraged for document management features. 35 Storage Support for file system storage of documents (separate from metadata) Yes Yes Support for storage of millions to tens of millions of documents.Feature Functionality Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) Documentum architecture is inherently based on storage of content metadata in a database and the actual content on file storage. SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition is required. Granularity of backup can be fairly deep – up to an individual list or document library level.0 onwards) provide API as well as web services for client applications to consume and operate against Documentum. Upto 30 million documents per document library can be supported in SharePoint 2010 without significant performance degradation depending on average document size. web services. WebDav. SharePoint supports native backup utilities through its Administration interface as also through powershell/ stsadm administration interface. It is possible to move content from document library (content database) storage to RBS at a later point of time. REST full services. however the converse is not true. it can now be configured (in conjunction) with SQL Server 2008 to relegate content storage to Remote Blob Storage (RBS). Documentum DFC (Documentum Foundation Classes) and DFS (Documentum Foundation Services) (6. Up to 5000 items per document library view can be supported without significant performance degradation. Yes Yes . a third party storage provider needs to be deployed and for this. This leverages the OOB FileStream provider feature of SQL Server 2008 – however in order for blob content to be stored on NAS. Support for WebDAV protocol for document management operations Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) Yes Yes Yes Yes SharePoint natively supports WebDAV for features such being able to open a document library in a Windows Explorer view and uploading. Documentum supports WebDAV through WebDAV Services included as part of Content Server and this allows desktop applications such as Adobe Photoshop to directly interface with Documentum. Third party iFilters need to be procured for specific or specialized document / image formats – for example engineering/autocad drawings. Support for FPRPC protocol for document management operations NA Yes Specific to SharePoint that allows WYSIWYGauthoring tools such as SharePoint Designer to integrate with SharePoint and create/deploy artefacts. moving.Feature Functionality Support for native platform web services that can be leveraged by client applications to implement document management features. text files as well as for PDFs and Zip files. Support for search on metadata (taxonomy) Yes Yes Limited Limited Out of box or free downloadable iFilters in SharePoint for common MS Office formats. deleting content. Search Support for Full Text and keyword (property) indexing Support for Full Text Search of common and specific document formats. XML. Documentum also full text search capabilities for Yes Yes 36 . Limited Limited SharePoint 2010 supports wild card searches on properties and on people. Yes Yes Yes Yes SharePoint 2010 Search can OOB sort on parameters like timestamp (for content) but FAST Search can sort on many more parameters including properties (refinements). Modulating size of search results Ability to page search results Ability to customize look and feel of search results without code Ability to save search results Yes Yes Yes Yes Limited Yes Yes Limited SharePoint 2010 offers auto-suggest (type ahead) capability on search queries as well as ability to subscribe to search query results (when changed) but no OOB feature to save search queries on a personalized basis for purpose of recall.Feature Functionality Ability to perform Boolean searches Support for wild card search Ability to search on document types Ability to sort on Search results Documentum Yes SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) Yes SharePoint 2010 now supports a query syntax that can combine full text and property query. Ability to refine search results based on facets Ability to search based on social parameters tags and ratings No Yes No Yes 37 . if desired. Lotus Notes – these connectors could be provided by Microsoft. Yes Support for exposing search services through web services to consumers Yes Yes Documentum 6. search and workflow as well as an SDK to build custom consumer services.0 onwards introduces Documentum Foundation Services (DFS) that expose an SOA framework for consumers of Documentum features such as content. Exchange folders OOB but requires specific Search connectors (licensed separately) for other content sources such as Documentum. third party connectors or federation. SharePoint 2010 similarly exposes web services for consumption by client applications. Client-side API also includes support for JSOM (JavaScript Object Model). Documentum similarly supports native.Feature Functionality Ability to subscribe to search results Ability to deliver search results as RSS feeds Documentum SharePoint 2010 Comments (Where relevant or required) Limited Yes No Yes Documentum may require a separate Web Publisher add-on to deliver RSS kind of capabilities. Web Services include support for SOAP as well as REST. SharePoint 2010 supports search on file shares. Support for Yes search on various content repositories natively. SharePoint 2010 can also support federated search with other search appliances. Also. server side API and client side API. third party and federated search capabilities. the search connector architecture is extensible so that custom search connectors can be developed as well. or the content source vendor or a third party vendor. Ability to Yes directly check out a document from search results No 38 . exclude such features from the evaluation. 39 .Conclusion The comparison provided by the white paper. evaluate the options for implementing a third-party add-on or custom development of such features and incorporate into the evaluation score card. If one of the products clearly does not meet these minimal qualifications. If some features may not be relevant or critical at all. Evaluate whether both products will uniquely and best address specific problem spaces for an enterprise and therefore justifies implementing both platforms in an environment of co-existence. in the following scenarios: n Greenfield implementation of Document and Records Management where neither of the products have been implemented and there is an opportunity to implement one of them. This should be followed by establishing a “cut-off” or “threshold” that either product must at a minimum score to even qualify for consideration. Finally factor in infrastructure. it is most likely discarded from consideration. n n The best way to take advantage of the feature comparison matrix provided in deciding to choose either product (or in some cases both products) is to assign a priority or weight to each of the features in terms of applicability and criticality as compared to a specific enterprise’s needs and then come up with a raw score for each product. between Documentum and SharePoint 2010 could be helpful in providing guidance to enterprises. Either one of the products is already implemented in the organization and there is a need to decide whether migrating to the other product is a cost-effective option from the perspective of rationalization and reduction in ECM platform footprint. maintenance and support costs to arrive at a final ROI evaluation. For critical or nice-to-have features that are not met by one or the other product. license. List of Abbreviations Abbreviation/ Acronym ACL AD API CIO CMIS DFS ECM FPRPC JSOM LDAP NAS OOB RBS REST ROI SDK SOA SSO TCO WSRP WYSIWYG Expansion Access Control List Active Directory Application Programming Interface Chief Information Officer Content Management Interoperability Specification Documentum Foundation Services Enterprise Content Management Front Page Remote Procedural Call JavaScript Object Model Lightweight Directory Access Protocol Network Access Storage Out of Box Remote Blob Storage Representational State Transfer Return on Investment Software Development Kit Service Oriented Architecture Single Sign-on Total Cost of Ownership Web Services for Remote Portlets What You See Is What You Get 40 . Contact For more information about TCS’ consulting services.com All content / information present here is the exclusive property of Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS). consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business. integrated portfolio of IT and IT-enabled infrastructure.com/rss_feeds/Pages/feed. For more information.feedburner.practice@tcs. transmitted.tcs.aspx?f=w Feedburner: http://feeds2. posted or distributed in any form without prior written permission from TCS. republished. ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. and could result in criminal or civil penalties. TCS has a global footprint and is listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in India. TCS offers a consulting-led.com RSS: http://www. reproduced. A part of the Tata Group. trademark and other applicable laws. uploaded.tcs. visit us at www. modified. recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development. engineering and assurance services. Copyright © 2011 Tata Consultancy Services Limited TCS Design Services I M I 11 I 11 IT Services Business Solutions Outsourcing . The content / information contained here is correct at the time of publishing. contact microsoft. This is delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery ModelTM. No material from here may be copied. Unauthorized use of the content / information appearing here may violate copyright.com Subscribe to TCS White Papers TCS.com/tcswhitepapers About Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services. India’s largest industrial conglomerate.