AVO Chief

If you have worked with Documentum for a long time you may have noticed that this powerful behemoth has undergone quite a makeover over the years since Documentum 4i.  For me the major enhancements began with Documentum 5.3 which now has led to a very powerful but hopefully more user-friendly if not sleeker version of itself in Documentum 6.5. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and revisit the key release changes over the years.

In 2005 Documentum 5.3 was released

This was a  major revision for Documentum. The 5.3 offering, was to use its next-generation enterprise content management platform that would draw together collaboration, search, and file management into one system for the first time.

Documentum 5.3 included a number of features.  It included:

• The EMC Documentum Client for Outlook which let Outlook users access all the features available in the traditional Documentum Web-based interface, so you could also save e-mails and attachments in a Documentum repository.
• And a new federated search capability would let make content searching in Documentum and other repositories easier.
• All the features were for the first time part of a single system. A unified stack could now federate formerly isolated content repositories offers benefits to business buyers.
• All content management applications would now share the same architecture with a common code base, security model, repository, object model, and API, meaning lower installation and administration costs plus unified audit trails.
• Documentum 5.3 also included new business and process services.
• Documentum Content Transformation Services shifted documents, images, and audio and video files from one format to another according to the application.
• Documentum Collaboration Services let information be shared through notes, contextual folders, discussions, and workspace rooms.
• And lastly, the EMC Documentum Business Process Engine allowed automation of tasks such as work assignment, prioritization and load balancing.

In 2007 Documentum 6.0 was released

• Web services — Documentum 6 extends its SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) architecture with a comprehensive set of industry-standard Web services that would provide a seamless way to access the Documentum capabilities in either Java or .NET environment.
• Ease of use — Documentum 6 Web clients would provide AJAX support, the new clients provided keyboard short-cuts, right-click support, and multi-object actions with no annoying check boxes. New configurability options could further simplify the user experience.
• Work anywhere — Documentum Client for Outlook wouldcome with offline support to allow people to work in a disconnected mode with subsequent intelligent repository synchronization.
• Collaborative content management — Documentum 6 platform included the collaboration capabilities of the eRoom product line embedded into the core Documentum architecture as well as an enhanced set of federated searching capabilities. The next-generation integration with SharePoint 2007 would be native to the Microsoft applications.
• Transactional content management — Documentum 6 platform would be the foundation for a new class of transactional content solutions, including optimization for scanned image management, significant performance and scalability improvements, comprehensive BPM suite, and a streamlined client interface designed specifically for workers within content-centric content solutions like loan origination and claims processing.
• Interactive content management — In Documentum 6, Web Content Management and Digital Asset Management would also have a new streamlined user experience.
• Tooling — Documentum 6 platform would support the Eclipse tooling environment and would unify the user experience for Documentum 6 administration, configuration, deployment, and development tools.
• Global scale — Documentum 6 would have significantly improved support for distributed environments including remote content appliances.

In 2008 Documentum 6.5 was released

With Documentum 6.5, Documentum enters the world of web 2.0.  It marries the web 2.0 user experience model with ECM capabilities. In this way Documentum ECM 6.5 extends the value of ECM to a much broader set of users.

The new features in Documentum ECM 6.5 that provide users with a the Web 2.0 experience include:

• Documentum CenterStage Essentials, a new client for knowledge workers. The completely redesigned interface is extremely easy to use and features shared team workspaces, guided search and simple Documentum access. I guess its meant to address those who prefer a Sharepoint style solution.
• Documentum Media WorkSpace, a new media interface which provides users a personalized, dynamic and familiar way to view, find, compare, annotate, review and share media assets.
• My Documentum, a new lightweight client that is completely integrated with the desktop providing users with immediate access to the latest versions of content they use most often as well as allowing them to access and work on documents when they are not connected to the server.
• Documentum Web Publisher Page Builder, a newly designed, Flex-based Web authoring interface provides non-technical business users and authors with an interactive and easy to use tool to create compelling Web experiences.
• An enhanced Documentum TaskSpace delivers a highly configurable, all-in-one user experience that combines content, process, high-fidelity forms and monitoring to accelerate business processes and substantially increase user productivity.
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Written by AVO Chief

Efren Duarte is Director of Products & Services and AVO Chief (Strategist/Evangelist) at Avocera Products & Services Consulting and principal of the AVMI Group, a market research based venture management firm. The AVO Chief provides 2-Week Money Back Guarantee Product Marketing/Management Services Trial for qualified Startups and SMBs with growth potential. Inquire at avochief@ymail.com for more details.

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