Find, control and approve documents without the folder chaos
Document Management keeps all your business documents in your Microsoft 365, where they are secure, searchable and easy to manage. It gives you repositories and folders, OCR search, versions, approvals and an audit trail, installed in your tenant and set up for your process.
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What it does
Six things it does for your team
These are the features people ask about first. The screens below show how they work.
OCR conversion
Reads text from scanned documents and images, in more than one language, so the content can be searched.
Dynamic permissions
Set who can see or change each repository, project, folder and sub-folder.
Automatic folders
Folders are created from rules you set, so every project starts with the same structure.
Metadata
Tag documents with the fields your business uses, then filter and search by them.
Approvals
Route documents through an Approver and a Publisher before they go live.
Version control
Keep every version, see who changed what, compare two versions and restore an old one.
Repositories
Give each department its own repository
Each repository is a tile on the home page, for a department, a project type or a document type. A tile has its own list of people with access and its own administrator, and you can switch it on or off.
- Several repositories in one system
- Access list for each repository
- An administrator for each repository
- Tiles switched on or off, and put in your order
Projects and folders
Projects, folders and sub-folders
Documents sit in a tree of clients, projects and folders. Add a project, then create folders and sub-folders by hand or by rule, to any depth. Access can be set for a project, a folder or a sub-folder, and a recycle bin and an approval list sit beside the tree.
- Projects defined and managed as folders
- Manual or automatic folder creation
- Sub-folders nested to any depth
- Access set per project, folder and sub-folder
- Document table with status and actions
- Recycle bin for deleted files
Upload and metadata
Upload with the details your business needs
People upload through a panel that asks for the metadata you define, such as sector, industry, country and document type, and for the approver and publisher. Files are renamed by your rule, so names stay consistent.
- Upload files of any common type
- Metadata fields you define
- Add, edit and manage metadata later
- Automatic renaming by your rule
- Approver and publisher chosen at upload
Search
Find a document by its details or its words
Open the search panel, choose the filters you need, such as classification, industry, country or document type, and get a table of matching documents. You can also search for words inside the documents.
- Metadata search with filters
- Content search by keywords
- Results listed with their details
- Filters that follow your own metadata fields
OCR
Turn scans into text you can search and edit
Scanned pages and images go through OCR, which reads the text and can convert it from one language to another, for example Hindi to English. Both texts are kept in list columns, so they can be searched and copied.
- OCR on scanned documents and images
- Language conversion for multilingual documents
- Editable text in Word, PDF or Excel format
- Original and converted text kept in list columns
Editing and versions
Work together without overwriting each other
Office documents open in the browser, so several people can edit at once and add comments. When one editor at a time is needed, check the document out. Every version is kept, and you can see the changes between them.
- View documents in the browser
- Real-time editing and co-authoring
- Comments on the document
- Check-in and check-out
- Version history with changes shown
Approval and email
Approve or reject, with an email at every step
Documents wait in an Approval list. The approver checks the details and the file, adds a comment, and approves or rejects. A second level, the Publisher, releases approved documents to readers. Email notices tell each person when it is their turn.
- Approval workflow for documents
- Two levels: Approver, then Publisher
- Approve or reject with a comment
- Email with the request details and approval route
- Notices for approvals, updates and changes
- Audit trail of every action
Who it is for
Built for
Quality and compliance teams. Project and engineering teams. Legal, finance and HR. Any team with documents that need approval.
- Documents you can trustEvery file has a version, an owner and an approval record.
- Find it fastOCR and search find procedures and records by their content, not only by name.
- Access by rolePeople see the documents their role allows, and each access is logged.
- Ready for auditRead receipts and the full history are kept for the next audit.
How it works
How a document moves
This is how a document moves from upload to revision. Your approval levels are set during installation.
Upload
A user adds a document and the system names and files it by your rules.
Review
The Approver checks the document and approves it or sends it back with comments.
Publish
The Publisher releases the approved version to the people who need it.
Revise
New versions keep the history, and you can compare any two versions.
Document Management: questions we hear often
What is a document management system?
A document management system stores, organises and tracks electronic documents, and scanned images of paper files, in one controlled place.
How does it keep documents organised?
With folders, metadata and tags, plus automatic folder creation and automatic file naming, so documents are easy to find later.
What file types can it hold?
PDF, Word and Excel files, images, AutoCAD drawings and other common file types.
How is AscenWork Document Management different?
It is built on SharePoint Online and has been configured and extended over many client projects. Repositories, projects, OCR, automatic naming and two-level approval come as part of the product, and we set them up for your process.
How do we search for documents?
By file name, by the words inside the document, by metadata and tags, or by custom criteria you define.
Can we control who sees a document?
Yes. You give people or groups permission to view, edit or delete, at repository, project, folder and sub-folder level.
Can several people work on the same document?
Yes. People can edit together, add comments and follow the version history. If you want only one editor at a time, use check-out and check-in.
How does version control work?
Every change creates a version. You can see who made it and when, compare two versions and go back to an earlier one.
How do approvals work?
There are two levels, Approver and Publisher. A document added to a folder is published only after the Approver and then the Publisher have approved it.
Can we reach it from outside the office?
Yes. It runs in your Microsoft 365, so people open it from anywhere with an internet connection and their Microsoft 365 sign-in.
How do we bring in paper documents?
Scan them and upload the scans. OCR turns the text in the scan into searchable text, and it can convert it to editable text in Word, PDF or Excel format.
What if someone deletes a document by mistake?
Deleted items go to a recycle bin, so you can restore them while they are still there.
Does it help with compliance?
It keeps an audit trail and access logs, and supports retention policies, which help you show who did what and keep records for the right period. Meeting a regulation still depends on how you set up and run it, and we help you configure it.
What are metadata and tags?
Custom fields you attach to a document when you upload it, such as document type, project or revision. They let people filter and search with precision.
Where does our data stay?
In your own SharePoint Online, inside your Microsoft 365 tenant. The product is installed there, and AscenWork has no access to your data.
How do people sign in, and what licence is needed?
People sign in with their Microsoft 365 account. The product is built on SharePoint Online, so you need an active SharePoint Online licence. It uses the Microsoft 365 licences and infrastructure you already have.
Can it be changed to fit our process?
Yes. Every installation is configured to your process: your forms, steps, roles and approvers. If you need something beyond the standard product, our technical team checks the scope and what is feasible, and we quote those changes separately so you can decide.
What does an installation include?
Setting up the environment, loading your master data, and setting user permissions and menu permissions to follow your company policy.
Do you train our team?
Yes. We provide training and documentation for the product we deploy, a train-the-trainer programme for your own team, and video training for the modules.
How secure is it?
It runs on Microsoft 365, so it uses the security features of your licence, such as role-based access, multi-factor authentication, conditional access, audit logs and external sharing controls. Which of these you have depends on your Microsoft 365 licence, and Microsoft governs them.
Who supports it after go-live?
You can run it with your own team, or add optional managed support from AscenWork for fixes, small changes and reviews. To report an issue, write to support@ascenwork.com and a support executive will pick it up.
Can it run on SharePoint Server instead of SharePoint Online?
It is built for SharePoint Online. For SharePoint Server 2016 or 2019 we can try it, and a few changes may be needed. Tell us what you run and we will confirm.
How do we get a price?
Talk to us. We listen to how your process works today, then send a written quote that covers the product set-up for your tenant and any custom changes as separate lines.
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