What Is a Document?
If you were to do much reading in the document management field, you would soon realize that this is a persistent and pesky question. The accepted definition of document is constantly evolving, and our traditional views of documents are difficult to apply in the electronic age. For example, is a .wmv (Windows Media) file a document? Is an .msg file (e-mail message) a document? Some limit the definition of document to communication that is legally compliant or otherwise official. Others broaden the definition to encompass any communication—written or electronic—that has been recorded in any format. So using this latter definition, a Post-it note with some scribble on it would be considered a document. Now, don’t laugh. One author of this book knows of a municipality in Minnesota that requires every written communication to be indexed and warehoused for seven years, including Post-it notes.
For our purposes in this chapter, we’ll consider the term documents as mainly referring to Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Office Excel, or Microsoft Office PowerPoint files, both electronic and hard copy. While Web pages, e-mails, voice mails, and other electronic forms of communication are also considered documents, it would muddy the waters too much to try to discuss these various document types in this chapter. For illustrative purposes, we’ll stick with the Microsoft Office suite as our platform in which we’ll work with documents. How documents are defined in your organization is up to you, but it is a conversation that should not be avoided. Why? Because if it is not a document, then it may not need to be managed.
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