M-Files
Encyclopedia
M-Files is a comprehensive electronic document management system
, running on Windows
platform. M-Files is also available as a cloud-based service known as M-Files Cloud Vault that runs on the Microsoft Windows Azure platform.
M-Files can tie into almost any business environment and works with all Windows applications and most database systems, including CRM, ERP, billing systems and more. The system can incorporate scanned hardcopy and existing electronic documents. M-Files indexing system used to tag each document makes it easy for workers to quickly find the document they are looking for.
In 2011 M-Files Corporation was one of the eleven finalists in The Infosys Business of the Year Award (T/O €0-25m) category of European Business Awards programme. It was, thus, granted Ruban d’Honneur award.
After a few years of development, M-Files 1.0, the first version of the company's document management solution (DMS)
, was ready to be published in 2005. M-Files received positive reviews in Finnish IT magazines, with many of the accolades due to M-Files' ease of use and familiar Windows interface.
In 2006, M-Files 2.1 was released to the public. This version contained performance improvements, such as support for over 1,000,000 documents as well as content-based search, licensed from dtSearch Corp.
.
Between versions 3.0 and 4.0, features such as workflow
, an application programming interface API and a web interface, were developed. M-Files 4.0 was also available in Finnish
, English
, French
, German
and Chinese
.
In 2008, M-Files 5.0 was released with new features, including tighter integration with Microsoft Office
and AutoCAD
. Later during the same year, M-Files Express, a free version of M-Files, was announced.
In 2009, M-Files 6.0 was introduced, which featured professional capabilities such as fast search, secure user access permissions, check-in / check-out, version management, workflow and notifications, fast offline and remote use, support for scanners and email, a Web interface and a flexible capability to connect to external databases and applications such as an existing CRM, ERP or billing systems.
M-Files 7.0 was released in 2010 and brought enhanced email management for Microsoft Outlook. This version of the M-Files document management system adds automatic processing and organizing of Outlook emails, improved search capabilities, and support for massive document vaults.
Current version, M-Files 8.0, was released in 2011 and adds features such as metadata driven permissions and reporting.
As noted above, in May 2011 Motive Systems officially changed its name to M-Files Corporation (M-Files Inc.) to better reflect its focus on the M-Files brand.
M-Files Cloud Vault is the cloud-based version of M-Files, which enables companies to organize and manage company documents and information on the Microsoft Windows Azure cloud platform. This hosted, software-as-a-service version of M-Files eliminates the need to purchase and configure a server, and provides all the advanced document management features of the on-premise version of M-Files, including secure user access permissions with Active Directory support, automated version management and history, automated custom workflows, document check-in and check-out, compatibility with email systems, and automated processing of scanned paper documents.
M-Files supports Salesforce CRM as well as Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, Dynamics CRM 2011 Online and Dynamics CRM 4.0, allowing companies to efficiently manage and track any customer-related documents, or other documents and information associated with objects or information managed via the Dynamics or Salesforce CRM systems. In addition, M-Files smoothly interfaces with essentially any ERP system, including the Dynamics ERP solutions such as Dynamics AX, Dynamics GP, Dynamics NAV and Dynamics SL. Again, M-Files augments these solutions, allowing companies to manage documents, information and processes related to the information managed in their ERP solution.
M-Files and M-Files Cloud Vault can be customized to meet the regulatory and compliance demands in industries such as in Accounting & Financial Services (Sarbanes-Oxley and SAS 70); Architectural, Engineering and Construction; Legal Practices & Law Firms; Manufacturing (ISO 9000/9001); Medical & Healthcare (HIPAA); Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences (FDA 21 CFR Part 11); and Real Estate.
The M-Files global partner network enables value-added resellers (VARs), systems integrators, infrastructure and consulting services companies to add M-Files to their portfolio to help drive new license and subscription renewal revenue and additional opportunities related to M-Files professional services business.
Another optional add-on is M-Files OCR. M-Files OCR adds integrated scanning and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to M-Files providing the ability to index and search the complete contents of scanned documents allowing full-text search.
Document management system
A document management system is a computer system used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. It is usually also capable of keeping track of the different versions created by different users . The term has some overlap with the concepts of content management...
, running on Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
platform. M-Files is also available as a cloud-based service known as M-Files Cloud Vault that runs on the Microsoft Windows Azure platform.
M-Files can tie into almost any business environment and works with all Windows applications and most database systems, including CRM, ERP, billing systems and more. The system can incorporate scanned hardcopy and existing electronic documents. M-Files indexing system used to tag each document makes it easy for workers to quickly find the document they are looking for.
In 2011 M-Files Corporation was one of the eleven finalists in The Infosys Business of the Year Award (T/O €0-25m) category of European Business Awards programme. It was, thus, granted Ruban d’Honneur award.
History
In the beginning of 21st century, a Finnish software company now called M-Files Corporation (The company was formerly known as Motive Systems, and changed its name to M-Files Corporation in 2011) struggled internally with document management needs. The company had previous experience with Windows software, namely by developing a popular color plotting application known as M-Color software for architects and engineers using AutoCAD.After a few years of development, M-Files 1.0, the first version of the company's document management solution (DMS)
Document management system
A document management system is a computer system used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. It is usually also capable of keeping track of the different versions created by different users . The term has some overlap with the concepts of content management...
, was ready to be published in 2005. M-Files received positive reviews in Finnish IT magazines, with many of the accolades due to M-Files' ease of use and familiar Windows interface.
In 2006, M-Files 2.1 was released to the public. This version contained performance improvements, such as support for over 1,000,000 documents as well as content-based search, licensed from dtSearch Corp.
DtSearch Corp.
dtSearch Corp. is a software company which specializes in text retrieval software. It was founded in 1991, and is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland...
.
Between versions 3.0 and 4.0, features such as workflow
Workflow
A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
, an application programming interface API and a web interface, were developed. M-Files 4.0 was also available in Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
.
In 2008, M-Files 5.0 was released with new features, including tighter integration with Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
and AutoCAD
AutoCAD
AutoCAD is a software application for computer-aided design and drafting in both 2D and 3D. It is developed and sold by Autodesk, Inc. First released in December 1982, AutoCAD was one of the first CAD programs to run on personal computers, notably the IBM PC...
. Later during the same year, M-Files Express, a free version of M-Files, was announced.
In 2009, M-Files 6.0 was introduced, which featured professional capabilities such as fast search, secure user access permissions, check-in / check-out, version management, workflow and notifications, fast offline and remote use, support for scanners and email, a Web interface and a flexible capability to connect to external databases and applications such as an existing CRM, ERP or billing systems.
M-Files 7.0 was released in 2010 and brought enhanced email management for Microsoft Outlook. This version of the M-Files document management system adds automatic processing and organizing of Outlook emails, improved search capabilities, and support for massive document vaults.
Current version, M-Files 8.0, was released in 2011 and adds features such as metadata driven permissions and reporting.
As noted above, in May 2011 Motive Systems officially changed its name to M-Files Corporation (M-Files Inc.) to better reflect its focus on the M-Files brand.
Different versions
There are two versions of on-premise version of M-Files: the first is M-Files Professional and the second is M-Files Express, the free, feature-limited version of M-Files.M-Files Cloud Vault is the cloud-based version of M-Files, which enables companies to organize and manage company documents and information on the Microsoft Windows Azure cloud platform. This hosted, software-as-a-service version of M-Files eliminates the need to purchase and configure a server, and provides all the advanced document management features of the on-premise version of M-Files, including secure user access permissions with Active Directory support, automated version management and history, automated custom workflows, document check-in and check-out, compatibility with email systems, and automated processing of scanned paper documents.
M-Files supports Salesforce CRM as well as Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, Dynamics CRM 2011 Online and Dynamics CRM 4.0, allowing companies to efficiently manage and track any customer-related documents, or other documents and information associated with objects or information managed via the Dynamics or Salesforce CRM systems. In addition, M-Files smoothly interfaces with essentially any ERP system, including the Dynamics ERP solutions such as Dynamics AX, Dynamics GP, Dynamics NAV and Dynamics SL. Again, M-Files augments these solutions, allowing companies to manage documents, information and processes related to the information managed in their ERP solution.
M-Files and M-Files Cloud Vault can be customized to meet the regulatory and compliance demands in industries such as in Accounting & Financial Services (Sarbanes-Oxley and SAS 70); Architectural, Engineering and Construction; Legal Practices & Law Firms; Manufacturing (ISO 9000/9001); Medical & Healthcare (HIPAA); Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences (FDA 21 CFR Part 11); and Real Estate.
The M-Files global partner network enables value-added resellers (VARs), systems integrators, infrastructure and consulting services companies to add M-Files to their portfolio to help drive new license and subscription renewal revenue and additional opportunities related to M-Files professional services business.
M-Files Community
Since the release of M-Files Express, a dedicated community forum was launched to provide peer to peer M-Files support for all M-Files users all around the world. In the M-Files Community forum there are many on-going discussions regarding M-Files.Add-ons
M-Files Inc. has also released optional add-on products for M-Files. These include the M-Files Web SharePoint Part, which is designed add value to SharePoint installations by enabling various types of listings of data stored in M-Files on any SharePoint page or site.Another optional add-on is M-Files OCR. M-Files OCR adds integrated scanning and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to M-Files providing the ability to index and search the complete contents of scanned documents allowing full-text search.
Users
A comprehensive reference listing is available at the M-Files web site. These references include:- AstraZenecaAstraZenecaAstraZeneca plc is a global pharmaceutical and biologics company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's seventh-largest pharmaceutical company measured by revenues and has operations in over 100 countries...
- BSA LifeStructuresBSA LifeStructures' is an international architectural and engineering firm headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The firm currently has offices in Chicago, Indianapolis and St...
- InterOil
- United Nations Environment ProgrammeUnited Nations Environment ProgrammeThe United Nations Environment Programme coordinates United Nations environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. It was founded as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in June 1972 and has its...