Document Management System (DMS) and Suggested Practices (For Staff Only)


Document Management System (DMS) Background

To enforce proper management of official records and uphold the information security policy, OCIO has set up a web based Document Management System (DMS) since 2009. It can help departments and committees manage the official records in a proper and secure way with audit trial and easy-to-use access rights setting interface.

Departments and committees are recommended to use the DMS called “OpenKM” at https://openkm.eduhk.hk for keeping official and confidential records. OpenKM is a new DMS platform to replace the obsolete ASTA DMS and rolled out in 2017. DMS automatically indexes all the documents in the system and users can search the document by keywords similar to searching with Google. OCIO will be responsible to manage and support the systems to ensure its availability and reliability. Data on the DMS servers will be backed up regularly and it will only be accessible in the campus or through VPN from outside campus. Users are reminded that some information in ASTA DMS/DMSS (such as permalink, document history, author and last update information of document, etc.) could not be migrated to the OpenKM platform.

 

Suggested Folder Hierarchy

Different departments might have different filing practices. With reference to the HKSAR government’s filing standard, a suggested folder structure in DMS is provided to departments, offices, centers, units, committees and task forces of the University. Basically there are two suggested folder hierarchies. One is for departments to serve the administrative and operational needs and the other is for committees.

Suggested Folder Hierarchy for Department

  • PUBLIC
    • EO
    • FO
    • OCIO
      • Folder Information (a file)
      • Change Log (a file)
      • ADMINISTRATION
        • Folder Information (a file)
        • Change Log (a file)
        • POLICIES
        • COMMUNICATION
        • INTERNAL
        • ANNOUNCEMENT
        • EXTERNAL
        • OTHERS
      • SPACE AND FACILITES
      • PROCUREMENT AND SUPPLY
      • FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING
      • PERSONNEL
      • IINFORMATION SYSTEMS AND SERVICES
      • ARCHIVE DOCUMENTS Note

Note: Old documents (e.g. over 5 years old) might be moved to the archive directory. Documents over 7 years old might be permanently removed. When a folder or documents are removed for archive, put a stub in the original position as an indication e.g. “memo1997.doc was archived on 22 July 2008”.

Suggested Folder Hierarchy for Committee

  • COMMITTEE A
    • Folder Information (a file)
    • Change Log (a file)
    • TERMS OF REFERENCE
    • MEMBERSHIP
    • AGENDA
    • MINUTES
    • WORKING GROUP A
      • Folder Information (a file)
      • Change Log (a file)
      • TERMS OF REFERENCE
      • MEMBERSHIP
      • AGENDA
      • MINUTES
  • TASK FORCE A
    • Folder Information (a file)
    • Change Log (a file)
    • TERMS OF REFERENCE
    • MEMBERSHIP
    • AGENDA
    • MINUTES

 

Record Officers and List of Departmental Record Officers

Each department or committee will have their own folder under their management in the DMS. The department or committee is suggested to nominate a Record Officer to manage the access rights of their folder. The Record Officer will be responsible for the proper management of the files in the DMS. Access rights for subfolders can be delegated from the Record Officer if needed.

List of Record Officers for Departments  / Record Officers for Committees

 

Suggested Access Rights Management

It will be difficult to manage the documents if too many staff members have rights to update the documents in a folder. Thus, keeping a minimal delegation is recommended. Moreover, a good record of the access rights setting of the folders will help for proper documentation and audit purposes. You can document the changes on access rights setting in the "Folder Information" and "Change Log" files which include the following information: amiliarize the requirements of the policy, in particular, in the following areas:

"Folder Information" file

  • Description of the folder and subfolders in place
  • Owners of these folders
  • Information Security Classification of the folders (if needed)

"Change Log" file

  • e.g. On 14 July 2008 the access rights were updated by A and the latest authorized users of this folder are X, Y and Z.

In case of people movement or organizational change, owners of the folder should update the access rights settings and the “Change Log” file in a timely manner. Record Officers and folder owners are required to conduct audit check regularly e.g. twice a year to ensure that the access rights setting is proper.

 

Documents Conversion Process

We recommend users to convert documents to Adobe PDF format but Microsoft Word/Excel/Powerpoint is also acceptable. For electronic documents, conversion from Microsoft Office documents to PDF can be done easily with PDF printer driver provided in our office PCs. For paper documents, users can scan them using Multi-function Printer’s scanner and convert the files to PDF TEXT+IMAGE format using Acrobat with Optical Character Recognition (OCR). DMS could index the text in the PDF documents to facilitate searching. PDF is a portable format and it ensures that the file could be readable after many years. If users have a lot of paper documents to convert to PDF, they can outsource the conversion process to commercial service providers.

 

Sharing Sessions

Sharing Sessions for Staff on 13 Dec and 19 Dec 2017: presentation material


Useful Tips on Using OpenKM

  • User Guide for OpenKM .
  • Userful Tips on Using Document Management System .

  • Feedback

    If you have any queries and feedback on the DMS, please kindly send to  listen@ocio.eduhk.hk or contact Bonnie Shing at 2948 6524.