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Documentum
Developer(s)OpenText
Stable release
23.4 / December 2023
TypeEnterprise content management
LicenseProprietary software
Websitedocumentum.opentext.com

Documentum is an enterprise content management platform developed by OpenText. EMC acquired Documentum for US$1.7 billion in December 2003.[1] The Documentum platform was part of EMC's Enterprise Content Division (ECD) business unit, one of EMC's four operating divisions.

On January 23, 2017, OpenText, a Canadian technology firm based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada specializing in enterprise content management, acquired Documentum from Dell EMC for $1.62 billion.[2]

History

Getting started

Howard Shao and John Newton founded Documentum in June 1990. They had worked together at Ingres, one of the leading relational database vendors at the time, and sought to solve unstructured information management problems using relational database technologies. (Unstructured information refers to information that does not have a formal data structure – documents, images, audio, video, etc.) With initial backing from Xerox, they developed a customized system for Boeing to organize, store, maintain, and selectively publish the thousands of pages of information for the Boeing 777 training manuals. They developed another customized system for Syntex, a pharmaceutical vendor, to automate the process of assembling New Drug Application (NDA) documents when seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Documentum introduced its Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) in 1993, a client-server product for electronic document management. This product managed access to unstructured information stored within a shared repository, running on a central server. End users connected to the repository through PC, Macintosh, and Unix Motif desktop client applications.[citation needed]

Documentum EDMS provided check-in and check-out access controls as well as workflow capabilities for sequencing document review and approval processes and included a full-text search engine for retrieving documents from the repository. EDMS was adopted by several large enterprises, such as pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, financial services, and manufacturing companies.[citation needed]

Company growth

In 1993, Jeffrey Miller, a Silicon Valley marketing executive, joined Documentum as president and CEO with a mandate to transform the company from a technology-driven start-up into an established software firm. Under Miller's leadership, the company raised its first round of venture funding from Brentwood, Merrill Picker Anderson, Sequoia Capital,[3] Norwest Corporation, and Xerox Venture.

Documentum was floated on NASDAQ on February 5, 1996, listing with the DCTM symbol.

Web versions

In 1998, Documentum launched its Web Application Environment, a set of Internet extensions for EDMS, offering Web access to the documents stored within an EDMS repository.

In 2000, Documentum released Documentum 4i, its first Web-native platform. The company redesigned the repository to ensure that it could manage a huge number of discrete objects[verification needed]—ranging from self-contained documents to granular information snippets. Beyond just managing documents for print or electronic distribution, Documentum 4i could integrate with external Web applications and be used to distribute content to portals, web application servers, and websites.[citation needed]

Several third-party applications[which?] like LaseFiche, DocuWare, and DropBox are based on Documentum.

Content management platform

In 2002, Documentum launched Documentum 5 as a unified enterprise content management (ECM) platform for storing a virtually unlimited range of content types within a shared repository. The platform provided integrated business process management (BPM) capabilities as well as tools for managing content across a distributed organization.

Key acquisitions

The company made many acquisitions over several years, adding additional capabilities.

Products

Documentum Server (formerly known as Documentum Content Server)

Documentum Server is the core platform, which manages content in a repository consisting of three parts: a content server, a relational database, and a place to store files.[5]

Items in the repository are stored as objects. The file associated with an object is usually stored in a file system, and the object's associated metadata (file name, storage location, creation date, etc.) are stored as a record in a relational database.[5]

Documentum Clients

Documentum Smart View

Formerly known as D2, Smart View is the primary client for Documentum. Smart View is a configurable, content-centric client that provides access to ECM applications.[6]

Other clients

Releases

Version Date
5.3 April 2005
6 July 2007
6.5 July 2008
6.7 April 2011
7.0 November 2012
7.1 2013
7.2 January 2015
7.3 November 2016
16.4 February 2018
20.4 November 2020 [11]
21.2 April 2021 [12]
21.4 November 2021 [13]
22.2 June 2022
23.2 May 2023
23.4 December 2023

API

Documentum functionality is made available through application programming interfaces (API) including web services, WebDAV, FTP, Java, Documentum Foundation Classes, Documentum Query Language (DQL), Web Development Kit API (WDK), SMB/CIFS and CMIS.

Most of the customization in the basic product is done using the DFC (Documentum Foundation Classes), a comprehensive but rather dated (as of 2015) collection of Java APIs. Customization can be done via configuration, particularly through the extension products D2 and xCP. These additions aim to provide faster ways of building applications based on document types and metadata, and business processes, respectively.[citation needed]

Functions

Documentum provides management capabilities for all types of content. The core of Documentum is a repository in which the content is stored securely under compliance rules and a unified environment, although the content may reside on multiple servers and physical storage devices within a networked environment.

Documentum provides services such as document management, collaboration, search, content classification, input management, Business Process Management (BPM), customer communication management, and Web content management.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ "Network World". Archived from the original on 2009-03-18.
  2. ^ "News and Press Releases (PR) | OpenText". OpenText. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  3. ^ "Sequoia Capital funds Documentum".
  4. ^ "EMC Delivers Modern and Intuitive User Experience for EMC Documentum".
  5. ^ a b "Official Documentation (EMC Documentum Content Server Version 6.7 Fundamentals Guide)" (PDF).
  6. ^ "Official Documentum D2 Product Webpage".
  7. ^ "Official Documentum xCP Product Webpage".
  8. ^ "Official Documentum xCP Data Sheet" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-05-22.
  9. ^ "Official Documentum Webtop Product Webpage".
  10. ^ "Official My Documentum Product Webpage".
  11. ^ Harot, George (2020-11-10). "What's new in OpenText Documentum CE 20.4". OpenText Blogs. Retrieved 2023-09-11.
  12. ^ Harot, George (2021-04-21). "What's new in OpenText Documentum CE 21.2". OpenText Blogs. Retrieved 2023-09-11.
  13. ^ Jolly, Dianne (2021-11-24). "What's new in OpenText Documentum CE 21.4". OpenText Blogs. Retrieved 2023-09-11.
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