Document Management System — versions, permissions, eIDAS signing and audit trail in one
A document management system that replaces shared drives and email attachments with one cabinet: hierarchical folders, version control on every file, full-text search with OCR, role-based permissions, eIDAS-compliant electronic signing and a complete audit trail of every open, edit and share.
What the document management system includes
Document storage with workflow for companies that keep contracts, invoices, HR records, project files and correspondence in one place — and answer auditors without panic.
Hierarchical folders and tags
Folder hierarchy by department, client and project, plus tags for status, document type and retention. One file lives once, found through many slices without copies.
Versions with check-in / check-out
Every edit creates a new version with author, date and comment. File lock on write prevents parallel edits; line-by-line diff between any two versions.
Full-text search and OCR
ElasticSearch indexes the content of every PDF, Word and Excel; OCR recognises scanned documents. Find a clause or an invoice amount in under a second.
Role-based permissions
RBAC rules at folder, document type and field level. Accountants see invoices, legal sees contracts, managers see summaries. External auditors get expiring read-only access.
eIDAS signing and approval workflow
Qualified electronic signature in the browser via EU Trust List providers. Approval workflows route the document, collect signatures in order and close the case automatically.
Audit trail and retention rules
Every open, download, edit, signature and share is logged with user, IP and timestamp. Retention engine archives or deletes documents automatically per law, contract or policy.
Who this document management system is for
Three profiles where DMS pays back in under a year — because losing a document costs more than the software, especially at audit time.
Law firms
Practices with 5-50 lawyers running 200+ live matters. DMS keeps client files, correspondence and court rulings together; matter-level permissions enforce client confidentiality by default and contract versions are tracked line by line.
Accounting firms
Accounting and audit firms with 30+ client files and hundreds of thousands of primary documents per year. OCR-powered search locates a specific invoice in seconds, retention rules keep documents for 10 years and tax inspections run without pulling binders.
Mid-size firms with complex compliance
Manufacturing, pharma, finance and energy companies with 100-1000 staff and regulators demanding an audit trail. DMS unifies ISO 27001 policies, GDPR records, contracts and QMS documents in one repository with signing, versions and provable retention.
How we build the DMS
Open-source stack, proven in EU banks and public bodies. No vendor lock-in — data, indexes and signatures stay with you on-prem, in your cloud or in our managed hosting.
Technology stack
Database: PostgreSQL for metadata, permissions, versions and audit log — ACID guarantees and partitioned tables for millions of documents.
Object storage: S3-compatible (MinIO, AWS S3 or Wasabi) with server-side encryption and lifecycle policies for archive tier.
Search: ElasticSearch plus a Tesseract / AWS Textract OCR pipeline for scanned files.
Security: SSO via Azure AD or Google Workspace, 2FA, end-to-end encryption for sensitive folders.
eIDAS signing and integrations
Electronic signing: eIDAS-compliant QES with EU Trust List providers — legal value across the entire European Union.
Accounting software: two-way sync with local and EU accounting systems — invoices appear in DMS with correct tags instantly.
CRM and ERP: documents attach to a deal, client or order; salespeople open the offer from the CRM card.
Email-to-DMS: email attachments route to the right folder automatically, no drag-and-drop.
Why Saitami for a document management system
Three numbers from real deployments at law firms, accountants and regulated companies over the last two years — not marketing claims.
Time to find a document
Full-text search with OCR drops retrieval from 8-12 minutes in shared drives to under 15 seconds in DMS.
Audit-ready compliance
Every action logged, retention rules automatic — tax, ISO and GDPR audits pass without scramble.
Starting investment
Fixed MVP — folders, versions, OCR search, permissions and eIDAS signing. No per-seat fees, ever.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a DMS and cloud storage?
Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox are file storage — they keep the file but do not know what it is. A document management system manages the document: versions with author and comment, role-based permissions at folder and field level, full-text search with OCR, approval workflow and signing, retention rules and a full audit trail. Drive shows who opened a folder; DMS proves to an auditor who saw a specific invoice and whether they changed it.
Does it support OCR for scanned documents?
Yes — the OCR pipeline is standard, not an add-on. Tesseract with trained models handles contracts, invoices and protocols; for complex forms and tables we add AWS Textract or Azure Document Intelligence. Recognised text flows into the ElasticSearch index, so a scanned PDF is searched exactly like a native document. Accuracy on standard contracts exceeds 98%, with manual review only on critical fields like amount and date.
Can you migrate 100,000+ existing documents?
Yes — migration is part of the rollout. We pull files from shared drives, email archives, the legacy DMS or paper archive (with scanning), run them through OCR and an automatic type classifier, then enrich metadata. Duplicates are caught by hash, naming mistakes cleaned with rules. For 100,000-500,000 documents the migration runs 3-6 weeks in parallel with development.
How much does a DMS cost?
The starter package is from €4,800 one-off — folders, tags, versions, OCR search, role-based permissions, eIDAS signing and audit log, live in five to seven weeks. A full build with approval workflow, retention engine, ERP and accounting wiring, and migration of hundreds of thousands of documents runs €9,500-€18,000. Pricing is fixed after discovery, not hourly, and includes training and three months of support.
Ready for a DMS auditors love as much as your team?
A 90-minute discovery workshop — we review the current document flow, identify where files leak and compliance risks hide, and propose concrete scope, timeline and price. Related pages: payroll software, digital archive software, software development and API integrations. A great document management system starts with the right scope and migration plan, not the widest SaaS plan.
Book a discovery workshop →