Documents are usually stored within a folder structure. This is something that people are highly familiar through Windows in their personal life and Sharepoint in their working lives. The problem is that this type of structure isn’t particularly efficient where you have a lot of people accessing and searching for information. This article describes some of the key benefits of using metadata-based systems over folder-based ones.
Better Searchability
Adding a file to a folder structure allows that user to name the file – in essence providing a brief description of the contents of that file, be it a contract, report, memo, etc. With only one piece of descriptive information searching (or sifting through results) is more limited with folder-based systems.
With metadata-based systems it allows you to describe the document in much more detail – attaching multiple facets of data allows better searchability. An example might be a contract called ‘Property Lease v1.3’ in a folder-based system. We can tell it’s a lease relating to property and we can tell it’s version number – but little more on the face of it.
Now let’s imagine what it could look like in a metadata-based system. Perhaps the title remains the same but what other data could we add to it that would make it more searchable? We can add space for data relating to the parties to the contract, whether this version is the executed version, which matter or project it relates to, who owns it and perhaps even which type of lease it is. All these facets of information allow people to search for documents easier because there are multiple routes to get to the same destination.
It could be that one person is looking for all contracts relating to Acme Plc (of which this lease is one of them), it could be another person is looking for all executed leases and another perhaps contracts that are owned by John Smith. Whichever information they are hoping to find our lease will pop up in each of their searches.
Dynamic Retrievability
When viewing documents in a folder-based system you need to access a folder that you think will contain the information you’re looking for. That structure may not have been determined by you and may not be how you would think to retrieve that information. For example, one person’s folder structure might be to have types of contract at the top-level followed by client name. Another might choose geographies first followed by client name followed by type of contract. Either way you know that the information you need is in a document somewhere in the structure – you just need to make your way through the maze to get it.
Typically in a metadata-based system there may only be one ‘folder’ which contains all the documents in it (with permissions to grant people appropriate access to documents). In this space, you don’t need to worry about finding out where it is in the structure. You just need to search for the document you need based on certain criteria (e.g. contract type = lease and executed date was between X date and Y date) and your lease will appear.
Taking it one step further if you are able to create dynamic views of that data at the point of looking at it. Let’s go back to the folder-structure again and imagine that you have a folder that contains your leases in it. Let’s say you have ten there but unbeknown to you other people in the team have saved some elsewhere in the structure. So looking at the folder doesn’t give the full picture on your leases as they aren’t all located there.
In a metadata-based system the contract type metadata would be attached to the document itself and not just determined by the name of a folder containing it. So it would be possible to see all leases in an instant just by creating a view of the documents that contain contract type = lease. With a view like this it provides a snapshot of documents at the time of looking. So when new leases are added the view will change dynamically – always providing a snapshot of all leases in the system.
This article contains a few reasons how metadata-based systems can be better than folder-based systems in terms of searching and retrieving documents and information. It should be noted that it isn’t a panacea for document management issues (as change management is more of a challenge when people have an entrenched mindset of folder-based systems) but it can definitely help users find information they need quicker.
Marc May
Founder, The Legal Technologist
Image by Nidia Dias