---
title: Why It's Time to Modernize Your School's Document Management System
description: Has your document management system kept up with your school’s evolving needs? If not, it’s time to make an upgrade.
image: https://blog.verityiq.com/hubfs/Document%20Management%20System.jpeg
---
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# Why It's Time to Modernize Your School's Document Management System
**[Cornelia Anderson](https://blog.verityiq.com/author/cornelia-anderson)**
There’s a great quote from the legendary boxer, Mike Tyson: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
The message behind this is that you can prepare all you want, but sometimes you don’t know what your weaknesses are until they are tested and exposed.
This absolutely rings true when it comes to technology, especially in the world of Higher Ed. So many Higher Ed professionals are working with outdated, limited tech solutions that are “good enough” but aren’t maximizing efficiency and profitability.
Document management is typically one of those tools. Most Higher Ed professionals would say that their document management system is “good enough”... until they get audited. And suddenly, that can feel like taking a punch.
Document management can be a tricky and complex thing. Even some of the best [Higher Ed software](https://resources.verityiq.com/higher-ed-software-101) companies look for 3rd-party document management software because their own tools don’t do it well—or at all.
So, if you’ve been waiting for a sign, here it is: it’s time to upgrade your document management software. Here’s why.
## **Audits: Where Document Management Matters Most**
Being audited by an accreditation firm or federal agency can be a stressful and disruptive process for any school or university, especially if when it’s unexpected.
Even if you’re prepared, the process can feel overwhelming and stressful because nobody wants to be caught in a position where they can’t show their documentation when asked. If you’re not prepared, well, it can feel like a disaster.
The biggest thing schools need to be able to do when they get audited is show speed: how quickly can they access and organize the docs they need? If the document retrieval process isn’t timely and organized, it’s a sign to the auditors that the school isn’t operating according to industry and legal standards.
The problem is that so many schools are stuck with manual, time-consuming, and error-prone processes—not just with document management, but with everything.
Even as schools strive to modernize and digitize, so many of them are still using paper for all of their documents. Whenever they need to retrieve their documents—whether during an audit or just in the normal course of business—it’s the same file cabinet search, stack, scan, print, and staple process that they were doing 30 years ago.
It’s time to modernize your [document management](https://resources.verityiq.com/document-management-for-higher-ed) process.
#### [The 3 Golden Rules of Document Management for Higher Education](https://blog.verityiq.com/golden-rules-of-document-management-for-higher-education)
## **What All The Best Document Management Software Can Do**
When your document management software catches up with the rest of your school’s efforts to stay modern and innovative, some amazing things can happen.
If your team gets stuck doing repetitive, manual, error-prone work that takes way too much time, then implementing a new document management solution can revolutionize the way your organization works—including the [Enrollment](https://blog.verityiq.com/the-best-higher-ed-enrollment-management-software), [Admissions](https://blog.verityiq.com/referrals-the-secret-sauce-of-college-admissions), [Registrar](https://blog.verityiq.com/improving-process-efficiencies-in-the-registrars-office), Financial Aid, and every other department at your school.
Here’s what all the best document management can do for you:
### **Show Document History**
Even when your documents are digitized, auditors want to see a “paper” trail: what edits have been made to each document, who made them, when were they made, etc.
This is a very important part of the audit process and it’s almost impossible to document if you’re not using digital files.
### **Control User Access**
Controlling user access is an essential feature for any Higher Ed software, especially when it comes to document management. Ideally, your software should give you the ability to control who can access, view, edit, download, and delete your documents.
It should also be configurable at different levels, including individual documents or a group of documents in a specific folder. You should also be able to set these user access permissions at the individual level or across teams for simplicity and ease of use.
### **Manage Version Control**
“Is this the most updated version of the document?”
“I think so. Actually, I’m not sure. Let me go check.”
The importance of managing version control is something to which everyone can relate. With document management software, you can create a single source of truth and reduce any friction or confusion when it comes to version control.
**Bonus tip**: the best tools also allows you to merge, split, and edit PDFs right inside the software!
### **Provide Search and Sort Functionality **
Search and sort are two essential functionalities of document management that paper records can never replicate. You should be able to type a phrase into a search in the system to find what you need instantly.
For example, say you want to create a list of every student record who included “Student Government” as one of their extracurricular activities on their application. With [document management software](https://resources.verityiq.com/document-management-for-higher-ed), you can simply type in that phrase, bring up every record which meets those criteria, and create a list of those students.
Can you do that with a file cabinet?
### **Folders and Organization**
Every school is unique and has different needs, which is why they should be able to organize their documents in a way that’s most helpful and meaningful to them.
The ability to customize and configure folders of documents and categorize them is such a helpful feature and one of those things where you didn’t know you needed it until you have that feature.
## **Find a Document Management Solution that Fits Your Needs**
Built by Higher Ed professionals for Higher Ed professionals, Verity’s document management tool features all of the essential ingredients listed above—and many more.
Built into [Verity Student](https://verityiq.com/student.html), our all-in-one [SIS software](https://blog.verityiq.com/sis-software-expectation-vs-reality), our document management solution is fully customizable and will help you modernize your processes to help you increase efficiency, improve profitability, and be ready the next time you get audited.
Schedule a demo and we’ll walk you through the product and show you how Verity Student can help you improve operational efficiency at your institution! [See Verity Student in Action](https://resources.verityiq.com/request-a-verity-demo).
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