Electronic Report Management

Electronic Report Management

(storage)(ERM, Enterprise Report Management) The capture,archiving and publishing, in digital form, of (typicallymainframe generated) documents such as accounting andfinancial reports. ERM often replaces systems based on paperor microfilm.

ERM usually captures data from print streams and stores iton hard drives, storage area networks or optical diskdrives. The data is indexed and can be retreived at thedesktop with a web browser or a fat client. ERM systemsare part of enterprise content management or electronic document management.

An example application is PearlDoc QuickFile Information Management System (IMS).

An early replacement for greenbar printed reports wasComputer Output on Microfilm (COM, not to be confused withMicrosoft's Component Object Model). This was supersededby Computer Output to Laser Disk (or Disc - COLD) which usedoptical media.

In 1999 the AIIM renamed COLD to ERM/COLD to reflect thevariety of media in use. This was promoted, in 2002, by MasonGrigsby - widely reputed as "The Father of COLD" for hisseminal work with INSCI in the late 1980s. Judging fromtheir web site, AIIM don't seem too sure whether ERM is"Electronic", "Enterprise" or both.