PowerDMS by NEOGOV vs. Square 9 Softworks

Getting 100% signature compliance on policy updates used to take months but since automating out policy management updates in PowerDMS, we can get 100% compliance in as little as 2 weeks. Internal requests for things such as training, purchases, etc used to be pushed up the chain of command via a paper copy and would often get misplaced or lost in a full mailbox. Using PowerDMS to automate those requests put the power back in the requester's hands and increased transparency and accountability across the organization.

Incentivized

Great for automating invoice processing where you want to set it and forget it. Also works well for document storage where you need things organized and easy to find. If you have complex requirements and need flexibility, this platform can handle it.
Not ideal if you expect a lot of exceptions or manual intervention since troubleshooting misrouted documents can be tricky. Also not the best fit if you want something that works out of the box with zero setup. You get the most out of it when you invest time upfront to build workflows.

Incentivized

• PDMS is extremely user-friendly from both the administrator aspect and the user.
• The workflow process is awesome and easy to set up.
• PDMS's support team is barred none. We've never had issues with reaching out to find a simple solution to our challenges.

• The software is very flexible, and the technicians were great at implementing our customizations for the PO project.
• While indexing fields in Global Search, the Key Free tool works great.
• Global Search is well-organized. It's easy to navigate and find your documents.
• The process for completing your project was well done. Communicating with individuals at Square 9 who were responsible for different aspects of the project was easy.

Incentivized

• The Workflow process in PowerDMS is not as easy to grasp as some of the other concepts and requires a little more explaination, especially for non-administrative background users.
• Users are unable to view the steps in a Workflow template in order to determine which Workflow would work best for their needs when routing documents.
• It would be great to have multiple message options for past due inbox notifications in addition to the options for past due tasks to encourage users to go to their inbox to review their messages.

Incentivized

• GlobalSearch could use some enhancements in layout - THIS IS FIXED WITH THE NEWEST VERSION OF GLOBALSEARCH 6.3 and their Sleek GUI GlobalSearch GO! - WELL DONE!
• GlobalSearch could use external sharing of documents THIS IS FIXED WITH THE NEWEST VERSION OF GLOBALSEARCH 6.3 and their Sleek GUI GlobalSearch GO! - WELL DONE!
• GlobalForms could have better formatting tools to enhance the fields and text formatting

Incentivized

I have had nothing but positive experiences with PowerDMS from day one. If we ever run into a situation we are unsure of, PowerDMS support has ALWAYS been able to answer us basically immediately. I really love that they are constantly seeking to improve and expand.

We are definitely renewing our SmartSearch. This is the only place all of our companies contracts and regulatory filings are kept. Our company would lose track of all expiring contracts if we did not renew. We would also need to spend many hours figuring out a new organizational system for all of our files, as well as savings the documents from SmartSearch onto the computer.

While not necessarily user-intuitive, with a small amount of dedication to training and learning how the system functions, it becomes very usable. I would say that the usability scale is quite user-dependent. For a standard user that just needs to review and sign documents, it is very easily used. On the other end, management does a bit more of a learning curve.

The items I am searching for are easily found. They are found in at least 95% of the searches. The failure rate generally is related to another employees user error or a template error set up by our Square 9 team in house.

Incentivized

Never had an issue with PowerDMS not being available. Speed is an issue from time to time

Square-9 can get this product out to you in almost the same hour your order it. We got ours very fast.

We use PowerDMS in the cloud so our performance might be different from other users who use on-premise. The program has always been up with very minimal downtime and always seems responsive and snappy when navigating the UI and searching documents. We don't currently have any integrations with other software.

With the PDF projected viewer, the document retrieval-to-display can drag for a second more than some systems, and the capture workflow if you overload a server array can also drag, but those are the only two issues we've ever seen with this product, and they are not serious issues at all.

I just wish we had some in-state support. The contacts I have had with customer support have been great. Awesome communication, problem-solving, and support. I have talked to and met Stephanie Williams (CSA for Power DMS) at the most recent Entrust conference. She was professional and devoted time to addressing our agency needs.

We had one "production down" incident that took about a day to get help on. I think that's a bit too long. The support people seem confident but not that friendly. I feel like I'm bothering them when I get help, but they get the job done.

Incentivized

In-person training works really well.

It would have been higher, but the training is a bit muted for the lesser qualified office equipment vendors who signed up as partners to sell and support it. The more experienced ECM vendors and customer end-users will find the training very good, but a bit slow.

Online training works well and keeps from having to have classroom training

Implementation of PowerDMS was near seamless. The product was able to input existing policies and procedures within a few hours, which helped to lay the foundation for future use. Having PowerDMS on-boarding readily available was also a huge benefit.

I think the implementation could have gone a little smoother than it did. Now that I know how to use the software, I could do it myself. I feel that as an organization, we could have been a little better prepared. If the consultant was more aware of what we were looking for, they could have assisted in setting up some workflows for us as per the contract. But because we were not prepared, the initial implementation process was a little painful. That said, adding a document management system to ANY business kinda means everyone has to re-think the way they do their work which can be difficult for some staff.

Incentivized

Our previous document product was Image Silo. It was a stable-enough product, but was strictly an indexed filing system. PowerDMS goes well beyond indexing (which it does very well) and provides countless more features and functions as described above. I would describe the difference between our previous product and PowerDMS like the difference between the library and the Internet. Both contain information, but on is limited, while the other has it all.

Comparatively, both of these applications are used for different aspects of the department, but they’re both useful. But overall, Square 9 Softworks is used for a more complex section of our day-to-day work, and with that being said, Square 9 Softworks is the application that brings us to excel in our everyday work. OptiSigns is mostly used for our digital signage.

Incentivized

Because of features and functions.

The scale-ability is quite good actually, but you need competent sales/support folks providing it to you, so the scale is set right for the demands of your system use. Some resellers are not good at doing this, some are fantastic. If you are scaled correctly at first implementation, you'll be very happy with this system.

• Created efficient processes for approving document revision
• Migrated what originally was a paper system to electronic
• Accessible for any employee by logging in, employees do not have to seek out policy and procedure binders, and updated documents can be automatically sent to inboxes when updated.

Incentivized

• Reduction in human error through manual data entry process now being automated
• Reduction in cost due to automation allowing the function to not require a full time employee
• Reduction in time spent performing the previous manual tasks. Example: on our consolidated shipment days, it could take doc clerk 2-3 hours to prepare master document package. This has been reduced to 30 minutes or less (depending on size of shipment and time needed for OCR to complete)

Incentivized