Web-Based Back and Storage?

[Shadowknight]

I'm not the IT guy at where I work, but my boss asked me about setting something up. Right now we scan in different documents for HOAs (we're an HOA management company). He wants to have something setup where board members can login to a server somewhere and view the documents for their association and ONLY their association, as we don't want board members to see documentation related to other associations. I figure something like that would be doable, providing we can find a company that allows automated backup of the scanned image files through the web. However, I'm at a loss at how to find out what companies offer services like this. While there's probably not more than 10 gigs of data (total), we'd have to be able to setup several hundred logins and IDs as each HOA board membership ranges from one to nine people.

Can anyone point me in the right direction of a business who could help me with this sort of thing?

 

[OdiN]

Sounds like a job for a good custom web application to me. I don't know of any off-the-shelf type solutions for something like that.

I mean...you COULD just use a hosted website with a provider that will provide backups. Then have a folder for each login and secure that folder with a user/password. That's kinda clunky though - especially if identical documents are shared between some logins.

 

[kranky]

I think a hosted service built on SharePoint could handle that without too much trouble. Look for a company that does document management. Check aiim.org for leads, after Saturday (they are upgrading the site currently, it's not up).

 

[pstylesss]

Laserfiche is a document scanning company that just came out with a web portal option.

 

[Goosemaster]

jsut a comparison I whipped up for you so you can get ideas..


Sharepoint or Knowledgetree

Sharepoint:

Pro - free if you use WSS 3.0
Pro - MS AD integrated
Pro - asp
Pro - rather easy to setup
Pro - ms office suite integration / integrated document management ( versioning etc)

con - asp

con - not many besides the usual MS stuff.


knowledgetree:

Pro - free if you use the community version
Pro - php
Pro - rather easy to setup
Pro - ms office suite integration
Pro - easily customizable

con - php you'll have to tighten security on yoru server a bit if you don't have php (actually either way)

conclusion:

Odds are that you will using pdfs or the like so I would focus on it's easy setup, rather easy-to-setup security, and intuitiveness (ideally)

Both will provide you with excellent service for your needs as frankly, they are both overkill but not to an intimidating extent. Given some time and effort, both should provide you with excellent results.

Additionally, both are available as hosted options which gets rid of many of the server management caveats