Sports an advanced search feature with autosuggest. Supports robust access control for restricting access to the documentation. Offers feedback functionality to gauge how the content is doing. Comes with features to display related content. Ships with a glossary module among others. Cons Gets pricey for more users.
Offers a media library so you can add your pictures, videos, attachments, etc. Offers several export options to convert your technical documentation into websites, PDFs, Kindle eBooks, and more. Cons Needs configuration. Needs technical know-how. Takes work to modify the inbuilt templates. Works with just Windows. Pros Comes for free! Is open source and backed by a big community of developers. Is extensible and customizable as open source software often is. Cons You need development resources to make it work for you.
Pricing: Free. Helpjuice Helpjuice is one of the most mature and thought-out knowledge base solutions that works great at creating and hosting technical documentation.
Pros Sports a slick editor with multiple formatting options. Offers multiple themes and is customizable too. Supports attachments. Offers insights into content consumption. Comes with a useful search functionality. Works nicely with Slack, Zendesk, Salesforce etc. HelpDocs Helpdocs is another good knowledge base software that works just as well at creating and hosting technical documentation. Pros Offers multiple formatting tools like callouts, tables, HTML blocks and more to write rich technical documentation.
Supports customization. Offers a host of integrations including those for Slack and Intercom. Supports multiple roles for allowing users to collaborate on docs. Comes with a good search feature. Offers insights into how the documentation is performing.
Confluence Coming from the Atlassian family, Confluence is a cool knowledge sharing and collaboration platform that doubles up as a lightweight project management solution. Sports an advanced search feature. Offers seamless Google Docs-like collaboration with real-time editing, commenting, email notifications for tags, and more. Ships with permission settings to control access to the documentation. Integrations feel limiting. Like its main rivals, ITBoost is a cloud service aimed at MSPs and it also includes password management services and password vault.
The documents created by ITBoost can present information to internal users or external users. The ITBoost system has the capability to import documents and it also includes an editor. Another interesting feature is the ability to glean information from support tickets.
The data-gathering facilities, presentation structure, and document templates combine to support the creation of SOPs for MSP staff and a knowledge base for supported users. It also includes the recording of device configurations, helping to document the systems that the MSP manages. Communications across the internet and data storage at the ITBoost servers are all encrypted for security. ITBoost is available on a day free trial.
Confluence is a product of the Australian software house, Atlassian. This is a very successful documentation, collaboration, and knowledge management system. Atlassian also owns Jira , the project management tool, and both systems integrate to create a project support suite. The combination of Jira for project planning and management with Confluence for documentation and communication is very popular among agile development teams.
Confluence has been described as a private social media platform for businesses. The tool has been available since and has changed radically since then. At first, it was very similar to the typical Wiki format. However, both the operational method of the system and the interface style have both changed since then. The appearance and purpose of pages created in Confluence are very adaptable and are driven by templates. The resulting documentation system looks more like a website.
Different types of pages enable the creation of announcements, searchable knowledge bases, and group comment pages. The tool includes a guided editor , which eases the creation of pages through templates. Pre-written documents can be imported into a Confluence-created document system. However, the purpose of Confluence is to support the creation of documents created within the environment rather than to act as a document store, although storage space is included with the online access plans of the tool.
Confluence is available as a cloud-based subscription service or as on-premises software. Buyers have five options when considering this software. There are three editions for the cloud-based service and two purchase options for the on-premises software. A small business could do fine with the free version. While the Standard and Premium versions allow up to 5, users per account, the free version is limited to The most important extra feature with the two paid versions is audit logging.
The Premium edition has many extras over the Standard version but the most important one is the inclusion of an analytics module. Storage space is another differentiator with a Free account getting 2 GB, the Standard account having GB, and an unlimited storage allowance for the Premium edition. The on-premises version, called Server , can be had for a one-time fee, but you have to decide on the number of users that will have access to the software because that is the sole factor that influences the price.
The higher on-premises edition is called Data Center. This is priced per year and it includes cloud backup for data. If you want to create a traditional Wiki format for your IT documentation, then you have many editor and document management options.
Most of them are free. Probably, the best of all of the Wiki editors is DokuWiki. A big advantage of DokuWiki is its simplicity. This makes the editor and document management software easy to maintain.
The system does not need an associated database for indexing or document storage. Instead, the DokuWiki content delivery system operates with text files as a source of data.
This document content management system was first released in So, the package has been around for a long time, making it a well-established and stable piece of software. As it is a free piece of software, there is no cloud-based version of DokuWiki.
The simple, free document management system has some great features that include version control , with each version retained, access control , templates , and a plug-in system to extend the functionality of the tool.
It is also capable of showing non-European character sets , such as Chinese, Arabic, and Hebrew. The CMS has an integrated indexing system and the finished Wiki screen includes a fully-functioning search facility. This review just presents a small number of options. The main decision you will have to make is whether you want a hosted documentation manager or if you want to maintain the software on your own premises.
There are many advantages to both the online and the inhouse strategies. If that describes you, then you have two options on this list in the form of DokuWiki and Confluence. There are four hosted services on this list because that configuration is becoming more and more accessible as more companies move into the market. The paid tools on this list can prove quite expensive. However, if you are a small company or a startup with very little to spend, then you have two free options on this list from which to choose: DokuWiki and the Free edition of Confluence.
Writing your IT documentation in the editors of these document management tools is a better idea than just scanning your existing paper-based documentation libraries. Specially formatted content management systems are better at providing IT documentation than traditional full-page documents because they can make short descriptions and quick tips available as well as full user guides and procedural manuals.
Do you use any of the tools on our list? What aspects of your current IT document management system made you choose it? Leave a message in the Comments section below to share your opinions with the community. This is an issue for Google Workspace. To break out of the geographical region restrictions just set the region for your organizational unit to No preference.
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Comparitech uses cookies. These tools range from simple, stand-alone programs that focus on a specific issue for example, a regulatory checklist to more complex enterprise-wide, real-time systems. Except for generic tools—discussed below—many of these products provide a framework for adding modules to be offered in the near future—even by other vendors. CPAs should encourage their clients and employers to speak with multiple vendors when evaluating tools and request demonstrations of them to ensure understanding of their potential value to the company.
Generic tools enable users to document internal controls, reduce potential risks and provide some level of comfort that compliance initiatives are in place. Many companies already have such compliance software built into their general accounting systems see exhibit 1.
These generic tools help companies comply with section Their capabilities are limited, however, and do not match those of other products that are the best in their respective categories. However, vendors of accounting products are augmenting them with self-documenting audit trails that automatically record and provide access to incremental changes, with analysis tools to help auditors examine transactions within the system, with business intelligence tools that make it possible to delve into or summarize data, with consolidation interfaces linking disparate accounting systems, and with flags and alerts that signal when predetermined cost or other limits have been reached and require review by an analyst.
Besides accounting products, other subcategories of generic tools include those for communication and collaboration and regulatory and technical reference purposes see exhibit 1. Security products, of which there are too many to mention, constitute another group of these generic tools. Security-focused generic tools often provide finely detailed analyses for segregation of duties, intrusion detection, encryption, firewall implementation, antivirus protection, enterprise security and disaster recovery plan updates as important components of a strong internal control system.
As an alternative, the following products do not possess Sarbanes-Oxley-specific compliance features but do have content-management capabilities. Regulatory and technical reference tools provide a strong environment for obtaining accurate and up-to-date regulatory information for an organization.
While such integration is possible, it tends to be less than optimal because generic tools are not designed to link to other products. Document management and workflow tools are more capable of interacting with other software than are generic products and can address relatively straightforward functions such as report tracking see exhibit 2 , above.
They allow users to perform detailed indexing and searching of multiple document types, including e-mail, flowcharts and narratives, to organize and retrieve text, images and numeric data. Companies using them can better understand and analyze the frequency of control activities, categorize internal control types, test their effectiveness and reveal relationships between key job responsibilities and their place in the workflow.
Data mining, file retrieval, pattern recognition and business intelligence tools can gather data from separate systems and organize and analyze them. This enables companies to detect patterns in financial statement data and thus improve the effectiveness of internal controls and the accuracy of financial information see exhibit 3 , at right.
Cognos Inc. SAS Financial Management www. CPAs should impress upon companies the central role that three types of software in this group—data mining, file retrieval and pattern recognition—play in helping organizations fully understand the information they produce about their activities. Tools that perform these functions typically analyze, manipulate, sample and extract data.
They also compare actual trends and patterns in financial statement accounts with expected norms to help identify irregularities that could indicate fraud or errors. Business performance management and real-time compliance tools provide management with real-time, enterprise-wide data see exhibit 4.
These tools can smoothly interact with other software and systems and provide one repository for all company information, facilitate the development of consistent and more efficient processes, help optimize information timeliness and accuracy and promptly notify management of compliance problems and supply the means to resolve them, all of which enable the company to respond quickly to changing business conditions.
The Gartner Group www. BPM tools add continuous auditing capability to real-time enterprise systems in the form of customized computer screens—called dashboards—that present key performance indicators managers use to decide when and how to react to changing business conditions. An example would be production and inventory adjustments based on sales trends and related changes to approvals and workflow.
Real-time compliance These products, many of which have BPM capabilities, are the optimal solution for companies aiming to implement an enterprise-wide internal control system. Certus www. Concur Control www. Magique www. Protiviti www.
Sarbanes-Oxley Express www. Virtual Commitment www. There is a wide range of products in this category. Some link to specific enterprise-resource-planning systems, while others perform specific functions such as setting automatic triggers or real-time alerts to obtain quick responses. Some BPM tools enable you to instruct the system to alert management whenever, for example, company sales goals are missed or surpassed or multiple approvals are needed on large transactions.
These tools also provide performance management and workflow functions. CPAs should ensure that all products being considered serve the needs of organizations in which employees report to a variety of departments in different locations. The software must link controls to processes, analyze and describe the processes and link them to objectives and risks.
The tools also should enable users to categorize, and set priorities for, risk and business objectives comprehensively in all areas of an organization. Note that this article does not pretend to cover all available products in any of the software categories it discusses. Instead, it presents a starting point from which readers can begin their own exploration of the subject.
The CPA should help the company evaluate its environment to determine the maturity level of its internal controls. He or she also should assist the entity in assessing its internal control philosophy and control environment.
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