Core Content Services

EMC Documentum core content services provide the essential capabilities for organizing, controlling, sequencing, and delivering repository content. Enterprises can take advantage of five core content services: library services, security services, workflow services, lifecycle services, and XML services.

Organizations access core content services through EMC Documentum Content Server, which supplies core content management functionality and serves as the foundation for other EMC Documentum content management products and extended services. Developed with a service orientation and open architecture, Content Server adheres to industry standards while supporting a variety of underlying operating systems, databases, application servers, and web browsers. Whether configured for a single installation or a distributed environment, Content Server provides universal access while preserving system performance.

Library Services

Library services provide many of the core document management functions, including:

• Check-in/check-out or locking — Ensures that users with editing privileges do not overwrite one-another's versions or make incompatible updates
• Versioning — Tracks multiple versions of documents or other content objects, with the ability to revert to prior versions, as required.
• Basic renditioning — Maintains alternative representations of documents or other content objects in their different formats, resolutions, or natural languages.

Library services, in turn, rely on an extensive set of security services to determine how users or applications are authenticated and authorized to access Documentum repository content.

Security Services

While Content Server provides core security, organizations can add enhanced security with EMC Documentum Trusted Content Services and EMC Documentum IRM Services.

Core security services include:

• Authorization rules — Determines what content can be accessed or modified. The Documentum platform assigns authorization rules through access control lists (ACLs), which are automatically applied to all repository objects when objects are created.
• User authentication — Responds to operating system (OS) challenges such as user name/password requests or more sophisticated authentication mechanisms such as RSA's web single-sign-on or SecureID challenge. User identities are then validated against Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) standard directories before providing access to authorized content.
• Auditing functions — Meets and exceeds the rigorous requirements of the FDA's 21 CFR Part 11 regulation, considered an auditing benchmark.
• Encryption — Prevents security breaches by encrypting all communications that involve Content Server, thus thwarting malicious eavesdropping.

Workflow Services

The Documentum workflow automates business activities and policies for repository content. A workflow is defined by a model, the sequence of steps that comprise the process, and the actions that must occur at each step. A workflow can describe a simple or complex process and can be serial, with activities occurring one after another, or parallel, with all activities occurring simultaneously. It can also combine serial and parallel activities.

Lifecycle Services

The Documentum platform can move documents through predefined stages that define different attributes and controls as they vary throughout an object's life. Lifecycles define the business rules for changes that apply to content as it moves through predefined stages such as draft, review, active, and obsolete. Lifecycles are frequently used to automate manual tasks and enforce policies in a consistent way.

XML Services

The Documentum platform provides a core set of XML services for managing XML documents in their native format. Our platform preserves the hierarchical structure and links among XML components and documents. It provides the ability to automatically parse, validate, transform, map, and store incoming XML documents. The Documentum platform also supports XML applications that directly store XML—tagged content to—and manage the content within—the Documentum repository. Documentum XML services provide two features that are essential for managing XML documents in their native format: XML content validation and XML chunking.

Platform Extensions

In addition to the core services provided by Content Server, the Documentum platform includes a set of extended services that enhance the functionality for how content is stored, classified, accessed, and distributed.

Extended services include:

• Documentum Branch Office Caching Services
• Documentum Content Distribution Services
• Documentum Content Intelligence Services
• Documentum Content Services for EMC Centera
• Documentum Content Storage Services
• Documentum Content Transformation Services
• Documentum Federated Search Services
• Documentum Reporting Services
• Documentum Retention Policy Services
• Documentum Trusted Content Services