Here’s a scene that plays out in mid-sized organizations every quarter: the operations director schedules demos with three EDMS vendors, the IT lead builds a comparison spreadsheet, and leadership debates whether to spend $30,000 or $80,000 on a document management platform.
Meanwhile, the organization is already paying for Microsoft 365.
Most mid-sized organizations shopping for an electronic document management system don’t realize that SharePoint and OneDrive already check the boxes: version control, metadata, retention policies, permissions, audit trails, and search. The gap isn’t the tool — it’s the configuration.
This article shows what a properly structured EDMS looks like inside Microsoft 365 — and why you probably don’t need another platform.
What Is an Electronic Document Management System?
An EDMS is software designed to store, organize, manage, and retrieve electronic documents. At its core, it does five things:
- Stores documents in a centralized, secure location
- Organizes content with folders, metadata, and categorization
- Controls access through permissions and authentication
- Tracks changes with version history and audit trails
- Enforces retention based on compliance or business requirements
For organizations in regulated industries, an EDMS also needs to support compliance standards like ISO 15489 (records management), HIPAA (healthcare), or GDPR (data privacy). That means secure storage with unique identifiers, retention schedule enforcement, and audit-ready documentation.
If you’re evaluating EDMS vendors, these are the capabilities you’re comparing. And if you’re using Microsoft 365, you already have most of them.
Why Organizations Look Outside Microsoft (And Why They Shouldn’t)
The assumption is understandable: SharePoint is “just file storage.” It’s where people dump documents, not where they manage them.
But that’s a configuration problem, not a platform limitation.
EDMS vendors market their products as specialized — and they are, for certain use cases. But the core features overlap heavily with what Microsoft 365 provides out of the box. Version control? SharePoint has it. Retention policies? Microsoft Purview handles it. Granular permissions? Built in. Audit trails? Available through the compliance portal.
The real gap in most organizations isn’t the tool. It’s structure, governance, and adoption. Buying a new platform doesn’t fix those problems — it just moves them somewhere else.
That said, some industries do need specialized systems. Legal document management, CAD file handling, and highly regulated environments may require capabilities beyond what Microsoft offers natively. But for most mid-sized organizations? The answer is already in your tenant.
What Microsoft 365 Offers Out of the Box
Here’s what SharePoint Online provides for document management — without any add-ons:
Document Libraries
Centralized storage for files, organized by team, project, or department. Each library supports folders, metadata columns, and custom views.
Version Control
Every edit creates a new version. You can view the full history, restore previous versions, and compare changes. SharePoint supports both major and minor versioning for draft workflows.
Permissions and Access Control
Set permissions at the site, library, folder, or individual file level. Role-based access (owners, members, visitors) makes it easy to manage who can view, edit, or share content.
Check-In/Check-Out
Prevent editing conflicts by requiring users to check out a document before making changes. This ensures only one person edits at a time.
Metadata and Content Types
Tag documents with custom metadata — document type, owner, department, status, expiration date. Content types let you standardize templates and fields across libraries.
Search and Discovery
Microsoft Search indexes content across SharePoint and OneDrive. Users can search by file name, content, or metadata — and results respect permissions, so people only see what they’re allowed to access.
Retention Policies and Compliance Labels
Microsoft Purview lets you define how long documents are retained, when they’re deleted, and whether they require review before disposal. Labels can be applied manually or automatically based on content.
Audit Trails
The compliance portal logs document access, edits, permission changes, and workflow activity. These logs are exportable for audits and investigations.
Workflow Automation
Power Automate connects to SharePoint for approval workflows, notifications, and document routing. No code required for basic flows.
This isn’t a stripped-down version of document management. It’s the full stack — already included in your Microsoft 365 license.
The Missing Piece: Structure and Governance
The tools exist. But they don’t configure themselves.
Here’s what “good” looks like:
- Clear folder hierarchy organized by function, not by whoever created the folder first
- Enforced metadata so documents are tagged consistently and searchable
- Defined retention schedules applied automatically, not manually
- Permission audits to catch sprawl before it becomes a security risk
- Training for content owners so governance doesn’t fall on IT alone
Most organizations skip this work. They migrate files from shared drives into SharePoint, call it “done,” and wonder why nothing improved. The result is the same chaos in a different location.
This is where configuration matters more than software. A properly structured SharePoint environment behaves like an EDMS because it is one — you just have to set it up that way.
What a Configured EDMS Looks Like in Microsoft 365
Here’s a practical example of how it comes together:
Site Structure
One site per department or major function: HR, Finance, Operations, Projects. Each site has libraries for policies, templates, active work, and archives.
Document Libraries with Required Metadata
Every document gets tagged with: document type, owner, status (draft/approved/archived), effective date, and review date. Views filter by status so users see what’s relevant.
Automated Workflows
When a policy document is uploaded, Power Automate routes it to the department head for approval. Once approved, the status updates automatically and the document moves to the “Active Policies” view.
Retention Labels via Microsoft Purview
Contracts are retained for 7 years, then flagged for disposition review. Training records are kept for 3 years after an employee’s departure. Labels are applied automatically based on content type.
Dashboards and Reporting
Power BI pulls metadata from SharePoint to show: documents pending review, items approaching retention deadlines, and libraries with permission anomalies.
This setup doesn’t require custom development. It’s configuration — using the tools Microsoft provides.
When You Might Need Something More
Let’s be honest: Microsoft 365 isn’t the right fit for every scenario.
If your organization has highly specialized requirements — legal hold workflows with chain-of-custody tracking, CAD/BIM file management, or deep integrations with industry-specific systems — a dedicated EDMS might make sense.
But even then, the Microsoft stack often handles 80% of the need. A specialized tool can fill the gap without replacing everything. And because most EDMS platforms integrate with SharePoint anyway, you’re not choosing one or the other — you’re deciding how much of each you need.
The point isn’t “never buy software.” It’s “don’t buy software you already own.”
The Cost Comparison
Enterprise EDMS platforms typically cost $20–$50 per user per month for cloud-based solutions. On-premise systems start around $500 for small teams and can exceed $20,000 for mid-sized deployments — before implementation and training.
SharePoint Online, by contrast, is included in most Microsoft 365 business and enterprise plans. Even standalone, it runs $5–$35 per user per month. Configuration and consulting add cost, but you’re building on infrastructure you already have.
For most mid-sized organizations, the math favors Microsoft.
The Bottom Line
You probably don’t need to buy an electronic document management system. You need to configure the one you already have.
SharePoint provides the storage, versioning, permissions, retention, and audit capabilities that define an EDMS. Microsoft Purview adds compliance labeling and lifecycle management. Power Automate handles workflows. Power BI delivers reporting.
The gap isn’t features. It’s structure.
Ready to turn Microsoft 365 into a governed document management system?
We help teams configure SharePoint for compliance, searchability, and control — no new software required.