Guide · Records
What is a document management system (DMS)? A guide for Singapore businesses
What does a document management system do?
A DMS takes a document from the moment it arrives — scanned, emailed or uploaded — to the day it may be destroyed. Along the way it:
- Captures paper and digital files, and reads them with OCR so the text is searchable
- Files each document by type and index fields (supplier, invoice number, employee, contract date) instead of folder names
- Finds any record in seconds by its content or its fields
- Keeps every version, and stops two people overwriting each other
- Controls who can see and change what, by department and role
- Routes documents for review and approval
- Keeps records for their retention period, then flags them for disposal — unless they're on legal hold
- Logs every view, change, approval and export in an audit trail
How long must Singapore businesses keep records?
Singapore companies must keep business records — invoices, receipts, bank statements, payroll and supporting documents — for at least five years: under the Companies Act from the end of the financial year, and under the Income Tax and GST Acts from the relevant Year of Assessment. Keeping them until the later date satisfies both.
A DMS turns that rule into a setting: give each document type a retention period, and records stay protected until it ends. Personal data in those records also falls under the PDPA, which expects organisations to protect it and not keep it longer than they need to.
Which features matter most?
- Capture and OCRBulk upload and scanning, with text recognition that works on your languages and on scanned forms.
- Metadata and searchDocument types with index fields, full-text search and filters you can save.
- Version controlCheck-out and check-in, version history, and locked archived records.
- Access controlRoles, departments, clearance levels and sign-in with your company accounts.
- WorkflowMaker-checker review and approval flows, with forms whose answers become records.
- Retention and legal holdRetention periods per record type, legal hold, and integrity (fixity) checks.
- Audit trail and exportsA tamper-evident log of every action and a one-click package for auditors.
- IntegrationAn API, so your ERP, accounting and AI assistants can file and find records.
On-premise or cloud?
Cloud DMS is quick to start and needs no servers. On-premise (self-hosted) DMS keeps documents — and the OCR and AI that read them — inside your own network, which suits regulated industries, sensitive HR and finance records, and sites with limited internet.
Ask where the documents are stored, where OCR and AI run, who holds the encryption keys, and whether the system keeps working if the internet goes down.
A checklist for choosing a DMS
- Can it read our scanned documents, in our languages, without sending them to a third party?
- Can we lock archived records so nobody — including admins — can change them?
- Does every action land in an audit trail we can export?
- Can we wall off departments and set retention per document type?
- Can staff sign in with their company accounts?
- Does it have an API for our ERP, accounting and e-invoicing systems?
- Can we hand an auditor exactly the sample they asked for?
Sources
Checked 7 October 2026. Rules change — confirm what applies to your business with the official source.
FAQ
Common questions.
What is a document management system?
A document management system (DMS) is software that captures, organises, secures and tracks business documents and records — with search, version control, access rights, approvals, retention rules and an audit trail.
Is SharePoint or Google Drive a document management system?
They are file-sharing and collaboration tools that cover some DMS basics. A records-focused DMS adds things drives don't do by default: records that can't be changed once archived, retention and legal hold per record type, department walls, and an audit trail you can export for auditors.
How long should a Singapore company keep invoices and receipts?
Singapore companies must keep business records — invoices, receipts, bank statements, payroll and supporting documents — for at least five years: under the Companies Act from the end of the financial year, and under the Income Tax and GST Acts from the relevant Year of Assessment. Keeping them until the later date satisfies both. Check iras.gov.sg for your situation.
What is the difference between document management and records management?
Document management handles documents while they're being worked on — drafts, versions, approvals. Records management handles them once they're final — keeping them unchanged, for the right period, with proof of who touched them. A good DMS does both.
What is HeySheep's document management system?
HeyDocs (formerly xDocs) is HeySheep's self-hosted document management system. It reads documents with OCR and AI on your own server, keeps archived records unchangeable with a full audit trail, walls off departments, and builds signed audit packages from an auditor's sample list.