Is Alfresco right for us?

[rwhit85]

Hiya,

A local non-profit is going to start cataloging documents (paper copies) by scanning them, using OCR to convert them to PDF, then filing the hard copies away. A buddy involved with them approached me (knowing I know a bit about computers) and asked me about a simple database system. They offered to pay me for my time but I'll be doing what I can as a volunteer.

Requirements:

Fairly easy data entry - Volunteers would be entering the information
Fairly easy searching by any number of attributes - author, date, type of document, etc.
Sorting by category
A link to the location of the PDF for each entry (or stored in the DB if that is appropriate)
Fairly diverse search options, including searching inside the content of a document

I haven't solidified anything on a server, but a low-power custom built or something like an HP Proliant N40L (AMD Turion II Neo N40L 1.5GHz - Dual Core, 8GB DDR3 RAM) would be within their price range. At the most, let's imagine a low-powered quad core with 8GB of RAM and disk space can be expanded as necessary. In this vein, let's assume it will be running on Linux - I'm most experienced with CentOS and Debian, but can work with almost any variant out there. Buying a Windows Server license isn't really an option.

While looking over the best way to do it, I initially thought of setting up a simple SQL DB linked to their PDFs with all information stored in the DB… but I found some software out there geared towards documents, like Alfresco/Knowledgetree etc. I've heard of Alfresco over the years but have zero experience with it. We are looking at *thousands* of documents - possibly tens of thousands - they've been archiving contributed documents and information like meeting minutes etc. since the 1950's. Large warehouse.

It's *REALLY* important that data entry is straight forward, that it's secure (ie. as secure as a user's name/password), and it's easy to search for documents. A lot of the volunteers for data entry are only as computer savvy as it's required to watch YouTube. As for remote access, it would mostly be onsite, with possible VPN access for volunteers to enter data from home.

Any input or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[mrogers]

Yes this is what Alfresco is built for.  

For example take a look at the New York Philarmonic and Alfresco case study.

[rwhit85]

Thanks. I installed it in a VM on my test network and am playing with it now.

Anybody know how this will run on something like the HP Proliant N40L with 8GB of RAM? It's a dual core 1.5GHz (meant for low power), but it's NOT going to be many simultaneous users at once. It will be entirely dedicated to this task, and this task alone. It's not going to be a public repository or anything - basically an 'in-office' repository. Figure maybe 2-4 people *MAX* using it at the same time.

[jtbrne2000]

I installed Alfresco on a N40L with 8GB RAM.  In my experience the N40L didn't have enough processing power to deliver a consistent user experience (5 concurrent users).  The system was generally overwhelmed and will snag if someone uploads a very large file  You definitely don't need a high end server for a small installation, but processing power really helps user experience.  It's hard for me to imagine a situation where spending the extra $500 is not the right move.  A low end server will run a Linux installation very nicely.

Btw…I realize I am responding to a dormant thread…I just don't want someone else to buy a N40L for this purpose.