Hi,
Is there a user manual to quickly start using Mayan EDMS on a good basis, once the product is installed ?
I would like to configure Workflows, Document Types, Metadata Types, Assets, Cabinets and Indexes before insering documents. I don’t really know where to start.
Thanks,
Mayan works for so many things that it can be overwhelming to use if you don’t have a goal for it. It’s almost like installing an operating system. And like installing Linux, when you finish you just stare at the prompt. You know it’s pretty powerful and you have the freedom to do almost anything, you just don’t where to start. So the first thing to figure out is, what problem do you want to solve? Then configure Mayan around that.
Are you going to use it for a dead document archive, historical records, government regulations reference, supreme court rulings, live document with multiple versions, document templates? Government work, non profit, legal, manufacturing, insurance, banking? You can also use it as a document engine only and feed other apps via the API and automate things using the workflows.
We have 500k docs in it but before we got started the first thing was to choose a main purpose and one or two document types. Once you figure out your documents types, everything falls into place. The document type will tell you how everything else should behave.
After the first 50k docs are behind you, you’ll wonder what took you so long to get started with Mayan.
That’s my 2 cents, hope it give you some idea or at least some inspiration 
Best.
Thank you @rigreuheppebra for this quick feedback.
We want to reorganize the documents of our IT system department made up of 4 services (over 100k documents), and if OK extend it to all other departments. Of course the document types are not the same for all departments but we can enrich them gradually. So I’ll take your advice seriously : start to choose one or two document types.
Can you tell me what was your choice about the Catalog structure ? I wonder if I should use Cabinets for a predefined folder structure like the current tree we have, or opt for a dynamic structure using Indexes.
Forgive me if I chime in here. I am trying to get used to Mayan for quite some time now, but haven’t managed to get a productive installation up and running. Installing is no problem using docker but I have the same problems like Marcs here.
I can’t use an approach like > Once you figure out your documents types, everything falls into place.
I am doing this for a non-profit organization in health business. I have to present some kind of ‘corset’ that is easy to understand for beginners (our employees) that are - to say the least - not computer savvy.
It would be nice to have some kind of example-installation that shows at least the basic principles. Yes, Mayan is a mighty tool, but if it is so hard to get a basic installation running then it feels like banana-ware for the end-users and those that are in charge of implementing it will be the ones that will be blamed for it…
Is there a user manual to quickly start using Mayan EDMS on a good basis, once the product is installed ?
Yes, there is an insane amount of information to get started.
https://docs.mayan-edms.com/parts/getting_started.html
I would like to configure Workflows, Document Types, Metadata Types, Assets, Cabinets and Indexes before insering documents. I don’t really know where to start.
Combining it all:
Other good stuff to read:
I am doing this for a non-profit organization in health business.
It would be nice to have some kind of example-installation that shows at least the basic principles.
Yes, Mayan is a mighty tool, but if it is so hard to get a basic installation running then it feels like banana-ware for the end-users and those that are in charge of implementing it will be the ones that will be blamed for it…
Don’t really understand what you want.
Seems like you need a support subscription instead of a knowledge base membership.
First of all: I am no native English speaker so it might be that parts of the meaning are lost in translation. And thank you for your time. I’ll try again:
Of course we already have some kind of document management that all my users are used to. It is based on pdf-files shared in folders on a file server. Our home for mentally disabled people is in business for over 30 years now.
I am perfectly capable of going through a basic installation, setting up document types, users a.s.o. This system will change a lot over the time until it is what we expect of it. I understand that. But while this is going on there will be no completely functional system and we will have to use both, the old and the new system. This means more work, so the main hope for us is to keep this time span as short as possible. And we haven’t even talked about the time needed to migrate the old documents. Medical history never gets out-of-date… And guess who will be blamed every time it does not works as expected 
This is a huge job for one person (doing it in his free time and for free). We are not able to spend lots of money because we simply don’t have it, health care is chronically underfunded.
So, after my rant is over
I was hoping for some help in avoiding unnecessary trial and error installation. I thought of an example installation of a basic system for business use to look into and to see how the basics are.
While I am writing this I realize that this is maybe a task that is too big for me. I feel overwhelmed by the possibilities and I am not capable of choosing the right way. I hoped that maybe here is somebody that had to do all this before that could point me to the right direction.
Knowledge base article for new users: Getting started
Very interesting and useful article.
Thanks
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