It would be safe to say that no one exact person has invented the science of document management; rather, it was a practice developed and handed down from one generation to another. The first known system of documentation was invented by prehistoric nomadic tribes, with their fascinating writings on cave walls. Over the passage of time, this evolved into the scrolls system used by ancient Rome. By the end of the 1800s, the human race was still dependent on ancient methods of document management. During the next century, however, some very interesting things would happen that would change the course of document management forever.
The file cabinet is considered the father of the filing system; to be sure, its invention in the late 1800s ushered in a period where offices and businesses began to be able to store and manage their files in a more efficient way. However, its popularity became its curse, as it started piling up in offices everywhere, causing increased traffic in office space and bringing in a whole lot of issues concerning its bulk. This changed, however, with the invention of a powerful device that changed the game - the computer. This innovation, along with the creation of the LAN (Local Area Network), brought power to the user, ensuring that companies would now be able to create and store documents electronically. However, there still existed some deficiencies in the way these documents were organised, creating the need to have document management systems. The latter began gaining popularity in the 1980s - starting with extremely complicated systems and evolving into more user-friendly programs. As all these innovations continue to evolve at an increasing rate, we can only wonder what lies ahead for the practice of document management in the coming years.