Suggestions please. Software for self-hosted virtual data room

[Clinton]

I'd like to self host a VDR (I run my own dedicated servers so infrastructure / hosting is not an issue)

I don't like any of that cloud sh*t. I want to install on my own server and have full control.

Am considering Al Fresco Community. Anyone used it? Any suggestions for alternates? If there is an audit trail for document access that would be a bonus.

Al Fresco Community is free, but I'm open to paying. But if I pay it needs to be a one-off payment, not the rip-off SaaS model.

 

[Alan]

What do you specifically need? maybe owncloud could do it? https://owncloud.com/manage-control-files/

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I'd like to self host a VDR (I run my own dedicated servers so infrastructure / hosting is not an issue)

I don't like any of that cloud sh*t. I want to install on my own server and have full control.

Am considering Al Fresco Community. Anyone used it? Any suggestions for alternates? If there is an audit trail for document access that would be a bonus.

Al Fresco Community is free, but I'm open to paying. But if I pay it needs to be a one-off payment, not the rip-off SaaS model.

Clinton I don't know what the hell you are talking about I really don't honestly

 

[Clinton]

I'm looking to set up a Virtual Data Room where different categories of people can store and exhange files ...and control doc flow (complete with access permissions). A trail of who accessed what, and when, would be ideal. That's the very minimum I need.

Alan, thanks. Yes, Owncloud could offer some of the features / functions, but I was hoping to find some software built specifically as a VDR solution as it might have additional features I don't even yet know about (and which could prove very useful).

 

[ffox]

Hi @Clinton

There is not much on offer that is self hosted. You've already had a look at Alfresco and @Alan has suggested a look at OwnCloud. Apart from SharePoint on premise and some Citrix applications, these are the only self hosting solutions I know of.
Do you intend that the use of the VDR will be LAN or local wireless only? Or are you seeking to build something that will serve as a cloud solution for others?
I ask because the ROI (time and effort as much as dosh) will be a main consideration.

 

[KM-Tiger]

Not sure where Owncloud is going with its business model and whether it will remain truly Open Source.

You might want to consider Next Cloud, which is a fork by one of the Owncloud developers, and looks set to remain Open Source.

 

[Clinton]

Thanks, everyone,. ffox, it would need to be hosted on my server as there'll be people accessing it from multiple organisations / locations. It's not a LAN job unfortunately.

However, I'm not looking to sell it as a cloud service. This will be a VDR typical of M&A activity - buyer and seller (and their various professional advisers) share and access documents and records in a secure environment.

I'll need to be able to set up individual groups of users under a "project". There'll be documents, images, accounts etc loaded into each project and all these assets will have different level of permissions. There will be three categories of users and the category determines which assets that user can access. When a new asset is loaded into the project anybody who is authorised to access that asset will get notified that it has now been uploaded. And once they access it, it would be useful if a time stamp is added to that asset and the user's history.

There is no need for Slack type functionality and no need for live chat between users.

I will not be selling this solution to anyone as a cloud service or anything i.e. I'll be the only admin for all groups/projects. There is no need for billing functionality i.e. users won't be paying.

I don't mind footing a small cost for some building / forking.

 

[ffox]

M&A constitutes a large content. The buying/selling/combining of business and property involves a huge amount of legal and contractual documentation, much of which is highly confidential and critical to the trade being conducted. How do foresee the governance of the content. Will circulation and redaction be controlled by users in the different groups? Or, will the VDR admin control document visibility?

 

[Clinton]

Access is based on user category. Every user decides which categories will be able to access the content he uploads.

There is no redaction.

But yes, there is a lot of content. Storage space isn't a problem. I'm happy with R1Soft backup.

 

[The Byre]

We did something very similar for our office systems, so top level was just self and wife, mid was senior staff and bottom the rest, plus open access for anybody. We combined this with a calendar, dates for appointments, birthdays, car servicing, anything and everything and had different calendars for different things, such as projects, birthdays, general stuff like holidays and so on.

The answer was not some magic dBase SW or a premium package from the likes of SAP, but forum software! Yes, you heard that right! Bog standard, free forum SW.

Different boards can be put onto levels with sub-boards and each can have its own passwords. Attachments can be stored and you can get free or cheap plug-ins for all the functions you describe, such as access logs, who's on-line right now, shared docs, ability to read or access docs only, you name it!

I have no idea what the state of play in the WordPress scene is right now, but I do know that there are umpteen forum packages with thousands of simple plugs to do anything and everything! I suggest that you bend the ear of Mr @fisicx who is up-to-speed on all things WP.

 

[Clinton]

That's a great suggestion! I've owned and run numerous forums and am very familiar with the features, functions and controls offered by the likes of vB. Very powerful stuff.

I'm not sure whether in a forum setting it would be easy to enable the document control described above. I'll do a bit of digging and log into one of my vB forums as an admin and play around a bit. I'll also check out available plugins.

 

[Alan]

^ for a change not a bad call

 

[Darren C]

I'm not sure whether in a forum setting it would be easy to enable the document control described above. I'll do a bit of digging and log into one of my vB forums as an admin and play around a bit. I'll also check out available plugins.

I may be barking up the wrong tree but as an alternative to forum software I came across this knowledge base plug-in the other day

http://helpie.pauple.com/features/

 

[Alan]

Out of interest, if there were a VDR plugin for WordPress, what price point would you find acceptable ( given it is pretty niche requirement )?

 

[Clinton]

For an existing plugin? From a few hundred quid I suppose. But depending on the features...if it really excited me I could go a bit crazy!

 

[Alan]

I might be inclined to build one, as there doesn't seem to be any and its always good to find a gap! PM me if you are interested in at least helping me define initial requirements.

 

[ffox]

I'm not sure whether in a forum setting it would be easy to enable the document control described above

It depends on what you want at the end of the day. You are talking about providing a commercial service, so you will need to provide a safe, secure and accessible environment for your customers.

I would suggest that you take a look at two things -
1. Versioning of documents and how that could be provided. The problem I see with using forum software is that the only way you can recover a document, irreversibly changed, deliberately, or accidentally, by a user would be recovery from your R1 Soft Backup. Provided this is incremental, say 1 hour snapshot, you could do this. If the backup admin is really good, you could probably do a file recovery in around 15 - 30 minutes. Experience tells me that this will not be a rare event. Users make changes without thought and often without any idea of what those changes may actually do.
Versioning means that the users, or their local admins, can make previous versions live in seconds, so the facility makes sense.

2. EDMS is usually either Database containing meta data and a link to the document store, or Database where the document is held as a BLOB ( Binary Large Object). If you use the latter, you have fewer problems as the link between the meta data and the document can never be broken, they are effectively the same DB record. In the case of the former, experience tells me that a major headache will be mending broken links. You will need to allocate 365, 24/7 admin support for this. Also make sure that the EDMS structure is robust enough to disallow a user from saving a document record when the actual document fails to store in the document cache. This happens more often that any EDMS provider will admit. The users believes that the document is safely tucked away, when all they have is a meta data record containing a link to a none existing document.

You will also need index crawl and a first class search engine. Users will lose documents and even forget what they filed and where they filed it - but that's the same when they use any computer filing system.