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The short answer

You need a document management system (DMS) when contracts, orders, incoming letters and invoices live in email threads and shared folders, and nobody can say with confidence which version is final, who approved it, or where the original will be in three years. For most organisations an off-the-shelf DMS is the right call. A custom or integrated solution makes sense when your documents are born inside your CRM, ERP or customer portal and need to land in the DMS automatically, or when your process is so specific that configuring a packaged product would cost more than it returns.

This guide looks at the decision from the buyer's side, with a focus on Lithuania: which rules apply to business and public-sector documents, how packaged products, the state-run DBSIS and an integrated build compare, what to check before you sign, and how to avoid getting locked in. Sources were checked on 12 November 2026. This is practical guidance, not legal advice.

What a document management system actually does

A DMS is not a shared drive. File storage keeps files. A document management system manages the life of a document, from creation to destruction or transfer to an archive.

The core features any serious DMS should cover:

  • Registration. Every incoming, outgoing and internal document gets a unique registration number, a date and metadata such as author, addressee, type and file.
  • Review and approval. The document follows a defined route from author to reviewers to approver. The system chases whoever is late and records every step.
  • E-signatures. Documents are signed with a qualified electronic signature or another legally accepted method, and the signature can still be validated years later.
  • Tasks and follow-up. An incoming letter becomes a task with an owner and a deadline.
  • Filing plan and retention periods. Documents are assigned to files, and the system knows how long each one has to be kept.
  • Search, access rights and an audit log. You can see who viewed or changed what, and when.
  • Delegation. When someone is on leave, their work moves to a deputy automatically.

If today's "document management" is email, an Excel register and a shared folder, the three things usually missing are reliable version control, a clear approval route and an audit trail. Those are exactly what you need when there is a dispute, an audit or an inspection.

The rules that apply in Lithuania

Document handling in Lithuania is governed by the Law on Documents and Archives and by orders of the Chief Archivist of Lithuania. The essentials for a buyer:

Every organisation, private companies included, must keep its documents for the required time. Article 12 of the Law on Documents and Archives requires public bodies, NGOs and private legal entities to store documents in a reliable environment and to make sure electronic documents stay authentic, reliable and accessible for the whole retention period, together with their context information. The head of the organisation is responsible. That alone is a strong argument for a DMS, because a mailbox rarely meets those requirements.

You can go paperless, but with a method. The same article allows paper documents, except those kept permanently, to be kept only in electronic form if the authenticity of the digital image is ensured. The procedure is set by the Chief Archivist, so scanning has to follow a documented process rather than individual habit.

For private companies, much of the detail is a recommendation. The rules for NGOs and private legal entities (Chief Archivist order No. V-152) apply to documents whose preparation is required by law. For digital documents, companies are advised to follow the same Document Management and Accounting Rules and Document Storage Rules that are mandatory for the public sector. In practice a private company has more freedom, but a good DMS should be able to work to the public-sector standard.

Retention periods come from official schedules. Since 1 October 2024, a new schedule of retention periods for internal administration documents has applied, covering for example HR and internal admin records. Retention for accounting documents is set by accounting legislation. Ask any vendor to show how retention periods are assigned and how documents are destroyed once their period ends.

The public sector has stricter rules. State and municipal bodies must follow the Document Management and Accounting Rules (Chief Archivist order No. V-118) and send official electronic documents to each other through the national E-delivery system (Article 9 of the Law on Public Administration). The latest amendment to those rules, in force since 31 October 2025, lets institutions place long-term digital or digitised documents in mixed files as well. It is worth checking whether your system supports that.

File formats matter. Documents signed with a qualified signature are often stored in Lithuania's ADOC format, based on a specification approved by the Chief Archivist, alongside the widely used PDF (PAdES) and ASiC-E. We covered which format to choose, and what changed in the ADOC tool in 2026, in our guide to Smart-ID and e-signature integration.

Three routes: DBSIS, a packaged DMS, or an integrated solution

1. DBSIS (state and municipal institutions only)

The Common Document Management Information System (DBSIS) is a state-provided SaaS service run by the Information Technology and Communications Department under the Ministry of the Interior. According to the department, 880 state and municipal institutions use it, more than 25,000 documents are registered in it every day, and the service is free of charge.

Know its limits. DBSIS is available to state and municipal budgetary and public institutions. It is currently not offered to state or municipal companies or to private organisations. The service does not cover workstations, internal networks, VPN, qualified signature certificates or user training. It does offer a universal integration interface for connecting an institution's other systems, plus integrations with E-delivery and the Register of Legal Acts.

If your institution qualifies for DBSIS, buying or building a separate DMS rarely makes sense. The better investment is connecting your line-of-business systems, such as applications, permits or customer service, to DBSIS so documents don't have to be moved by hand.

2. A packaged commercial DMS

The Lithuanian market has several mature products, for example Avilys (developed by Asseco Lietuva) and DocLogix. According to their published information, both offer workflows, e-signatures, OCR, search, access control and API integration, and both can run on your own servers or in the cloud. Avilys says it can serve as a standalone system or as the document back end for an organisation's other systems. Neither publishes prices, so you will need quotes.

A packaged DMS fits when:

  • your document processes look like most organisations': incoming and outgoing letters, contracts, internal orders, invoice approval;
  • you want to start quickly and don't need to change how the system works;
  • you need public-sector document rules supported out of the box.

The weak point is usually not the DMS itself but the fact that it lives apart from everything else. The contract is drafted in the CRM, the invoice is created in the accounting system, and someone uploads it to the DMS by hand. That means double entry and mistakes.

3. An integrated or custom solution

Here document features live where the work happens: in your business management system, CRM or customer portal. Sometimes that means a dedicated document module, sometimes connecting a packaged DMS through its API, and sometimes just an e-signature and archiving provider.

This makes sense when:

  • documents are part of your core process, for example contracts generated from an order with the signed copy returning to the customer record;
  • people outside the company sign: customers, partners, applicants;
  • you need routes or rules that a packaged DMS doesn't support, or supports only through expensive customisation;
  • you already run a custom system and don't want to give staff yet another application.

The risk with a custom build is forgetting the archival requirements: retention periods, the filing plan, destruction, export for transfer. Those need to be written into the specification just as clearly as the business features.

Side by side

Criterion DBSIS Packaged DMS Integrated solution
Who can use it State and municipal budgetary and public institutions only Anyone Anyone
Cost Free Licence or subscription plus implementation (by quote) Development and maintenance (by project)
Time to start Per the department's schedule and onboarding plan Fast if your processes are standard Slower, but built around your process
Fit with document rules Built for the public sector Depends on the product, worth testing Must be specified explicitly
Link to CRM, ERP, portal Through the integration interface Via API, often extra work Documents are created and returned in the same system
Who controls the roadmap The state The vendor You

An example of how this plays out

The company is fictional and the figures are illustrative. Timberline Furniture, a made-to-order furniture maker with about 120 staff, runs orders in a business management system and accounting in a separate package. Customer contracts are drafted from Word templates and sent by email.

The problems: contract versions got mixed up, signed contracts sat in sales managers' inboxes, and supplier invoices were approved over email, where the managing director sometimes simply lost a request.

The options on the table:

  1. A packaged DMS for everything. Tidy, but sales staff would still create contracts in one system and approve them in another.
  2. A document module inside the business management system. The contract is generated from the order, signed with Smart-ID or a qualified signature, and the signed file goes back to the order. Supplier invoices are approved on the same screen that shows the order and the budget.

The company chose the second route for customer contracts and invoice approval, and kept internal orders and HR documents in a separate, simple DMS. That is a common and healthy outcome: not everything has to live in one system, but every document needs one clear home.

What to check before you buy or commission

This checklist works both for choosing a packaged DMS and for writing a specification for a custom one:

  1. Registration and numbering. Does the system support your registers and numbering rules? Are numbers assigned automatically?
  2. Routes. Can you change approval routes yourself, without the vendor? Can you set conditions, such as "contracts above a certain value go to the finance director"?
  3. E-signatures. Which methods are supported (Smart-ID, Mobile-ID, ID card)? In what format is the signed document stored? Can external people sign without an account?
  4. Retention and destruction. How are retention periods assigned? Does the system block deletion of documents whose period hasn't ended?
  5. Integrations. Is there a documented API? Can you create a document from the CRM or ERP and get its status back? Is there an E-delivery integration if you need one?
  6. Data export. Can you export every document with its metadata and signatures at any time? That is your insurance against lock-in. We covered exit terms in leaving SaaS with your data.
  7. Security and audit log. Where is the data hosted? How are access rights managed? Is the audit log tamper-proof, even for administrators?
  8. Five-year cost. Ask for a five-year quote covering licences or subscription, implementation, migration, integrations, support and training. A cheap licence with an expensive rate for every change costs more over time.

Common mistakes

  • Buying a system instead of solving a problem. Before choosing a tool, write down your three to five most important document processes and mark where time is lost today.
  • Leaving migration to the last day. Moving old documents with their metadata often takes longer than configuring the system.
  • Pushing integrations to "phase two". Staff get used to uploading by hand and phase two never starts.
  • Remembering archival rules only during an inspection. The filing plan, retention periods and destruction records need to be in place from day one.
  • Forgetting external signers. If customers and partners must sign, they need a simple route that doesn't require creating an account.

FAQ

Does a small company need a document management system?

Not always. With a modest volume, a tidy register, a clear folder structure and an e-signature tool are enough. A DMS pays off when several people approve documents, when the volume is high, or when you need to prove who approved what and when.

Can a private company use DBSIS?

No. According to the Information Technology and Communications Department, DBSIS is provided to state and municipal budgetary and public institutions. It is not currently offered to state or municipal companies or to private organisations.

Can we destroy paper documents once they are scanned?

The Law on Documents and Archives allows it, except for documents kept permanently, provided the authenticity of the digital image is ensured. The selection procedure is set by the Chief Archivist, so check the current procedure before destroying anything.

Can a DMS connect to our CRM or accounting system?

Usually, if the DMS has an API. A typical flow: the document is created in the CRM or ERP, sent to the DMS for registration and signing, and its status and the signed file come back. We covered integrations with the accounting systems common in Lithuania in our article on Rivile, Directo and Agnum integrations.

How much does a document management system cost?

Packaged DMS vendors in Lithuania generally don't publish prices, so you will only get an exact figure from a quote. The cost of a custom solution depends on the processes, integrations and migration involved. We went through the cost drivers in how much custom software development costs.

Where to start

Pick the one process with the most chaos today, usually contracts or invoice approval. Write down who creates the document, who reviews it, who signs it, where it must be stored and for how long. With that in hand you can compare a packaged DMS quote and an integrated solution on equal terms, and our technical specification guide will help you turn it into a full brief.

DESAmedia builds business management systems with document generation, approval and signing, and connects existing systems through integrations and automation. In our grant assessment and contract e-signing platform, for example, contracts are generated from templates, signed electronically, and every action is recorded in an audit log. For institutions, we work through our public sector services, including integrations with systems already in use. If you'd like to talk through your situation, get in touch.

Sources