Patent ID: 8762325

Claim:
A method for electronic content management, the method comprising: accepting a diversity of document files from one of a client and a peripheral application, each document file in a respective and different native format for processing by a back end server, wherein each of the native format document files comprise content data and metadata; bifurcating each accepted native format document file into its constituent content data and metadata components; storing the bifurcated content data files in a data store for processing and later reconstitution; storing the bifurcated metadata component of each bifurcated document file in a database; receiving a workflow for document files at the back end server, identifying whether the document files fall within the workflow based on the respective metadata components stored in the database, and processing the identified document files according to workflow rules; converting the bifurcated content data files in their respective native formats into a single common format and processing all the content data files in a single common format, by the back end server; configuring the metadata of each document file to perform searches on the database for retrieving corresponding processed content data files and generating an aggregated report of files; converting content data files processed in the common format back into their original native formats and reconstituting the document files by combining the processed content data files with their original metadata components; and supplying processed document files in their native formats to requestors on demand.