This G-Cloud 12 service is no longer available to buy.

The G-Cloud 12 framework expired on Monday 28 November 2022. Any existing contracts with M-Files are still valid.
M-Files

M-Files Online

M-Files provides a next generation intelligent information management platform that improves business performance by helping people find and use information more effectively. Unlike traditional enterprise content management (ECM) systems, M-Files unifies systems, data and content across the organization without disturbing existing systems and processes or requiring data migration.

Features

  • Document Management
  • Workflow
  • Search
  • Collaboration
  • Version control
  • Reporting
  • Mobile Access
  • Metadata
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • OCR

Benefits

  • Organise your content with a structured metadata model
  • Search for information in any system or repository
  • Access content anytime, anywhere, with any device
  • Connect/link content across multiple repository's and applications
  • Identify and manage sensitive information
  • Comply with laws and regulations such as GDPR
  • Automate workflows for better business process management
  • Artificial intelligence automates routine document handling
  • Highly configurable solution enables your organisation to work more effectively
  • Connect to multiple applications across lines of service

Pricing

£39 to £69 a user a month

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at george.haddaway@m-files.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 12

Service ID

1 2 5 2 5 0 5 7 9 2 2 4 9 4 4

Contact

M-Files George Haddaway
Telephone: 03300 889569
Email: george.haddaway@m-files.com

Service scope

Software add-on or extension
No
Cloud deployment model
  • Public cloud
  • Private cloud
  • Hybrid cloud
Service constraints
M-Files may carry out maintenance for servers on the third Sunday of the month, between 8 am and 2 pm UTC on servers outside Europe and between 10am and 4pm UTC on servers in Europe. The maintenance mentioned may have an effect on the availability of the Cloud Services. Additionally, automatic scheduled database optimization tasks are performed once a week. These tasks are started every Sunday and the starting time depends on the region:
Servers in Europe: 12 midnight – 2 am UTC
Servers in North America: 8 am – 10 am UTC
Servers in Asia: 2pm – 4pm UTC
System requirements
  • Microsoft Windows 7/8/10
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2007-2016
  • Microsoft .Net Framework 4.0
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2008-2017

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Email or online ticketing
Support response times
Initial response within 4 hours
User can manage status and priority of support tickets
Yes
Online ticketing support accessibility
WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
Phone support
Yes
Phone support availability
24 hours, 7 days a week
Web chat support
Web chat
Web chat support availability
24 hours, 7 days a week
Web chat support accessibility standard
WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
Web chat accessibility testing
In house testing
Onsite support
Yes, at extra cost
Support levels
Standard Support (Technical Support 8:30 - 16:30, Unlimited Support Incidents per month, Response and Resolution time SLA's, Senior M-Files experts, Support for Customer's named Key users, ITIL-based processes, Support available in English and Finnish,) Support available via Phone, email and web-portal
24/7 Support (Technical Support extended to 24/7, Unlimited Support incidents per month, Improved SLA, + Standard Support elements
Premium Service (Support for customised parts / customer application, Application maintenance, Small scale development, Application Service Requests and Change Management, Named Consultant and Support Specialist, Requires 24/7 or Standard Support, Support for "how-to" or "further development" questions)
Managed Service (Account Service Manager, Tailored Support solution, Customer specific service level agreement, SLA also for customised parts / customer application, Change Management, Service governance including SLA reporting and regular reviews, Proactive support elements, performance analysis and database optimisations, + Premium Service elements, Requires 24/7 or Standard Support)
Support available to third parties
Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
M-Files offers customers access to onsite and offsite classroom training, online training and e-learning courses. Additionally all customer have access to M-Files documentation for product, users, API and developers.
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
  • HTML
  • PDF
End-of-contract data extraction
M-Files offers two methods of exporting content. First, users can export view results and associated metadata by a simple right-click menu option from the Desktop client. Associated metadata is exported into a CSV file format along with the file content. Second, the archive and content replication feature of the M-Files Admin allows for the export of content and metadata in large quantities.
End-of-contract process
The contract includes all software and hosting services for the term of the agreement.

At the end of the contract customers have the option to renew or to cease using the service. Should a customer choose to cease using the service content can be exported within an agreed period of time.

Using the service

Web browser interface
Yes
Supported browsers
  • Internet Explorer 7
  • Internet Explorer 8
  • Internet Explorer 9
  • Internet Explorer 10
  • Internet Explorer 11
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari 9+
  • Opera
Application to install
Yes
Compatible operating systems
  • Android
  • IOS
  • MacOS
  • Windows
  • Windows Phone
Designed for use on mobile devices
Yes
Differences between the mobile and desktop service
There is no difference
Service interface
Yes
Description of service interface
M-Files Admin is a tool that is used for administrating and maintaining M-Files document vaults and M-Files Server connections.

M-Files Server is the backbone of the M-Files system. It saves all objects (such as documents, employees and customers), controls access rights, registers object modifications (version history), and allows the system administrator to configure connections also to other systems (such as a customer registry). Basically, M-Files Server saves and controls all information related to the M-Files system.
Accessibility standards
WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
Accessibility testing
M-Files regularly tests its software with both internal and external user groups
API
Yes
What users can and can't do using the API
M-Files includes an ActiveX/COM API. Supported languages include VB.NET, C#, Visual Basic, VBScript, and C++. Additionally, M-Files includes the M-Files Web Service API that allows programmatic access to M-Files through a REST-like interface.
M-Files API is included within the installation of the M-Files software. The ActiveX/COM API documentation is available as an online version and as a Microsoft HTML Help (CHM) file.
M-Files API is a collection of classes and operation interfaces. Each class represents a feature or data item of the M-Files system. With the API, you can access, modify and create documents stored in an M-Files vault. You can also perform searches and display documents and other objects, access and modify the metadata associated with documents, access and modify document workflows, and much more.
API documentation
Yes
API documentation formats
  • HTML
  • PDF
API sandbox or test environment
Yes
Customisation available
Yes
Description of customisation
Most aspects of the M-Files service can be customised when required. Firstly the M-Files application can be customised to meet text, colour and layout requirements. Secondly the structure of the system can be customised to me data structure requirements. Thirdly users can write custom VB scripts to perform non standard functions or integrations with third party applications. Through the M-Files UK extensibility framework third party applications/tools can be embedded within the M-Files interface. Vault applications and IML connectors can be developed to allow M-Files to integrate with virtually any third party application and even surface its content within its own repository. Lastly the M-Files API provide multiple customisation options. All of theses options are available for customers to use.

Scaling

Independence of resources
M-Files scales its solutions based on the customers requirements which are calculated on the number of users and data volumes M-Files monitor its services to ensure users are not affected by the load other users place on the service when on multi tenanted infrastructure. Alternatively, M-Files can deliver its services on a single tenanted architecture which would be sized according to the customers requirements.

Analytics

Service usage metrics
Yes
Metrics types
Availability of the service is monitored by M-Files by using third party services. Performance is monitored by using Microsoft
Azure tools. Access to these tools are not provided for the customers.
Customer admin is able to view activity monitor in M-Files Admin tool. Activity Monitor is a dashboard for investigating
different performance aspects: most active sessions, object modifications, views and searches, and background processes.
Reporting types
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Reports on request

Resellers

Supplier type
Not a reseller

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Conforms to BS7858:2012
Government security clearance
Up to Developed Vetting (DV)

Asset protection

Knowledge of data storage and processing locations
Yes
Data storage and processing locations
  • United Kingdom
  • European Economic Area (EEA)
  • EU-US Privacy Shield agreement locations
  • Other locations
User control over data storage and processing locations
Yes
Datacentre security standards
Managed by a third party
Penetration testing frequency
At least once a year
Penetration testing approach
Another external penetration testing organisation
Protecting data at rest
Physical access control, complying with another standard
Data sanitisation process
Yes
Data sanitisation type
  • Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
  • Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
Equipment disposal approach
Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v.30, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001

Data importing and exporting

Data export approach
M-Files offers two methods of exporting content. First, users can export view results and associated metadata by a simple right-click menu option from the Desktop client. Associated metadata is exported into a CSV file format along with the file content. Second, the archive and content replication feature of the M-Files Admin allows for the export of content and metadata in large quantities.
Data export formats
  • CSV
  • Other
Other data export formats
  • Original format
  • PDF
Data import formats
  • CSV
  • Other
Other data import formats
  • Supported original formats
  • SQL via OLE DB or ODBC
  • XML

Data-in-transit protection

Data protection between buyer and supplier networks
TLS (version 1.2 or above)
Data protection within supplier network
TLS (version 1.2 or above)

Availability and resilience

Guaranteed availability
Greater than or equal to 99.9% - No service Credits

Less than 99.5% but greater than 95% - 15% of charges with respect to hosting and support and maintenance

Less than 95% - 30% of charges with respect to hosting and support and maintenance
Approach to resilience
M-Files Cloud Vault is hosted in Microsoft Azure. The Microsoft Azure datacenters are highly secured and designed to automatically survive from hardware and infrastructure failures. The redundant infrastructure offers for instance emergency power support, fire detection and suppression systems, video surveillance, dual internet service providers, and much more. Each high-availability cluster has primary and
secondary server instances. One vault is attached to only one instance at a given time. In case the primary instance fails, after a specified threshold time, the secondary instance automatically takes over the control of the vault. In most cases, the vault is recovered in a few minutes. There is no need to move the data because permanent data is always stored to a
separate database and file storage. This includes all vault content together with configuration data and customer data (metadata and files).
Outage reporting
Availability of the service is monitored by M-Files by using third party services. Performance is monitored by using Microsoft Azure tools. Access to these tools are not provided for the customers. Customer admin is able to view activity monitor in M-Files Admin tool. Activity Monitor is a dashboard for investigating different performance aspects: most active sessions, object modifications, views and searches, and background processes.

Identity and authentication

User authentication needed
Yes
User authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
Individual employees can be granted access to some of the services as required. Cloud Vault Super Admins can grant
access to individual credentials in the Cloud Management vault by using the 'Additional Contributor' property.
Before granting access to the system, the Cloud Vault admin must ensure that the recipients have the Cloud Vault
Customer Admin Job role in the M-Files QMS vault and that they have fulfilled all the learning requirements from the
system. The credentials are not given to employees that have pending learning requirements.
Access restriction testing frequency
At least once a year
Management access authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password

Audit information for users

Access to user activity audit information
Users have access to real-time audit information
How long user audit data is stored for
User-defined
Access to supplier activity audit information
Users receive audit information on a regular basis
How long supplier audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
How long system logs are stored for
User-defined

Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification
Yes
Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001
Inspecta Sertifiointi Oy
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
21/02/2017
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
M-Files Cloud Vault Services are hosted in Microsoft Azure. However, Microsoft Azure is also certified for ISO 27001 compliance
ISO 28000:2007 certification
No
CSA STAR certification
Yes
CSA STAR accreditation date
29/09/2016
CSA STAR certification level
Level 3: CSA STAR Certification
What the CSA STAR doesn’t cover
N/A
PCI certification
No
Other security certifications
No

Security governance

Named board-level person responsible for service security
Yes
Security governance certified
Yes
Security governance standards
  • CSA CCM version 3.0
  • ISO/IEC 27001
Information security policies and processes
The use of M-Files program as a service would not be possible without collection of information concerning use of the service which includes personal information. Personal information is collected,
stored and processed in accordance with applicable laws and only to the extent necessary for the purpose of providing the services. The collected e-mail addresses may be used by an automated mailing
system to provide information on trainings and other products available. Also statistic information can be collected and used by the service provider or its hosting contractor. The collected information is not
transferred or sold without permission.
The technical setup, services provider’s rules of data processing and code of conduct for providing services enable high level of protection of information. However, it is necessary to have some people who can gain access to data and information in the systems. Persons with access to data are aware of nature of data.
Any personal information collected by M-Files Corporation in Finland is collected and used in accordance with the laws of Finland.

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard
Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Configuration and change management approach
Configuration is defined in the deployment configuration file. The file includes all environment specific details, such as the M-Files server version, the SQL Database server information, and the attached Cloud Vault instances. Each time the deployment configuration is changed, the configuration file is stored to the Cloud Management vault by the person responsible for the modification. M-Files strict change management SOP are adhered to throughout the lifetime of the service.
Vulnerability management type
Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Vulnerability management approach
M-Files monitors the current threats though several channels to obtain real-time understanding of the threats.
Security team is responsible for monitoring the active threats and communicating them to all necessary parties, as
described in: Internal Quality Policy #1189 Organizational Security
Some of the channels for regular information are:
National Cybercentre Finland (CERT-FI) CERT-US
Based on communication of new threats and detected vulnerabilities in current application, the IT team evaluates the
criticality, risk, and urgency of installing the patches or updates for the noticed vulnerabilities.
Protective monitoring type
Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Protective monitoring approach
M-Files uses F-Secure RDS (Rapid Detection Service) is an outsourced IDS (Intrusion Detection System) service used to monitor the infrastructure for any targeted attacks. M-Files has defined standard operating procedures for dealing with such compromises. Incidents are dealt with in real time.
Incident management type
Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Incident management approach
Microsoft Azure has processes to facilitate a coordinated response to incidents. The process follows five phases:
Identification – System and security alerts may be harvested, correlated, and analysed. Events are by Microsoft operational and security organizations.
Containment – The escalation team evaluates the scope and impact of an incident.
Eradication – After the situation is contained, the team moves toward eradicating any damage caused, and identifies the cause.
Recovery – During recovery, software or configuration updates are applied and services are returned to a working capacity.
Lessons Learned – Each incident is analysed to ensure the appropriate mitigations are applied.

Secure development

Approach to secure software development best practice
Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v3.0)

Public sector networks

Connection to public sector networks
No

Pricing

Price
£39 to £69 a user a month
Discount for educational organisations
No
Free trial available
Yes
Description of free trial
M-Files offers a free 30 day downloadable trial of its information management software.
Link to free trial
https://www.m-files.com/en/try-free-m-files

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at george.haddaway@m-files.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.