DocuShare 3.0, the first major upgrade of the Xerox Corp. software since it was introduced in 1997, includes new document-routing features that let users create content and dictate its workflow--information about who gets the document and how it should be handled--without the need for IT intervention.

A scanning module makes it easier for users to capture hard-copy content, making scanning a document as easy as printing it, DocuShare product manager Colman Murphy says. The software also features modular connectors to databases such as Oracle and SQL Server, which let users store content in those databases rather than the one that comes bundled with DocuShare. And the upgrade offers desktop integration with WebDAV standards, which let any desktop computer connect to any Web site.

Carl Hoagland, director of technology at the learning center at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, is a beta customer of DocuShare 3.0 and a longtime user of the previous release. "The new workflow features make it much easier to share documents," he says. The university had limited use of some DocuShare features to technical users because the older document-routing features required too much expertise, he says. "The software is much more intuitive now," and the university will make more features available to all users.

DocuShare 3.0 will ship at the end of the month. Pricing starts at about $4,000 for a 10-user system, but Murphy says discounts are available for customers of previous DocuShare versions who are upgrading to 3.0.