17. A computer implemented method for analyzing an externally generated document for use in a document management system of the type having a Native Template database including a list of templates for one or more types of documents having common characteristics and Conversion Database including a list of one or more data points associated with each listed document type, one or more descriptive text entries associated with each listed data point, and Proximity information which describes the location of the data point in relation to the Descriptive Text, the method comprising the steps of: (gg) setting up the system to determine how a specific variation of a document relates to a template. (hh) introducing the externally generated document into the system; (ii) analyzing the introduced document by selecting a template from the Native Template database relating to a document type that has characteristics in common with the introduced document, selecting a data point from the template, searching the introduced document for text associated with the selected data point and, if text associated with the selected data point is located, recording the data point and the location of the associated text in the Conversion Database, if text associated with the selected data point is not located, not recording any data; (jj) presenting the recorded data to the user for review; and (kk) approving, modifying or rejecting the presented data.
17. A computer implemented method for analyzing an externally generated document for use in a document management system of the type having a Native Template database including a list of templates for one or more types of documents having common characteristics and Conversion Database including a list of one or more data points associated with each listed document type, one or more descriptive text entries associated with each listed data point, and Proximity information which describes the location of the data point in relation to the Descriptive Text, the method comprising the steps of: (gg) setting up the system to determine how a specific variation of a document relates to a template. (hh) introducing the externally generated document into the system; (ii) analyzing the introduced document by selecting a template from the Native Template database relating to a document type that has characteristics in common with the introduced document, selecting a data point from the template, searching the introduced document for text associated with the selected data point and, if text associated with the selected data point is located, recording the data point and the location of the associated text in the Conversion Database, if text associated with the selected data point is not located, not recording any data; (jj) presenting the recorded data to the user for review; and (kk) approving, modifying or rejecting the presented data. 18. The method of claim 17 further comprising the steps of reviewing the introduced document, identifying and storing section headers and associating the selected data point with the text under the appropriate section header in the Conversion Database.