Each business, in addition to its core tasks and direct work with customers, should maintain internal and external documentation. Regardless of your company size, the generated papers and files should be appropriately managed. Consider these five aspects to do it right.
General Access
Table of Contents
Your company may employ a couple of people, or maybe several hundred. In any case, each of your workers should be able to find and read the document they need quickly. Statistics show that employees spend a significant part of their time searching for information regarding their tasks. If all the documents are in one place, they will spend this time on direct work. Besides, documentation collaboration is an important part of many productions. Instead of constantly sending each other files, as was customary in the past, you can work together on one paper. Every employee involved sees the changes made and can track progress.
Record Keeping From Day One
Some beginners mistakenly believe that document management is a secondary task that can be solved after the project has been launched. However, some activities involve creating and signing papers before it even starts. In general, keep any regulatory papers:
- proposals;
- roadmaps;
- specifications and plans;
- team meeting records;
- business cases;
- email attachments;
- sketches and guidelines, etc.
All this will facilitate your and your employees’ work and help to avoid possible misunderstandings.
Standardized Approach
Versatility is the key to order in any business, especially when it comes to documentation. Many papers can be organized using standard forms and templates. Use them to generate the most requested documents and adjust them if required. Templates are important when working with external contractors and partners. It is also essential to set the naming standards for the generated files. After reading a title, a recipient should have a clear idea of what the particular document is about.
Data Security
An important element in working with documents is not only the convenience of their creation and use but also their storage. It’s vital to ensure that files are protected from hacking by intruders and accidental deletion or technical failure. Some industries also require materials to be protected from being stolen from the inside by untrustworthy employees. To do it, you should provide multi-level protection and access to certain documents, depending on the assigned roles of employees.
Creating an Archive
As the business or a project develops, some files become irrelevant and outdated. Depending on their purpose, they should be stored for a certain time. Firstly, they may still be needed in disputes or for analysis, for example. Secondly, the storage of certain categories of papers is required by the laws of different countries.
Boost Productivity With Online Documentation Solutions
In whatever direction you work, effective documentation management is one of the priorities. With the above requirements, cloud business solutions are excellent. If you already have accumulated materials, you can easily migrate to one of such systems, transferring all the files from other programs. Please share your experiences with managing documentation. What steps do you consider the main ones for organizing competent work with files?
