Documents are an important part of every business that serves many purposes, above all to show the results of your work. However, if not handled properly, they will turn into a mere stack of paper. Every company needs a quality document management system plan, it will help you find the right file quickly and efficiently, create organization and clarity in your activities and increase the efficiency of your work. In this article, we’ll tell you how to create a robust document management system.
Form your team
To start working on creating an improved document system, you need a reliable team of professionals who can handle the tasks at hand. Organizing documents is not a simple and time-consuming process, even among small businesses, where it would seem the number of documents should be much smaller. Covering and starting to manage all of the data, and the processes associated with it is not an easy task that needs to be done by employees who can be relied upon. Having a team dedicated to the cause will give you accountability and assurance of a successful project.
Examine Your Current Process
Analyzing your current situation will give you an understanding of where to go next and what aspects need improvement. Examine what types of documents are most common in the company:
- Collected or received
- Managed, approved, rejected, or pending
- Transferred
- Protected
- Deleted, transferred, or otherwise disposed of
By examining the document elements of each department in your organization, you will be able to soberly assess which aspects need upgrading.
Define your goals and requirements
Of course, if you have reasons and goals for creating any project, it will be much easier to work on it. Usually, companies decide to improve their document management system if they have had a bitter experience with improper document management in the past and want to prevent it from happening again. You may want to make the process more flexible, modern, and automated to make it easier for your employees, and save them time on routine work, or reduce your vendor fees. Regardless of your goals, your task process is greatly enhanced if you have specific insights.
Create an inventory of your current documents
A documented inventory is necessary to “clear the path” before moving on to more action. Do an in-depth analysis of your documents, examining their types, classifications, and those responsible. Below we have provided a recommended algorithm for action:
- Detail an assessment of your system, maintaining all documentation in the company
- Elaborate documentation sheets
- Analysis of your company’s document management system on the example of one or two departments
After that, you also need to get rid of already outdated documents. Select documents that are no longer important to you, either digitally or in paper format. When destroying them, follow your company’s retention policies to ensure all regulations are met.
Construct your strategy
Below we’ve identified some recommendations that you can incorporate into your strategy:
- Consider all your old and current issues, perhaps there are processes you would like to automate
- Design your convenient way to categorize documents and make sure everyone in your company learns it and can effectively put the knowledge into practice
- Assign administrators to control access to documents
- Involve your IT department to establish a file recovery and backup policy
Use advanced programs like virtual-dataroom.it for more efficient and secure document management. Virtual Data Rooms make it fast and easy to upload documents of any confidentiality to your space, design and label documents according to your categorization system, and set detailed permissions for access and interaction with your files.