When you’re working with documents regularly, it can be easy to let things get messy. Keeping track of your files and what you have and don’t have access to can be tricky. With so many resources available today, it’s easy for important documents to get lost in the shuffle. Fortunately, you can take some simple steps to ensure that your organization stays organized and efficient at all times.
Document control programs by Harrington Group International are an organizational tool that helps streamline business document management by centralizing information across various departments and offices. This way, no one has to search for a document when they need to reference it again—and again. Here’s everything you need to know about this helpful organizational tool.
Why You Need Document Control Programmes in Your Organization
When a company wants to maintain order, especially in the modern workplace where workers are likely to be located across different offices and countries, they will have to make sure that documents are tracked and managed by someone. This is where document control programs can come in handy. When you’re trying to ensure that your business is organized and efficient at all times, you need a way of making sure this happens—because everyone knows that a disorganized office can be a huge productivity drain!
How to Set Up Document Control Programmes in Your Organization
To set up a document control program, you must first figure out all the information about the documents you need to track. This means that you should work with your team to identify all relevant and critically important documents to your company—and which documents should be shared and stored as a single file. Then, once you have identified all of these crucial files, you’ll need to make a list of who will be responsible for managing them throughout their lifetime.
Step 1: Find Out What Documents Are Related
You will probably have various documents on your organization’s computers, especially as you start up your business. With so many types of files to track and store, it can be easy to lose track of which ones you need. The best way to keep things organized is to organize what you’re working with so that you can understand precisely what information and resources are at the heart of your business. Once you’ve identified all of the important files that need tracking, you should go through each one individually and assign a name, title, or number to each file.
Step 2: Create a Master File
Once you’ve organized all of your files, you need to ensure that everyone working on the project knows who is responsible for managing them. For example, if you have a senior employee whose specialties are in filing and organizing documents, it makes sense to keep their name at the top of the list. However, it’s important to give everyone involved in managing documents on this project a chance to contribute. To do this well, think of a way to include everyone who will potentially be working with this file while ensuring that only one person is given full authority and control over it.
Step 3: Share the Responsibility
The last thing you want is to create a document control program that is too restrictive and difficult to follow. While everyone needs to know who is managing the files, it should not be the case that no one on your team can access them without permission. There should be some provision for making copies or sharing files with others who need access to reference information. If you’re sharing documents electronically, make sure you know how this will affect how they’re shared.
Conclusion
Now that you know how to set up document control programs, you should be able to keep your organization’s documents clean and organized. If you need a little help with this, contact the professionals at Harrington Group International, who are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for enterprise-grade document workflows.
