Overview
Documents! You work with them all the
time, every day. The major change is the way your documents are created,
received, distributed, edited and worked on. Each process is becoming
more electronic.
Traditional document management
techniques have been addressed largely at the management of paper files.
It is now time for these techniques to be extended to the management of
electronic documents, otherwise we risk the loss of valuable corporate
memory through inaccessibility or the inadvertent destruction of
valuable documents, and the confusion of the corporate record through
the unnecessary retention of non-essential documents.
At CDMR, we treat each project as a challenge for us to
manage our customer’s documents better, while taking advantage of the
very real advantages offered by new technology. To do that, we never
lose focus on the following
6 key information management
principles
that are actively incorporated into the DocControl
Electronic Document Management System.
1. Manage the whole document
life cycle - Electronic document management
systems are more than just systems for tracking the location of
electronic documents. Such systems should manage documents for their
complete life cycle based on the value of the document to the
organizations business. Just as there are standard procedures for the
registration of paper documents and records, suitable procedures should
be implemented to manage each electronic document throughout its life
from creation to disposal.
2. Identify your valuable
documents - Documents can be valuable because
of the information they contain and because they are records for which
your organization is accountable. The information contained in documents
is a corporate asset and should be managed like other assets, with
appropriate supporting management procedures and asset registers. An
organization must have sufficient knowledge of its document and record
holdings to meet basic accountability and legislative requirements, and
of its corporate information base to support its business operations.
3. Ensure the quality of
information about your documents - Accuracy
can be as simple as knowing that you have identified the authoritative
version of a document. It is important, therefore, to be able to
identify the authoritative version of a document, especially where it
has been through a drafting stage or has been distributed throughout the
organization for comment prior to it becoming the accepted record of a
business activity. Management and system procedures should therefore be
in place to address the issue of identifying the authoritative document.
Version and status should be included when registering a document. The
establishment of standards for document registering is critical to
information quality, as it assists recognition and retrieval of the
document.
4. Secure your valuable
documents - Security in relation to electronic
documents means maintaining their availability, integrity and
confidentiality by minimizing the risk of loss, corruption and
unauthorized access. Security for electronic documents is as much a
management issue as a technical issue, and it should be a part of the
security arrangements that cover corporate information systems
generally.
5. Provide appropriate access to
your documents - Access to documents for both
short and long term business requirements is a fundamental issue as
there is little point in keeping documents unless you can access them in
a timely and efficient manner. Documents should be available to all
staff who may have a need to gain access to the information they contain
and who are able to gain the appropriate level of authorization for
access. Information is a costly asset to produce and manage and it is in
the organization's interest to get the most out of its investment in its
information. Consideration needs to be given to common format and naming
conventions for access across systems, and provide a conducive
environment for access.
6. Preserve your valuable
documents - Due to rapid changes in
technology, the hardware and software that is utilized to access
electronic documents is likely to be obsolete long before the media on
which the electronic documents are stored deteriorates. This situation
requires that documents of value are migrated across changes in
technology so that the body of valuable documents is accessible using
the technology of the day. Great care should be taken with the use of
compression, encryption, and password controlled software or hardware as
changes in technology can again make future retrieval very difficult if
the documents are not managed appropriately.
|