a

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.