Document control is a common function within quality management systems for ISO, JCAHO, FDA, GMP, ITIL, SOX, and many other standards or regulations.  Document control has been around for decades.  In the old days it was all about controlling paper documents.  Then, along came electronic documents and a whole new world was created.  Yet, paper based systems remain today in many organizations that have yet to upgrade to more modern methods.  This leads us to make many common document control mistakes.

Do you make any of these document control mistakes?

1.       Assuming your document files are backed up on a regular basis.
Sometimes files are backed up and sometimes there not.  The only way to make sure that your files are backed up is to recover a missing file.  How long does it take? Hours or days to recover a file?  Who knows how to do it and has time to get your file?  Many assumptions are made about the backup process at any company.  Unfortunately, most people don’t test their assumptions until it is too late and they really need a file.  Products like OnPolicy archive all of your documents automatically and prevent you from deleting released documents.

2.       Saving document revision files under a new name.
Most people use MS-Word and MS-Word does not have a very good revision system.  It has a feature to “Track Changes”, which adds a lot of comments and colored text from each reviewer.  It used to have a version control feature (prior to Word 2007) that was removed.  If you are like most than you are probably saving your documents with a new name like document-name-Rev-1.  Then you have to remember to save the new version as Rev-2 or else you will overwrite your original and you will have to test your backup recovery system (see 1 above).  OnPolicy saves each file version for you, separate from the original document.

3.       Using a shared hard drive to store your documents and files.
Shared hard drives are easy to implement.  Just purchaser a network hard drive and connect it to your network.  Now everyone has access to the new hard drive space, but who has control.  Setting up access controls can be an issue.  So most people don’t have any access controls.  The result: document files get deleted, changed, renamed, or moved.  If you do not have access control then you do not have document control either.  ).  OnPolicy provides access control by department, category, and by user roles as an editor or reader to prevent unauthorized changes.

4.       Not using document templates.
If all of your employees write procedures from scratch every time then you will end up with different styles, formats, and structures that will confuse anyone trying to use your documents.  Document templates provide a standard format.  What is even better is having access to a library of best practices that you could edit to make your own.  Bizmanualz provides standard content in MS-Word for easy editing and customization.

5.       Printing paper drafts for review.
Paper is easy to print but it is not so easy to distribute to reviewers.  Document reviewers will mark-up your paper and give it back to you.  Now you have to implement the revisions.  If you had it all online in a system like OnPolicy, then you could route your documents to your document reviewers electronically.  They could enter their changes electronically, and then you could edit them electronically.  This works even better if you have a lot of locations.

6.       Using MS-Word to distribute your final documents to employees.
Most people use MS-Word to write their policies and procedures.  But if you send the original MS-Word file to your employees, your employees could make changes that others will not know about.  OnPolicy uses PDF files to distribute your documents which allows you to maintain control over your documents and keep unauthorized changes in check.

7.       Distributing paper documents to employees.
Paper and three-ring binders have been used for decades to house and distribute policies and procedures.  But paper is a lot harder to control.  Paper gets lost.  And paper gets forgotten.  Today, everything is moving online and onto the internet.  More and more employees have computers, smart phones, or access to one during the workday.  Eliminating paper save trees, improves document control, and allows for a more effective management system.

8.       Not collecting older revisions from your employees.
It is a lot harder to retrieve outdated pieces of paper hanging around the office.  It is common to find an old employee handbook that was given to an employee on their first day – 10 years ago.  Electronic online controls ensure that only the latest, most up-to-date copy of any important document is maintained and managed in the system.

9.       Designing your own document control system.
Many organizations decide to design their own document control software.  SharePoint is the most common platform.  But SharePoint is not a document control system and unless you are a SharePoint Designer you will end up with an expensive IT project with software designed by software engineers that are not document compliance and control experts.  Many such projects eventually are abandoned.  It is a lot easier to purchase a pre-built system, designed by document control experts, then to build your own software product.

10.   Receiving document control audit findings.
The most common ISO audit finding is document control.  Procedures are not followed, controlled, backed-up appropriately, retained, or kept legible.  In just about any audit you can find a document control audit finding if you wanted to.  But, using electronic document control software will virtually eliminate any such finding.  Document control software prompts you to review, approve, release, and even read documents.  They remain legible, get backed-up, and provide the access control you need to stay in compliance.

Now you should be better prepared to prevent making these Top Ten Document Control Mistakes.  Bizmanualz new OnPolicy software will eliminate these document control mistakes.  Try OnPolicy FREE for 30-days to make managing your policies, procedures and forms easier.

1.       Assuming your document files are backed up on a regular basis.

2.       Saving document revision files under a new name.

3.       Using a shared hard drive to store your documents and files.

4.       Not using document templates.

5.       Printing paper drafts for review.

6.       Using MS-Word to distribute your final documents to employees.

7.       Distributing paper documents to employees.

8.       Not collecting older revisions from your employees.

9.       Designing your own document control system.

10.   Receiving document control audit findings.

During the “beta test” phase of developing our OnPolicy™ document management software, our beta testers have been coming up with great questions, some of which we thought we’d share with you in advance of our formal launch. For example:

1. What document formats are supported by OnPolicy™?

The OpenSource code behind OnPolicy will support many common document formats, such as:

• Microsoft Word (“.doc”, “.docx”);
• MS-Excel (“.xls”, “.xlsx”);
• Adobe Reader (“.pdf”); and
• Some limited-format and unformatted file types (“.rtf”, “.txt”).

2. Why are all of our documents converted to “.pdf” files?

In OnPolicy™, released documents are converted from their native formats to “.pdf” to lessen the likelihood that document “Readers” — personnel assigned read-only access to documents — can modify your documents.

3. Where are our documents stored?

All documents are stored in a “SAS 70 Type II Certified” data center, which is also one of the largest colocation facilities in the central United States.

4. How do we know we’re the only ones who have access to our company’s documents?

We’re using all available means to reasonably secure your data, including:

• Dedicated servers;
• Encryption;
• Firewalls;
• Periodic backups; and
• Password protection.

5. Can I set different access levels for different users?

OnPolicy™ Administrators can create users and assign them roles (e.g., Reader, Editor). Roles define responsibilities and accessibility of documentation and features.

6. Can documents be deleted?

• You can upload, download, and delete documents from your account at any time. Your documents are also backed up regularly.  But, as per document control, released documents can only be deleted after their retention date.

7. Can documents be recovered?

• Deleted documents are retrievable for an agreed-on period of time for as long as your OnPolicy™ account remains active.
• Note that recovery time depends, in part, on the number and size of files to be recovered.

If you have other questions about OnPolicy™ software-as-a-service document management, please:

• Visit our OnPolicy™ website, http://www.onpolicy.com;
• Call us (314-863-5079);
• Send us an email; or
• Visit the Bizmanualz web site, http://www.bizmanualz.com.

We’re happy to be of service.

We are currently testing our new policies and procedures document compliance software, and plan to release it for customer testing in the near future. Potential testers have been asking a number of questions. Here are questions, and the answers:

Is your policy management software accessed as a service over the Internet (Software as a Service – SaaS) or must your policy solution be installed on your computers?

Bizmanualz policy management software is in fact a ‘software-as-a-Service’ available as a subscription over the Internet. The first time a user accesses the service, a small amount of code loads on the client machine in about 30 seconds, similar to when using GoToMeeting or any number of on-line services. The user never is required to install, launch or maintain any software.

Can we upload our existing documents into the system?

You can upload all your existing documents into the system, and open them, so long as your local machine has the software that was used to create the document. For example, MS WORD documents are can be uploaded. In fact, Bizmanualz publishes the world’s most complete set of pre-written policies and procedures, all in MS WORD format. Any policies and procedures template that you buy from us comes pre-loaded in the software. We keep the templates up to date; but we don’t change any documents that you save, upload or change, even if the document started as a Bizmanualz template.

Are documents easy to update?

Documents are edited in their native software on your local machine; they are saved to our server. Our system tracks and controls all document revisions so everyone accesses the latest version. It’s easy to roll back to a previous version if necessary.

Are employees or other users notified when a policy changes or is updated?

Notifications of policy changes are sent by e-mail to policy document authors and ‘followers.’  Administrators and document authors can assign ‘follower’ rights to any user for any document. Users can independently follow any document to which they have permission. Followers receive e-mail notifications of all policy changes. There are also announcement and action item screens within the policy management software that can be used to communicate information about documents.

Can multiple users access policies and procedures at the same time?

Yes, any number of users can access your policy and procedure documents. If two people work on the same document at the same time, their work will be saved (but not released) as two separate drafts. Built-in compliance workflow assures that only one draft can be released, so there are never multiple releases of the same policies and procedures document floating around.

How do you price your policy management software? Do you charge by the seat, or do you sell one license for the whole organization?

We charge per seat. Released policy and procedure documents are published to a web-based reader module which can be viewed by anyone you want. Typically, that would include all your employees and your auditors if you have a formal quality system.

We have an Intranet for reading our documents on-line. How does your software work with Intranets?

If you already have an intranet or a document publishing platform (SharePoint for example) and want to keep using it, our editor module can ftp documents to your existing publishing platform so that user’s viewing habits don’t have to change. But your editors and document managers would benefit from using our editor module for policy and procedure document control, workflow, version control, notifications, etc. while your general employee population would continue to read documents as they’re doing now.

Can I assign different levels of access to users and documents?

We offer a full access control at the document, user and department level. That is, all users assigned to, for example, the accounting department can be granted permission to all accounting procedures with a global command. Additional restrictions can be placed on individuals within a department. Access privileges can also be set at the document level.

Is your policy management software compliant with my quality management or document control requirements?

Yes, the Bizmanualz policy management software is consistent with the document control requirements of all ISO quality management systems, government and industry standards and regulations.