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 for administrative and add/change/delete privileges. Released policy and procedure documents are published to a web site which can be viewed for free 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.

Do you have a vision for your company that your employees never seem quite able to carry out?  I’m sure all of your managers and employees hear what you’re saying, but do they understand? Do they consistently translate your words into actions? Do they consistently get the results you and your customers desire?

What may be needed is a way to define your best practices that ensures your employees’ actions are in sync with your vision.  With the right tools in place, it’s a lot easier than you might think.

Whether your goal is to raise sales 10%, increase profits 50%, reduce your time to market by 25%, or obtain ISO certification within 12 months, you need a plan to increase the odds of realizing your goals.  I bet you’ve produced dozens of realization plans and not achieved the results you hoped for.  My question is, “What tools were you using?”

Were you using a tool that…

• Could organize your policies and procedures by department, process, and employee?
• Quickly and easily enabled the design of step-by-step processes you needed to reach your goals and objectives?
• Included best practice procedure templates for standardizing processes in every department (e.g., marketing, accounting, IT) and for every need (for example, ISO 9001 certification)?
• Linked documents, references, and forms referenced within your procedures?
• Enabled easy editing of your policies, procedures, and processes utilizing commonly-used software, such as MS-Visio®, Excel®, Word®, Adobe, and more?
• Defined access permissions (read-only, read/write, etc.) to allow individuals to work with policies, procedures, and processes that are material to their jobs?
• Automatically conformed to document management compliance requirements for document revisions, audit trails, retention, review, approval, and release?

Imagine how much more effective your team can be with robust policies and procedures for each and every business process, or how productive and happy your employees will be with clearly defined job descriptions, training materials, and a system for finding - and developing - business process policies and procedures.  And that’s not all!

Just imagine how much easier training new hires will be once you’ve captured and secured all critical process and content knowledge into policies and procedures from all of your employees!  And how, if someone should leave your company, your knowledge assets don’t have to go with them!

Sounds Like Every Executive’s Dream, Doesn’t It?

Bizmanualz new policies and procedures software tool can radically boost your company’s performance.  It delivers your policies and procedures completely online, using SaaS to move your organization into the 21^st century.  Instant reports, company announcements, and action item checklists detail the real-time status of your policies and procedures.  It’s more than a decision aid — it’s a decision arsenal, packed with features that will improve the performance of every part of your organization.

If you’re sincere about improving your company’s performance — if you want your employees to carry out your vision as intended — try Bizmanualz new policies and procedures software!

What is different about software for policies and procedures?  One of the biggest differences is in compliance management.  ISO 9001, Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, JCAHO, and other guidelines require document control.  This means a specialized workflow for document review, approval, publishing, and retention…audit logs, with changes and revisions…electronic signatures for required readings…and an easy way to manage user permissions.

As a user, you want to be able to edit your policies and procedures in Microsoft Word, publish your policies and procedures in Adobe, and use your policies and procedures in your native web browser (Internet Explorer).  Isn’t that how you want to work? This process is what we call policy management, which is much easier to perform using policy management software than a manual paper system.

Policies and procedures software has other special requirements, too, such as:

• Collecting feedback on published policy documents. Organizing feedback improves procedure utilization and improvement.
• Fast text searching of all documents. People waste a lot of time looking for policies and procedures.
• The ability to introduce enterprise hierarchies to support complex corporate structures (holding companies, divisions, subsidiaries, departments, groups, teams, foreign companies). Big companies have a lot of policy procedure documents organized in different ways.
• Dynamic hyperlinking to related documents (referenced forms, work instructions, other policies, procedures, regulations, job descriptions, process maps, notes, comments, requirements, and a host of related information). Static file share systems do not allow an easy method for maintaining related document links after any version changes or new releases. Policies and procedures management software links to the document title and not the revision.

Bizmanualz is planning on releasing a Policy Procedures Management Software product later this year.  If you’re looking for policies procedures management software designed to control your policies, procedureand forms documents, provide a simple method for managing complex policy review relationships and software that eases your compliance burden, then Bizmanualz will soon have the Policy Procedures Management Software product for you.

Please keep in touch.

As Chris Anderson wrote recently, document management systems (DMS) give you several advantages right away — security, cost savings, easy retrieval, and compliance.

I’d add a couple more advantages, at least in the short run. When you subscribe to the soon-to-be-released Bizmanualz document management system, it’ll come pre-populated with Bizmanualz policies and procedures.

You could download policies and procedures and load them onto your local computer network (for example, locate them on a local server). But, then the documents are organized in a basic hierarchical format. You have to somehow build in the access and version control; otherwise everybody has access to your documents. They can read, write to, and delete them without your permission or knowledge.

You could send an e-mail to “All”, saying that “Manufacturing procedures are on the ‘M:\’ drive, in the ‘Procedure’ folder. Don’t change anything without telling me.”  That’s going to work, right?

On the other hand, when you use our online document management system, you’ll simply send a link with login information.  Procedures, records, and rights to use or edit them would be managed within the web-based system. Deployment — and control — become very easy.

When you use our online DMS, the information comes pre-loaded, pre-organized, and rights-managed. The documents can’t get lost, and you don’t have to pull your hair out sorting through multiple versions.

Why is a Document Management System better than a Shared Drive?

Storing and sharing records on your local network is like having an electronic file cabinet. While that’s easier in many ways than a paper-based file system — because you can access it remotely (saving you steps) and quickly and you can easily back up your information — it’s not a great leap forward. You haven’t improved the process — you’ve merely replicated it in a different form.

True, as long as you can put your finger on your compliance records — the part of your system that proves your company complies with some standard or regulation — you’ve got one aspect of your business under control. Beyond compliance, though…are those records helping you manage your business? Can you easily tabulate information contained in the records and produce visual charts and graphs, showing you and your colleagues unusual behavior, or trends?

In the “shared-drive scenario”, the best you can do is once in a while collect information, dump it into a spreadsheet, and chart it. But, if you keep your information in an online DMS with reporting capabilities built in, you can generate and view reports in real time, as your coworkers are entering data into the system. And, you decide who has permission to enter data, read reports, and so on.

At Bizmanualz, we share the following sales report real time across the company on our on-line system. Everyone can see how sales are doing, and what the most popular products are. We can see trends as they develop while there is still time to react to them to affect real-time improvements.

At Bizmanualz, we can see trends as they develop while there is still time to react to them to affect real-time improvements.

And, when you want to revise policies and procedures, the DMS not only helps you to organize the development and review processes — it automatically performs version control and minimizes risks (like documents disappearing).

Do You Want to Take Part in a Document Management System”Beta-Test”?

Our developers plan to open up the Bizmanualz Document Management System to organizations like yours. Soon, new customers will access their Bizmanualz policies and procedures online, using the DMS.

Would you like to participate in a beta test of this system?  Please post your comments below or contact us at our web site, and we’ll let you know when you can try our online Document Management System for yourself, before it goes on the market.

Thank you for your help.

Companies have a variety of reasons for wanting to get their document management process under control.  What are the four main reasons for investing in a good document management system software?  How about security, saving money, efficiency and compliance.

Document Management Software Security

Electronic files are a lot more secure than paper files.  Document management software can provide an audit trail that tracks every document change and even file views.  Electronic systems can be easily backed-up in case of natural disasters like fire and flood.  Bottom line: your electronic files are safer and more secure.

Document Management Software Savings

The cost of manually producing, storing, retrieving and transporting paper documents and records is high, very high.  People are expensive and using people to file, find and move documents is just not practical anymore.  Think of all the money you can save, and office space you can free up, if you eliminate paper documents and records. Document management software virtually eliminates the cost of searching for, or worse recreating lost documents.

Document Management Software Efficiency

Retrieving paper documents from your storage location (is it off site?) is a ridiculas waste of time. How long do you have to wait to obtain paper files?  Document management software systems let employees quickly access documents and records from their desks, over the internet.  So no matter where you are you can now quicky and easily retrieve important documents and records.

Document Management Software Compliance

If document and records control are a requirement for compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley, ISO 9001, HIPAA, or some other regulations then document management software systems are simply the fastest, easiest, and cheapest solution.  All of your policies, procedures, work instructions, forms, regualtions, and customer documents can be tracked, controlled, and managed per your compliance requirements.  Document management software provides compliance at a glance, access control, physical security, audit history, review and approval work flows, email alerts, and comment tracking.  Reduce your document audit findings and keep you company in compliance.

Document management security, cost savings, efficiency and compliance are the four main reasons for investing in document management software systems.