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ocument control is one of the most commonly used QMS applications in companies of any industry today. It ensures that your documents are kept up to date and controlled, and it lets you automatically route your documents from review to approval to distribution.
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The QMS’s document control application puts the process into an automated workflow so you don’t miss anything—hey, it happens. That’s why the QMS sets out to automate the way you manage your documents. It also integrates with other quality processes to provide visibility into which employees need training on revised or new documents.
Here just a few of the capabilities inherent in the document control system.
Simplified document creation
The process of creating and approving documents can be automated by the document control system, making it much easier on you. However, when creating a document, there are differences inherent in each document type that must be taken into consideration. For example, a policy document will not have the same workflow as a work instruction. Each must have its own unique routing. The automated document control system is intuitive enough to assign different workflows to these different documents.
The document control system should also enable the use of common authoring tools, such as Microsoft Word or Excel. Look for solutions that directly integrate with Microsoft Office tools to synchronize data within the document control record and the attached Office file. This capability ensures that all documents are consistent and accurate—you make a change on the file, it is reflected in the form, and vice versa.
Controlled, centralized repository for all your information
An effective document control system will have a centralized place where you can store all of your records, as well as the relevant information about that document. This could be anything from revisions, to department, to document owner, and more. All of this information is listed in one place, along with the actual record itself. Moreover than just record-keeping, the real benefit is that the process is controlled. What this means for you is that the "live" document is approved and listed as such so the only way to make a change to that document is to go through a separate workflow just to approve any changes. This mitigates the risk of outdated copies of documents being passed around—one document, one place. It also means you don’t have to update a spreadsheet every single time you make a change, which frees you up to accomplish other, more important tasks.
Controlled records can be linked to training
Most QMS’s training applications hold all of the information related to your employees and their training activities. Without a system to automate the process there would be an immense amount of data to try to coordinate and track. Automating this process by linking document control records directly to a training management application makes this process a whole lot easier by allowing you to input any training groups that need to be aware of document changes, and then assign employees to those training groups. Once the document is changed, approved, or modified, simply notify all employees at the click of a button. Once employees have trained on new documents they can automatically update their training records.
Change request within the document control workflow
The document control process is cyclical by nature and typically after one change another is bound to follow. If you can incorporate a dedicated change request process into the document control workflow you will ensure that all changes follow a process specifically defined by your company.
Changes should have the ability to be requested to multiple related documents in a single workflow, making the process even more efficient. It’s important to not just throw away your old documents once a new, revised document is updated. So, look for tools that also automatically archive older document changes so you don’t lose any data for reporting purposes.
Track revisions and comments and collaborate effectively
It’s beneficial for any comments, revisions or edits made throughout the lifecycle of the document to be tracked. You should ensure you are tracking the workflow process, any comments associated with those revisions, and that you have complete visibility into the process of that change—the automated document control system does this for you.
Gain efficiencies in time and workload
An automated document control system will save you time typically spent entering data, tracking data, updating spreadsheets and pulling reports. This is so much time-savings that, by automating the document control effort, many organizations have been able to reduce the workload of three full-time employees down to that of half of a full time employee’s time. Of course, each company is different, but it is safe to say that the time saved, whatever it may be, can be better allocated to things that are more critical to the business.
Closing thoughts
Document control enables you to track all your documented processes, jobs, specifications—anything that you need to control is in your hands. An automated document control system not only allows you to easily create documents, tracks revisions and makes training on new documents easier, it also saves time and resources for your organization and results in a more consistent process for document activities. All activity is tracked through a workflow meaning that the process doesn’t deviate—it remains consistent, and provides you with reliable results. No more worrying about maintaining manual spreadsheets and training on those spreadsheets.
We’ve touched on it in this article and the upcoming installment in our series will dig even deeper into the QMS’s training management system, how automation improves the process and how it benefits you.
Brenda Percy is the product marketing analyst at Verse Solutions, a Quality Digest content partner.
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