Document control policy for project teams
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The document outlines elements that could be included in a document control policy for a community of practice, including: 1. Using a document flow diagram to show how documents move within project teams and stakeholders. 2. Having guidelines for creating documents, such as checklists for purpose, content, and verification. 3. Standardizing documents with a common design, formatting, terminology, and conventions. 4. Establishing revision schedules to reflect the rate of change and ensure outdated versions are removed.
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Document control policy for project teams
- 1. A Document Control Policy for our Community of Practice Paul Mayes July 2011 http://betterprojects.jiscinvolve.org/wp/ [email_address]
- 2. Naturally how we control the documentation (printed, electronic file or web-based) of our projects will depend on any document control practices of our stakeholders. But even if they have no practices for us to follow then why do we need our own policy, given the small scope and size of most of our projects?
- 3. Reasons for having our own Policy: Brings a uniformity of practice across our different partners Having a Policy and referring to it will make us look more professional It allows for any of our projects becoming much larger and more complex in the future Information is retained that could help solve a problem, improve opportunities, avoid costly errors, or deflect potential litigation
- 4. Elements of a possible Policy: A Document Flow Diagram We will commit to producing a shared flow diagram that shows how documents move within our project teams and within wider stakeholders. The diagram will show how the document is generated, how it moves from one hand to another, the people who interact at each stage of the flow, the final destination of the document and the place where archived documents will be stored. We will investigate the flow diagram software that is most common in our organisations and is most appropriate for our needs. Creation of document We need a checklist to use when a document is created: the purpose of the information it must contain, how the information is to be verified (and by whom), the expertise and knowledge of the creators, the timeline for the flow of the document and the levels at which the document will be endorsed
- 5. Standardising the documents : We will have a standard design and standard formatting based round the most common practices amongst us. These practices will include the logo, the font, terminology and type of language, version number, dating conventions Setting up a Revision Schedule This reflects both the rapid change possible in some documents (including who creates amendments, review and approval process and identification of amendments) but also the need to periodically check on unchanged documents. We need a strong approach to removing older online versions when a new version is created and collecting in / ensuring the destruction of any printed versions
- 6. Storing and archiving documents : We will need clear guidelines about how and where the document will be stored after it has been used by the end-user (stored by date, serial numbers, author, etc ?). Issues also to be considered are determining location, security, access and prevention of unauthorized changes, indexing, retrieval by users, restrictions concerning paper documents vs. electronic documents, authorized and unauthorized external distribution and republishing We gratefully acknowledge two excellent web articles that provided the background reading for our planning session: http://www.brighthub.com/office/project-management/articles/100740.aspx and http://www.davebaldwinconsulting.com/article_principles_document_control.html