In my first blog post on documentation and document management, we took a brief look back to understand how things have been. In this post, I’ll try to explain what happens if an organization assumes that document management doesn’t affect it.
What is a document?
According to the Swedish Academy’s Dictionary, a document is a written record or deed, meaning a written record that serves as a source or evidence. At first glance, one might think of a document as something on paper that contains important information. But nowadays, most documents are digital and can range from emails to highly advanced drawings.
At SQL Systems, we primarily work with technical documents and rely on the IEC 61355-1 standard, which classifies and designates documents for facilities, systems, and equipment. It covers all technical fields and allows for the further development of documentation and documentation systems.
When we were responsible for documentation and document management for the Öresund Tunnel project, we had long and drawn-out discussions about what a document actually is. The suppliers were not used to the idea that documentation would be digital and argued that the contents of a binder constituted a document, or that all documentation for a specific pump constituted a document. This could therefore include a hodgepodge of drawings and data sheets. But with the help of IEC 61355, it became clear and easy to explain what a document actually is, and we agreed that an entire binder cannot be a document.
Why document management?
Document management can be described as the management of documents throughout their entire lifecycle, from creation to archiving. However, the need for document management varies depending on one’s role within an organization.
If you ask an ordinary user, “Why do we need document management?” the simple answer is that it allows you to quickly and easily find the document you’re looking for.
In order for users to find their documents quickly and easily, some form of metadata must be associated with the documents; depending on how many documents the organization manages and how large the organization is, different types of metadata are required. In a small organization with only a few documents, it may be sufficient to tag documents with the facility, property, or project to which they belong. But if you eventually end up with a facility containing several thousand documents, you’ll need to tag the documents with something more. In that case, IEC 61355 is a good place to start.
In most cases, the user knows what type of document they need. For example, if it is a circuit diagram, it is tagged with "E" (for electrical engineering) and "FS" (for circuit diagram). In the same way, you can then tag ALL documents, regardless of whether they pertain to the building, are administrative, data sheets, or drawings.
One of the most important things to remember when setting up an effective document management system is that NO system in the world can solve the issue of document quality. The organization itself must ensure that the right documents are in the right place at the right time. The system can only help you if it is given the right conditions.
How is the organization affected?
For many years, documentation and document management have been severely neglected. When budget constraints took precedence, it was easy to cut document management, under the assumption that it was merely a cost. A backlog of documentation has built up over a long period of time, and it is only now becoming truly apparent, as the very people who chose to eliminate document management are now pushing for the implementation of machine learning, IoT, and Industry 4.0.
How, then, does this documentation debt affect the organization and its users? I have chosen to explain this in three points based on Structure, Quality, and Liability.
When you can't find a document
A common problem in many organizations is that it takes an incredibly long time to find documents. In other words, the right document isn’t in the right place at the right time. This may be because the organization has chosen to manage its documents on a standard file server, and as the volume of documentation has grown, it has become increasingly difficult to find what you’re looking for.
Searching a file server with a folder structure that may no longer make sense is like looking for a needle in a haystack. This fruitless search causes stress among staff, and to give individuals a greater sense of control and save them from spending hours searching next time, they save the documents locally. This creates information silos that no one else in the organization can access or even knows about. When the documents in those islands also start getting updated and suddenly become the latest version, and the person who has them locally quits or retires, that document and that knowledge are gone.
To avoid the problem of not being able to find documents, it’s a good idea to use document metadata to create a structure that helps employees know how to search for the right documents. This requires some kind of database to store that information. The metadata or tags are what create the structure and make the documents easy to find.
When you can't trust documents
In our work, we often encounter clients who are stuck somewhere between paper-based and digital document management. Often, they have digitized the contents of their binders by replicating the same structure on their file server, because it’s a structure they recognize and feel comfortable with. Over the years, new documents have been added as the company has built new facilities, acquired new properties, or expanded its product portfolio. The structure of the file server will inevitably change over time, and new employees will bring fresh perspectives and a desire to do things their own way. A file server lacks the necessary constraints to ensure effective document management across the entire organization. Consequently, it is inevitable that pockets of documentation will form within the organization, simply because employees have found a convenient workaround to the problem of not being able to locate documents quickly enough.
The problem when the organization starts coming up with its own solutions for finding documents and feels like it has control over “its own” documentation is that no one will dare to trust the documentation that’s supposed to be the master copy. Is that document on the server really the most recent version? Or is it with Lena? What about the documents Jan was supposed to update? Are they uploaded to the server, or are they stored locally on his computer?
Suddenly, you’ve unwittingly created a document management system that no one dares to trust, and that, in turn, causes stress and uncertainty among employees. We’ve heard from customers more than once that it’s like the card game “Finns i Sjön.”
When you don't know who is responsible for a document
What happens when document management loses its structure and quality control, and documents float around the organization without clear guidance?
When documents become increasingly disorganized and it’s unclear which one is the current version, it often ends up being unclear who is responsible for them. If a document is with Jan so he can update it, is he the one responsible for it? Who reviews the document once he has updated it? Who ensures that the document is made available to those who need it?
In a document management system, no matter how simple or advanced it is, you’ll get help with exactly that. Someone will be responsible for each document, and if it needs to be updated, it will be marked as checked out of the system. The documents can also be incorporated into a workflow, all to ensure that employees are confident about the current status and that the document they’re working on is the correct one.
All in all
In many cases, organizations already have a document management system; in others, there are perfectly adequate options available on the market. But the system itself isn’t what matters. What matters is that the organization has done the groundwork to determine how it wants to structure and ensure the quality of its documents. The system provides possibilities; the organization chooses what to put into it. If you just dump ALL documents into it because you don’t know—or don’t think you have the time, resources, or money to figure out—which documents are relevant and important to manage, you’ve done yourself a real disservice, and no system in the world can save you then. Garbage in, garbage out—it’s that simple!
Are you curious and want to talk more about document management and documentation? Maybe you have some questions about your own organization? We’d be happy to help and listen to your challenges! Send an email to nyfiken@sqlsystems.se. Follow us on LinkedIn to stay updated!
