News
Beyond Pen and Paper:
The Role of Document Control in Quality Management
by Prasanth Ramakrishnan
IAS Accreditation Officer
Los Angeles, California
 |
|
| Ramakrishnan |
Ineffective document control, such as use of an outdated document or form, can impact the profit of an entire organization, wasting time and materials, causing unnecessary expenditures or, in worst cases, resulting in dissatisfied customers and loss of profits.
From a small shop to a large, international company, document control is one of the foundations for organized, uniform and consistent quality of work. There are some best practices for document management that every organization can follow to ensure product or service quality.
First, assign a quality manager; an individual who is responsible (among other things) for managing documents, as well as some person in charge of quality management when the quality manager is not available. Internal documents that need to be controlled might include a quality manual, quality policy and objectives, test data forms, complaint forms, client feedback forms, non-conformance reporting forms, and appeal forms. External documents typically include standards with which an organization needs to demonstrate compliance in order to operate the business effectively.
One of the quality manager’s jobs is to establish enterprise-wide standardized document practices. Every document should include basic information such as a title, date of issue, authorizing signature, pagination, a unique identification number and the revision sequence. The quality manager should establish document guidelines up front, and make sure everyone in the company has access to standardized document templates.
Managing documents in a safe and controlled environment also requires some organization and care. It is imperative that the quality manager maintain a master list of current documents, with the date of issue for each as well as revision information. Current documents should be accessible to staff with read/write permissions as appropriate, while older documents should be archived in an obsolete folder. It is often very difficult to maintain document control in a large company; to effectively execute the process, employees can be provided access to a shared folder with read-only permission.
Periodic document reviews by the quality management team (following, for example, internal audits or management reviews) will help fill document voids and enhance the effectiveness of the organization’s overall quality management system. At the same time, don’t forget to communicate with employees. Hold regular staff meetings and send email updates about quality policies and procedures, to keep standards fresh in the minds of those who use them every day.
The benefits of a well-run document control process are not always tangible or readily reflected in a company’s bottom line. However, document control is an important and critical piece of the overall management system Document control can be applied to any organization, ranging from production shops, testing laboratories and inspection agencies, to building departments, administrative bodies, hospitals, schools, consultancies and legal bodies.