Revisions and more revisions, where did it end? Who has the final copy and who is the keeper of the final revised copy?
Are the revisions noted and did the final copy become the official record of that document and so noted? Are you aware of the last time someone in the company edited information pertaining to a document? Was the number of the latest revision duly added in sequence and noted? Is there a document trail of all of this?
For a document to be considered reliable and authentic, one of the many considerations to be aware of is that the document is created, managed by the company, and all changes made to the document as a collaborative effort are recorded and tracked.
In recording all revisions, once the final copy is approved and no more revisions are allowed, it becomes the official copy. Any further revisions would need to be approved by the custodian of the official copy, usually the person in the department who is assigned as the keeper of that official copy as an active document. The final copy can be shared with other colleagues while restrictions can be applied. For instance, all documents in finance are available to view by the department only.
Companies who work with an automated system for their document management will most likely have control over the process of identifying each revision and access privileges. This process is easily established along with the workflow processes and is set up from the very beginning in regards to the creation of a document in a department and/or small company. All changes are monitored and identified.
If you are working with paper based documents, assign a new revision number for each edited copy. If sending the revised copy by email to be edited by other colleagues, ensure that the policies are understood in regards to monitoring and numbering the newly revised copy. When the final copy is accepted, the responsibility of safeguarding the official copy will be handed over to a custodian. This can be the department head or other designated keeper and established early in the process of creating the document.
If additional copies are made of the official copy, it is best that employees identify it as a copy and share that information with the custodian. Employees can verify with company policies in regards to the management of copies and the housing of these copies.
Sound tedious? There is nothing worse than working with the wrong edited version or not knowing if the final copy is truly the approved official document. This will also hep you with the inventory and knowing how many copies are held in your company of each official document. If someone leaves, you will be able to identify these documents as copies.
Incorporate this in your procedures for employees to be aware of and to be put into practice. I realize that many of us make copies of documents, from the electronic copy or from another format and file it away. If you have a central repository for documents, everyone can view the documents online, if permissions are in place for all to view, or borrow the hard copy from a central filing system, with control to borrowing privileges for access and retrieval.
Why all the fuss you say? What are the advantages to tracking? You will recognize and store the final revised copy as the official copy and it will be identified as such, tracked, and stored with a custodian who would also have access privileges for you and your staff, if shared online. The document will be stored in a format that is acceptable and readable, with a visible audit trail, the keeper of the document or department identified, and access privileges in place to safeguard the original final copy. This will save you time and money for storage, especially if paper based, and protect the final copy from future changes, unless authorized. This will also save time in trying to assess which, where, and whom has the final copy, and when the last changes were made to the document. If asked to present this document for whatever reason that may be, you are ready.
Francine Renaud
Records Management Consultant
http://www.timeouttoorganize.com/
Tel: 250-763-3988
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