Document Control Software Simplifies Compliance

Regulated industries face unique challenges regarding risk management and compliance, making document control software a crucial component in managing key documents such as permits, reports and forms.

There is a lot of confusion about what digitization, digitalization and digital transformation are, how they are different and what this means for document control. Many people use them interchangeably, but when you dig deeper, you will find that there are significant differences regarding their goals, scope and benefits. In the long run, they share a common goal of transforming legacy processes and operations to fully digital analogs that increase efficiency, transparency and customer satisfaction while reducing costs.

With benefits like these, it’s no wonder that companies are aggressively adopting these changes. The global digital transformation is expected to reach almost $3.3 trillion by 2025 as companies increase their spending on mobile technology, IoT and SaaS.

COVID-19 accelerated this trend and turned … Read more...

Does Document Management Apply to Fish? The Answer is More Complicated Than You Might Think

Document Management

In 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled that a fish is not a document. While this might seem like an absurd problem for one of the most powerful legal organizations in the world to consider, the idea behind it is an important one that might have an impact on how you do your job. On August 23, 2007, John Yates, the captain of the fishing boat Miss Katie, was fishing off the coast of Florida when he was found to have caught and kept a number of red grouper fish that were under the legal minimum size limit of 20 inches. The field officer with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission instructed Yates to return to port and keep the fish for evidence. Instead, Yates threw the fish back into the sea, effectively destroying the evidence against him.

In response, the Department of Justice … Read more...

The Business Case for Document Control

Knowledge management is the heart of any business enterprise. Having ready access to accurate and up-to-date information strengthens decision making capabilities, aligns everyone in the organization around learning, and supports a culture of innovation. The ability to effectively manage documents is also a central element of most quality management systems, including ISO 9001:2015, Baldrige, and EFQM.

Graphic of a worker looking at different types of documents

Documents are “the means… to communicate legitimacy, work requirements, instructions, methods and results.” (Pho & Tanbo, 2014) Because they are so central and elemental, document management systems also unify the people within an organization (and sometimes also across boundaries of the supply chain ecosystem) around shared processes. They are used to manage the internal flow of information, and also to advance sustainability targets by substantially reducing paper usage. Together, they can:

  • Create new documents or edit existing documents
  • Keep track of document versions, and what changes were made in each revision
  • Collaborate with people
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