In businesses of even smaller sizes, the volume of documents generated in the course of business can be quite large. In addition to volumes is the problem of variety that can cover correspondence, contracts, invoices, supplier bills, plans, schedules, brochures, flow charts, minutes of meetings, legal briefs, and so on.

Unless the volumes and variety are managed properly, it can lead to an office that is predominantly characterized by absolute chaos.

So how do you manage these documents, and bring a sense of normality to the office?

Classify the Documents as They Are Generated

Classification is the major requirement to bring order out of the chaos. Do this as soon as a document is created, and move it to its appropriate location. This location can be a labeled paper folder in a clearly marked filing cabinet, or it can be clearly named digital folder in a computer. It can also be a particular digital database.

That way, when you want to retrieve a particular document you will know exactly where to look.

Use Indexing and Searching

A modern development is the practice of indexing all documents by criteria that is intuitive and meaningful. Indexed documents can be searched using a search program. Thus, you can search for all documents that contain a particular phrase that is relevant to your purpose, or specify multiple criteria that select a unique document.

Indexing documents is not a new practice. It was there even in the paper document era. However, it was a clumsy and error prone process compared to current processes driven by computer algorithms.

Store the Documents Safely and Securely

Documents need to be preserved for different purposes. Thus, you need documentary evidence to prove a claim in a court of law. Government regulations might also specify that you should maintain certain documents for specified periods. Above all, you need documents to analyze and generate management decision support information.

In fact, even non-current documents are preserved by moving them to archives that might be maintained for long periods.

Documents in storage need to be protected from loss, damage and unauthorized access. The practices for achieving these goals have changed from the paper documents era to the present digital (and even Web) documents age.

In the paper era, you might laminate highly important documents and file all documents in folders made of strong paper board which are in turn stored in filing cabinets under lock and key. Only authorized persons will have access to the secure room that accommodated these filing cabinets.

In today’s digital era, you create a backup of all documents, check that the backups are recoverable if needed, and use a system of permissions and passwords to restrict document access to authorized persons. The backup can even be made to a Web server that is far away from your office (so that if a natural disaster destroys your computers, you can still get back your documents).

Other Document Management Issues

There are other issues that are covered by the term document management. These include:

• Implementing systems that streamline the workflow. Documents support business processes and a smooth flow of documents can speed up these processes.
• Document disposal is another important issue. You don’t have to preserve many documents in perpetuity and reducing their volumes can make their management easier. So you have to formulate document disposal policies and procedures.
• Archiving is another document management issue. When should documents be archived? What kind of archive system is best for you? Questions like the above should be answered by well-considered policies.

Document management is thus a multidimensional task involving policies, procedures, and physical and manpower facilities.