Is all your business documentation under control? Can you always find the right version of the document you need?
Have you ever edited a document only to find that it was not the latest one you were working on? Have you ever sent the wrong version of a document?
It’s easy, even if it seems a little laborious at the start, to put a simple document control process in place. When you control the versions of your work you can be sure you send, or use, the right one.
Having worked in the aircraft industry we had a modification programme to update the planes we worked on. The customer would send back the aircraft for updating and we needed to know what had been fitted and how.
By keeping a record of the specification of the aircraft, we knew what it needed.
An example of why it is important to control the version of anything, especially of components in this case, was the introduction of a life extending modification to one of our products. The extension was to give an extra 500 hours flying time when the original 1500 hours were up.
4 of the aircraft returned still had 1000 hours flying time left…. So, introducing the modification actually reduced the hours left!!! An expensive mistake, all because the configuration management process was not followed. The final rectification of the error cost more than a few million £s.
Your error may not cost so much, but it’s effect on your business may still be damaging to your reputation.
There is plenty of information about configuration management/change control available. So introduce your system soon and save yourself a lot of bother.
If you want to find out how to develop and implement a cost effective document management system, call me on 07766 080770 or email alex@alexpetty.biz
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