Best Practice Document

A Best Practice document is a tool that helps organizations optimize their documentation and information management processes. This methodology includes a set of proven practices that ensure documentation is effective, efficient, and easy to use. For companies looking to improve document management, the Best Practice document provides a consistent and structured approach to achieving these goals.

Setting Goals and Developing Key Metrics

The first step in implementing documentation best practices is establishing clear goals and developing key metrics. Many companies skip this step and subsequently lack clarity on whether their documentation system is achieving success. Define what you want to accomplish – for example, faster document retrieval, reduced document storage costs, or improved collaboration among employees. Once you have established your goals, determine the metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you measure progress. For instance, if you find that invoice processing currently takes 10 minutes and after a month of using digital document management it takes only 2 minutes, this is a tangible success you can share with colleagues.

Prioritizing Automation of Simple and Frequently Used Processes

Automation simplifies processes and saves employee time and effort, leading to reduced costs for the company. Focus on automating business-critical processes that are simple or repetitive. Automation can, for example, accelerate order processing, improve customer service response times, or integrate accounting systems to capture early payment discounts. Automated processes are easily definable and optimizable, and the time saved is easily measurable. For example, a manufacturer can use document management to find required documents more quickly, enabling faster responses to customer inquiries.

Improving Paper Processes Rather Than Replicating Them

Many companies attempt to reproduce paper processes in a digital environment, which often leads to unnecessary steps. When setting up digital processes, consider why you proceeded in a certain way in the past and whether these steps are still necessary in the new context. The example of a government agency that wanted to convert its purchase approval process to digital format shows that the original paper process, which involved a controller’s assistant at each step, was not necessary in a digital environment. By setting up business rules in their document management system, the agency was able to approve invoices without needing an intermediary at each step.

Creating a Data Management Plan

Data management is the process of organizing, storing, and maintaining data throughout its entire lifecycle. It involves defining and adhering to policies, standards, and procedures that ensure data quality, security, and accessibility. Documenting these processes and standards helps communicate and align data goals, roles, and responsibilities with stakeholders. It also enables monitoring and evaluating data performance, identifying and addressing issues or gaps, and demonstrating compliance with applicable regulations and best practices.

Documenting Processes in the Company

Process documentation is the creation of a written record that describes procedures and tasks in an organization. Effective internal documentation frameworks ensure that all work procedures and processes are documented and centrally stored. Teams save time through standardization via templates and defined approaches to creating and maintaining documents. Types of internal documentation include, for example, onboarding documentation, product development lifecycle, and marketing checklists.

Why Documentation Is Important

Process documentation is not just tedious administration. It is key to efficient company operations, ensures transparency, and simplifies communication. It also helps preserve knowledge within the company, which is especially important when key employees leave or when the company grows rapidly.

In conclusion, we summarize the key terms used in connection with this topic: Best Practice document, document management, automation, digital transformation, metrics, key performance indicators (KPI), process documentation, data management, internal documentation, efficiency.

By adopting these proven practices for document and data management, your organization can achieve better efficiency, greater security, and better access to information.