People-2-Process: Electronic Document Management Plan

At Mango Leadership we support our clients with process development, especially in the area of document management.

“Have Your Document Management Systems Kept Up With Your Business Growth?”

Electronic documents have become the dominant way businesses interact with customers, suppliers, employees and regulatory bodies. They provide many business benefits however the exponential growth of electronic documents produced and consumed within a business leads to an ever increasing amount of inefficiencies, user frustrations and business risk.

Document Management Surveys show that:

•  80% of employees save company/project critical email in their personal inbox
• 58% have folder security issues (lack of appropriate access or insufficient access controls)
• 45% save company critical work on a local drive which is not accessible to others or backed-up
• Employees can spend 25% of their work time just looking for the same information over again
• 40% of employees cannot even find the information they need to do their jobs

The larger the organisation becomes, the greater the potential consequences of poor document management practices.

Why Document Management Software Don't Solve The Problem?

Many companies turn straight to an IT based document management system such as an eDRMS to solve these problems however throwing IT solutions at what is essentially a people and process issue usually leads to even greater issues. This is because IT document management systems (eDRMSs):

• Don’t address the people and the process issues
• Don't provide the ‘thinking’ change at the organisational, individual and process levels
• Don’t change business processes to target greater efficiency, sharing and retention of information
• Don’t clean your current document ‘mess’
• Are often expensive and complex 
• Require server & infrastructure upgrades 
• Don’t include the entire business in the process to ensure maximum engagement with the change

Our Solution – Document Management Plan

Mango Leadership’s Document Management Plan (DMP) addresses these problems in a unique way by developing a document management methodology which matches the way you do business. The DMP allows you to get control of your electronic documents, reduce information ‘clutter’ and improve business document management processes without requiring expensive infrastructure upgrades or eDMS software.

The DMP provides you with a snapshot of your current document management practices, a best practice/best fit solution that will improve your business processes, and a simple, practical, step-by-step road map to get from where you are today to where you want to be.

Document Management Plan Components

We engaged Mango Leadership to help us develop a Document Management Plan. The Mango team invested the time to understand our business and created a new process for handling documents that worked for everyone. This helped both staff and management to understand the problem, and see the benefits of an implemented Document Management Plan. With the plan agreed we continued to work with the Mango team through the implementation process and were impressed with their ability to provide workable solutions to any issues we came across, provide tailored training to groups and individuals and to adapt to the situation to address the specific “hurdles” while maintaining the focus on the overall outcome. The result has been a reduction of over 75% of the number of electronic files stored, an increased efficiency in storing and retrieving information and less staff frustration. I don’t think we could have achieved such a fantastic result without Mango Leadership and I would (and have) recommend their services to others” Sarah Maguire, Assistant to the General Manager, AMC Management (WA) Pty Ltd

Once the Document Management Plan is implemented, a business can:

• effectively work with their existing IT infrastructure or
• choose a software product (EDRMS) that supports their new business practices knowing that it will now be more effectively integrated (hence increasing the return on investment and reducing time required for implementation).

Our approach includes:

• Engaging the whole business in the process (change management)
• Current folder structure audit
• Focus-groups & 1:1 interviews
• Online pre and post-implementation document management survey 
• Draft and final Document Management Plan reviews with allocated Project Team 
• Executive presentation and communications support throughout the project

How you benefit:

• Easier Searching
  Documents, drawings, emails and attachments, letters, faxes and invoices can be logically named and stored.
  
  
• Reduced Costs & Increased Productivity
  Standardised document naming and organisation processes improve efficiency and reduce costs.
  
  
• Improved Access Control
  Using built-in operating system controls in an organised way lets you protect access to your electronic documents.
  
  
• Easier eDMS Migration
  After the Document Management Plan is implemented it lets you easily move your documents to an electronic document management system as your business requirements change and grow.

Next Steps

To discuss your specific needs or to book a course, call our office on 9200 6000 or click here to email us.