Of the many findings a quality auditor can write up in an audit, document control findings are one of the most common. In this day and age, there’s really no excuse for getting a document control audit finding.
How can I say that? Easy. Most document control findings are the result of reliance on a manual review-and-control process. Do you rely on memory, handwritten notes, a “prompt” function on your PC or cellphone, or an assistant to tell you when to review documents? If you have to make a change to a company document, are you hunting people down for approval signatures? Do you have a file cabinet for your approved documents?
How do you get copies of your procedures to the people who must carry them out? When you physically hand out copies of revised procedures, are you collecting all the obsolete copies? What if somebody who isn’t on your distribution list makes a copy of a copy (how many copies are out there that you don’t know about)?
Are you managing document revisions on the same hard drive the originals are stored on? Are you “manually” backing up your revisions? How do you handle document retention, document security, or document distribution?
If you’re using policy and procedure management software, which automates the tasks above and more, it’s far less likely1 your auditor will find fault with your document control. Improving your document control system can help you reduce defects that your documents were originally designed to prevent. Let’s look at a few examples:
- Are the quality procedures identified in your Quality Manual approved prior to use?
- Do your documents, forms, and master lists (or logs) conform to the requirements of your document control procedure? In other words, are there revision (or version) numbers, review/approval signatures, dates, or other evidence of document control?
- Does your document control procedure ensure that the most relevant, up-to-date version of every document versions — and only that version — is available at its point of use?
- How do you ensure documents remain legible?
- Do you have a way to control external documents?
- Does your system prevent unintended use of unapproved or obsolete documents?
Policy and procedure management software automates mundane (manual) tasks that are sometimes forgotten about during the average workday. Larger companies can sometimes afford a document control specialist but you might not have that kind of room in your budget. And, even if you did…
Any company that implements procedure management software can reduce its audit findings AND stop the wasteful, time consuming “paper hunt”. Bizmanualz OnPolicyTM automates your policy and procedure management and assures you of a better, more compliant document control process for one low subscription.
For more information, look for our Bizmanualz OnPolicy software page now.
NOTES
1Never say “never”, because the history of business is rife with examples of companies that designed and implemented “world-class” systems but failed to maintain them.
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