Document Process Management: Everything You Need to Know

In today’s fast-paced digital age, the management of documents and records has become an increasingly complex task for organizations. Document process management is a system that aims to help companies solve these problems by digitizing and automating the process.

Document process management is no longer optional as it once was. Managing documents through hard copies is outdated and slow, and puts companies at risk of not being compliant. Using software to manage process documentation is the only way for businesses to stay competitive.

But it’s one thing for me to just tell you all of this. It’s another thing entirely to explain it. So let me walk you through what document process management does, its benefits, how to get started, and some use cases.

What is document process management?

Document process management refers to the systematic control and organization of documents within an organization. It encompasses the entire lifecycle of a document, from its creation to its storage, retrieval, and eventual disposal.

Businesses generate and manipulate a vast amount of electronic and paper documents on a daily basis and managing these documents effectively is essential for maintaining accurate records, complying with regulatory requirements, and streamlining business processes.

Electronic documents have become the norm in many organizations. With the rise of document management systems and software, businesses can now store, access, and share digital files with ease. These systems offer a wide range of features, including access control, version control, and document workflows. They allow users to collaborate on documents in real-time and provide visual representations of complex processes.

The flow of documents within an organization can be automated using document management workflows. These workflows define the exact steps that documents need to go through, such as review, approval, and distribution. This not only saves time but also streamlines the entire document management process, reducing errors and ensuring that the right people have access to the right documents at the right time.

The documentation process itself is of great value to organizations. The goal of process documentation is to capture and transfer process knowledge, ensuring that key steps, best practices, and important details are recorded and shared with the entire team. This not only improves efficiency but also enables organizations to standardize processes, train new employees, and easily identify areas for improvement.

Benefits of document process management

Document process management offers a wide range of benefits for organizations. From increased efficiency to improved compliance, here are some key advantages of implementing a document management system:

Efficient and organized workflow

Document process management streamlines the flow of documents within an organization. By defining and automating document workflows, businesses can ensure that documents move through the necessary steps, such as review, approval, and distribution, in a systematic and efficient manner. This not only saves time but also reduces errors and eliminates bottlenecks, allowing employees to focus on more strategic tasks.

Enhanced collaboration and teamwork

With document process management, teams can collaborate on documents in real-time. This enables multiple users to work on the same document simultaneously, making it easier to gather input, make revisions, and reach consensus. Additionally, document collaboration tools allow for seamless communication and feedback exchange, fostering a culture of teamwork and improving productivity.

Improved compliance and risk management

Compliance with legal and regulatory requirements is crucial for businesses. Document process management ensures that documents, especially legal ones, are securely stored, easily accessible, and properly preserved. This not only reduces legal risks but also facilitates audits and investigations by enabling the quick retrieval of critical information.

Moreover, document management systems provide advanced features such as access controls and encryption, further enhancing data security and compliance.

Standardized processes and knowledge transfer

Document process management promotes consistent and standardized processes across the organization. By capturing and documenting process knowledge, organizations can ensure that key steps, best practices, and important details are recorded and easily accessible to all team members. This improves efficiency, minimizes errors, and enables organizations to onboard new employees more effectively.

Process documentation allows organizations to continuously improve their processes by identifying areas for optimization and implementing automation rules.

Centralized knowledge base and quick access to information

With a document management system, organizations can create a centralized knowledge base where documents are securely stored, shared, and accessed by authorized personnel. This eliminates the need for multiple file servers or shared drives and reduces duplication of documents.

Employees can easily search for and retrieve the documents they need, saving time and improving productivity. Furthermore, an activity log keeps track of document activities, providing insights into who accessed or modified a document, enhancing accountability and transparency.

Challenges of document process management

One of the main challenges in document process management is the sheer volume of electronic and paper documents that organizations need to handle.

As technology advances, the amount of data generated and stored only continues to grow. Managing this ever-increasing volume requires efficient document management systems that can handle large quantities of documents and provide easy access to specific files when needed.

Document process management also involves ensuring effective collaboration and communication among team members. Often, multiple individuals need to work together on a document, making it necessary to have robust document collaboration tools in place. This includes real-time editing, commenting, and version tracking to ensure everyone is working on the most up-to-date version and can easily communicate with one another.

Adopting a comprehensive document management system can require significant changes to an organization’s current processes and workflows. This change management process can be a challenge, as it requires the entire team, from entry-level employees to management teams, to adapt to new ways of creating, storing, and accessing documents. Proper training and clear communication are essential to successfully implementing document management processes.

Compliance and security are also major challenges in document process management. Certain documents, such as confidential and sensitive information, need to be securely stored and accessed only by authorized personnel.

Compliance with data protection regulations, such as GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS, adds another layer of complexity, as organizations need to ensure they are following industry standards and safeguarding customer data.

Lastly, integrating document process management into existing systems and workflows can be a challenge. Many organizations already have established tools and platforms that they use for various tasks, such as email, file sharing, or project management. Ensuring seamless integration between these systems and the document management platform is crucial for smooth and efficient operations.

Despite these challenges, the benefits of implementing document process management are undeniable. By streamlining document workflows, organizations can reduce manual errors, improve productivity, enhance collaboration, and increase customer satisfaction.

Moreover, having a comprehensive document management system in place allows for quick access to information, eliminates time wasted searching for documents, and provides a centralized repository for knowledge sharing within the organization.

Types of documents

In any organization, a wide range of documents is generated and managed on a daily basis. These documents play a crucial role in the smooth running of business operations and the effective communication of information. Let’s take a closer look at some of the common types of documents found in most businesses:

Legal documents

Legal documents include contracts, agreements, licenses, permits, and any other documents that establish legal obligations between parties. These documents need to be carefully drafted, reviewed, and stored to ensure compliance with legal requirements and to protect the interests of the organization.

Financial documents

Financial documents encompass invoices, receipts, financial statements, tax records, and any other documents related to financial transactions and accounting. Proper management of financial documents is essential for accurate record-keeping, tax compliance, and financial decision-making.

Human resources documents

HR documents cover employment contracts, job descriptions, performance evaluations, employee handbooks, and other documents related to personnel management. These documents help ensure clarity and consistency in employment policies, procedures, and practices.

Operations documents

Operations documents include standard operating procedures (SOPs), work instructions, manufacturing specifications, maintenance logs, and other documents that outline the steps and processes involved in carrying out specific tasks or operations. These documents help maintain consistency, efficiency, and quality control in operations.

Marketing and sales documents

Marketing and sales documents encompass product brochures, sales presentations, advertising materials, customer profiles, and market research reports. These documents are essential for promoting products or services, maintaining customer relationships, and tracking marketing and sales activities.

Internal communications documents

Internal communications documents include memos, meeting minutes, email correspondence, and newsletters that facilitate communication and information sharing within the organization. These documents help disseminate important announcements, decisions, and updates among team members.

Compliance documents

Compliance documents involve policies, procedures, and documentation required to meet regulatory standards and industry regulations. These documents are crucial for ensuring legal compliance, mitigating risks, and maintaining the organization’s reputation.

Project documents

Project documents include project plans, schedules, status reports, risk assessments, and project deliverables. These documents help in effective project management, coordination, and monitoring to ensure timely completion and successful outcomes.

Records and archives

Records and archives documents encompass historical records, organizational archives, and any other documents that need to be preserved for future reference or legal purposes. These documents help maintain institutional memory, support research, and provide evidence of past activities and decisions.

Correspondences

Correspondences include letters, emails, faxes, and any other written communication exchanged between the organization and external stakeholders such as clients, suppliers, regulatory authorities, and government agencies. These documents facilitate effective communication, documentation of agreements, and resolution of issues.

Getting started with document process management

If you’re just starting out with document process management and don’t know where to begin, just follow these steps. I promise it’s not as complicated as it may seem on the surface!

Plan out the process

When using a document process management tool, you need to plan out when and where you will need certain documents. 

Let’s say you’re putting together a process for employee onboarding.

• What documents do you need? 
• Where do the documents come into play? 
• What are your key objectives? 
• Which documents have the highest priority? 
• What is the timeline for the process as a whole?

You have to answer those questions to make sure that your process is as optimized as possible.

When you have these answers, you can create the steps necessary to complete the process.

Create steps

It is helpful to draw out a flowchart of the process you’re planning before you begin to input form fields into a workflow.

It can look something like this:

It’s all completely customizable and up to you. 

Not all the steps in the employee onboarding process will involve documentation, of course. Just make sure you’re not neglecting the steps that do. 

Test the process

Before you can put your process into use, you need to test it first.

It’s imperative that you ensure everything works the way it was intended. All automations are functioning correctly, all documentation is sent, received, and stored securely, and all the steps are there and in the correct order.

After your process passes a few rounds of testing, it’s ready to implement! That’s the best part because you get to experience how much easier it makes your life. 

Document process management use cases

Document process management can be applied in a wide range of industries and use cases. Here are some examples:

Healthcare

Document process management can be used to manage electronic medical records, insurance claims, and patient consent forms. It can ensure that these documents are securely stored, easily accessible, and are compliant with HIPAA regulations.

Legal

It can help manage contracts, litigation documents, and legal correspondence. It guarantees that these documents are stored securely, version-controlled, and easily retrievable. 

Document process management can also automate processes such as document reviews and approvals, which can help reduce the time and cost associated with legal document management.

Finance 

It’s great for managing financial statements, loan applications, and tax documents. It does the work for you to make sure that these documents are stored securely and compliant with financial regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and Dodd-Frank.

Government 

Document process management tools are capable of handling government contracts, permits, and regulatory filings. It keeps governmental organizations compliant with the Federal Records Act and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Education 

It’s extremely useful for managing student records, academic transcripts, and financial aid applications.

By keeping everything in one place and easily accessible, it ensures that no students fall through the cracks and everyone gets the support they need to further their education.

Manufacturing 

Document process management does a great job taking care of product specifications, quality control documents, and supplier contracts. It makes sure that these documents are accessible to authorized personnel and compliant with industry regulations such as ISO 9001.

Document process management best practices

Document control is a critical aspect of managing business processes and ensuring the accuracy and integrity of organizational information. Implementing document control best practices can help streamline workflows, improve efficiency, and mitigate risks. Here are some key best practices to consider:

Centralized document repository

Establishing a centralized document repository is crucial for effective document control. This repository should be easily accessible to authorized personnel, ensuring that everyone is working with the most up-to-date versions of documents. Whether in physical or digital form, documents should be organized in a logical and consistent manner for quick retrieval.

Version control

Implementing a robust version control system is essential to ensure that changes made to documents are properly documented and tracked. This allows users to easily identify and access previous versions if needed, ensuring that the most current and accurate information is always being utilized.

Access control

Implementing access control measures ensures that only authorized individuals can view, edit, and distribute documents. By assigning access permissions based on roles and responsibilities, organizations can protect sensitive information and prevent unauthorized changes or leaks.

Document workflows

Document workflows define the sequence of steps and individuals involved in the creation, review, approval, and distribution of documents. Establishing clear and streamlined workflows ensures that documents follow a standardized process, reducing errors, delays, and confusion.

Document review and approval

Implementing a structured review and approval process helps to ensure that documents are accurate, compliant, and aligned with organizational standards. This involves assigning responsible individuals or teams to review documents, provide feedback, and approve them before they are finalized.

Document retention and destruction

Organizations should establish a proper document retention policy that outlines the duration for which documents need to be kept and the process for their secure destruction. Complying with legal, regulatory, and industry requirements for document retention and disposal is critical to mitigating legal and reputational risks.

Training and awareness

Investing in training programs and initiatives to educate employees on document control best practices is crucial. Employees should be aware of the importance of document control, understand their roles and responsibilities, and be trained on how to use document management systems effectively.

Regular audits and reviews

Regularly auditing document control processes, reviewing document workflows, and identifying areas for improvement is essential for continuous enhancement. Internal audits help identify gaps, redundancies, and inefficiencies, allowing organizations to refine their document control practices and stay compliant with evolving regulations.

Document workflows and real-time visual representations

Document workflows are an integral part of document process management, as they define the sequence of steps and individuals involved in the creation, review, approval, and distribution of documents. In today’s fast-paced business environment, having real-time visual representations of document workflows can greatly enhance efficiency and productivity.

Real-time visual representations provide a clear and intuitive visual overview of the entire document workflow process. This allows teams to easily understand and follow the flow of documents, ensuring that everyone is aware of their roles and responsibilities at each step. By visualizing the workflow, teams can easily identify bottlenecks, delays, or inefficiencies, and take corrective actions to streamline the process.

One of the key benefits of real-time visual representations is that they enable teams to collaborate and make decisions more effectively. With a visual overview, team members can see the status of each document, who is responsible for each task, and how it connects to the overall workflow. This transparency fosters better communication and collaboration, reducing the chances of miscommunication or duplication of efforts.

Real-time visual representations also allow for better monitoring and tracking of document progress. Managers and supervisors can easily track the status of documents, identify any delays or roadblocks, and take proactive measures to ensure timely completion. This real-time visibility into the workflow empowers teams to meet deadlines and deliver results more efficiently.

Furthermore, real-time visual representations provide valuable insights into document process management. By analyzing the visual representation, organizations can identify patterns or trends in their document workflows and make informed decisions for process improvement. They can identify areas where automation or optimization can be implemented, reducing manual effort and increasing overall productivity.

Before you go 

If you want to see what a document process management tool can offer and have your questions answered in real-time, book a demo with Process Street! Our sales representatives can walk you through the whole process of building a workflow and how the platform can work for entire companies.