3 DOCUMENT CONTROL PRACTICES FOR COMPLEX PROJECTS
KEEP WORK MOVING WITH EFFECTIVE SEARCH
Complex projects inevitably result in a virtually unmanageable volume of documentation, compounded by scores of team members and stakeholders generating comments, questions, approvals, and all manner of data. Without the right tools in place to manage the complexity and volume of documents and related workflows, teams bog down in a time-consuming, error-prone morass of manual processes. At best, teams spend an outsized portion of time and resources consolidate feedback, chasing approvals, and maintaining files structures. At worst, disorganized document control can doom a project to millions of dollars of rework and overruns.
In a critical sense, inadequate tools are to blame. Project teams simply cannot scale and automate their processes without tools that can handle project complexity. Instead, they find themselves trapped into poor practices such as:
In 2020, global contractors lost $1.8 trillion in revenue due to inaccurate, incomplete, or inconsistent data.[3]
Relying on inflexible or limited options for tagging, filing, and retrieving documents;
Using mistake-prone approaches like naming conventions and manual version control to ensure that the latest, approved version of documents are always referenced;
Working around limitations on file size or volume;
Setting inadequately detailed permissions and access rules;
Following (or working around) pre-set approval, review, or request processes that don’t map to the complexity of the business; and
Adapting business processes to the constraints of their software.
Contractors serious about keeping work moving need to shift to practices that support efficiency and scale on document control. While shortfalls in any area above can hobble a project, two key areas of excellence in document control practices stand out.
First, it’s critical to ensure that all team members can access the approved documents they need at the moment they need to. Too much time spent searching is a delay in and of itself. Compound that wasted time with an unapproved or incorrect drawing or document and the potential for serious delays skyrockets. Fixed file structures or limited tagging options are a recipe for mistakes during upload, and likely to lead to difficulty retrieving the right file. Instead, aim to build the comprehensive and flexible document control approach that frees teams to quickly find what they need so they can focus on higher value tasks. Build in processes like:
Construction professionals spend 35% of an average 40-hour work week on tasks that don’t move the project forward, like looking for documents, resolving conflicts, and fixing mistakes.[4]
Creating packages so team members get notifications of changes.
Establishing distribution groups whose members receive new documents automatically when set conditions are met.
Mobile access that leans on smart folders to make sure team members get what they need.
Second, ensure that flexible settings empower project leads and administrators to create the specific paths needed for various approvals, reviews, and other workflows. Keep in mind the need for different workflows to accommodate the various document types. Part of efficiency is ensuring that review processes don't waste the time of people whose feedback isn't needed. When the review and approval structure is built into the document control solution, teams can ensure transparency and integrity throughout the project lifecycle and save time confirming approvals and communications. Such efficiencies are especially critical than in complex projects. It’s also critical to designate which stakeholders will and won’t have document access and permissions.
Rework accounts for between 2% and 20% of total project costs.[5]
WHEN EXCEPTIONAL DOCUMENT CONTROL BECOMES CRITICAL
Document control is critical to the success of any project, but as the scope, scale, and complexity of work continues to grow, the need for reliable document control grows exponentially. Large projects tend to introduce greater complexity, more collaborators, and higher stakes, but with growth comes an even greater need for clean records and regulatory accountability. The financial implications aside, megaprojects impact the lives and livelihoods of thousands of workers and their communities. Document control protects organizations from avoidable mistakes and unnecessary delays while protecting them from litigation and audits. Exceptional document control allows organizations to pursue more ambitious work, knowing they’ll have the means to rise to the challenge.
Still skeptical? Do a little math. Cutting the average review time from 8 days to 5, or from 5 to 3, multiplied across the hundreds of thousands of documents a complex project can produce, and you end up with significant financial value.