Writing and Implementing Good Procedures

The successful deployment and acceptance of new technology will be facilitated by the design and implementation of clear and accurate procedures. As well as operating (and trouble-shooting instructions), the procedures should provide staff with the business context: what to do, why, and how to do it. Also think about Tutorials to familiarise new users.

In defining the procedures, you will need to closely review, explore and understand the new workflows related to document management. This should include a full assessment of options, precautions and exceptions.

For example, once the incoming post is opened, is there the need for administrative staff to visually see the originals of certain documents to check for authenticity of letter-heads or signatures? This could be important to combat potential fraud. In this case would the documents be scanned pre- or post-process? Who would therefore undertake the scanning and where would a scanner be located?

Who will enter the indexing detail? In scenarios where data input staff are undertaking volume indexing work, is it necessary to check the index accuracy? How would this be done?

Will documents be assigned with individual security levels? How will these be allocated; how much is this automated by the software and what are the rules for exceptions?

When scanning a document, what image quality control checks should be in place? These could include legibility, completeness, dimensional accuracy and the degree of speckle. Who would rescan an image if needs be? What could they do to enhance the quality of the image? If they need to photocopy the original to get a better image, how should this action be recorded?

If a piece of incoming correspondence is from a new contact, as well as scanning and indexing the document, who will check if a contact record exists and if not record the contact details in which system? Would this take place in the post-room or the administration department?

What will the rules be for routing newly scanned images for action? Will document routing rules be based on named individuals, teams or job roles? How will priority be assigned to different document types?

Should a status (e.g. pending, in progress, requiring approval, approved, completed etc.) be attributed to certain types of document?

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