SUPERCHARGING YOUR DOCUMENTATION

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STORING & MAINTAINING INFORMATION By Adrienne Bellehumeur

www.leadersinbusinessanalysis.com

This booklet covers Step 6 Storing & Maintaining Information of the five-step documentation process (Step 1 –

Capturing Information, Step 2 – Structuring Information, Step 3 – Presenting Information, Step 4 –Communicating

Information, Step 5 – Storing and Maintaining Information). This booklet provides some basic tips, techniques,

approaches and exercises for understanding and practicing how to store and maintain documentation effectively.

WORKBOOK SERIES

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CHALLENGE

Storing & Maintaining Your Documentation is Crucial

It is not enough to have a great documentation strategy or even to have great documents. Your organization must also store and maintain its documentation diligently and proactively.

Documentation is a process and not an end

product; make it accessible and keep it up to

date so that it can continue to be effective.

There are many challenges in today’s business

landscape affecting the way that organizations

view documentation storage and maintenance:

(1) Revolving Door of Employees

and Consultants – We live in a

culture of consultants and employees

going in and out the door. This

represents a dramatic shift in our

workforce where employees used to

stay in the same jobs for life.

Employees cannot walk down the hall

and ask Bob how the system works because Bob is probably not there anymore. In

today’s work environment, we cannot rely on verbal communication to capture our

intellectual property. Organizations need to capture their intellectual property through

solid documentation practices and store this intellectual property in systems that are

catalogued and easily searchable.

(2) Regulatory Compliance – Our world has increasing demands for compliance with

various regulatory bodies; this adds new requirements to documentation. SOX

(Sarbanes-Oxley) compliance projects starting in the early 2000’s had the most notable

impact on documentation, affecting Finance and IT departments. SOX, however, only

marked the beginning of the wave of compliance related initiatives coming from

different directions including safety, security, process efficiency and environment.

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(3) Organizations must ensure that their documentation is up to the

standards of various regulatory bodies, safeguard this information with access

and security controls, and build documentation systems that will pass the test of

audits. New regulations have also led to new rules for storing and retaining

information.

(4) Competing Strategies, Buzz Words and Technologies – There are so many

different competing initiatives within organizations today that the focus of

documentation efforts can get lost in the shuffle. How do you wade through all this

noise? Focus on solid documentation practices that support multiple initiatives and

stop chasing the latest trend or buzz word. Documentation serves many purposes

across the organization, satisfying multiple projects. Your storage and maintenance

practices must reflect these many purposes and uses. Organizations cannot afford to

keep documentation under lock and key; they need to share information to make it

retrievable and usable.

Can you think of more reasons why storing and

maintaining your organization’s documentation is

crucial?

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SOLUTION:

Create Better Documentation and You Won’t Lose It

If an organization shifts its focus towards creating effective documentation, rather than just maintaining it, it will find help that documents will become easier to store and maintain, and won’t get lost.

Many professionals consider documentation storage

or systems to be the most important component of

documentation; most books, articles and projects

within organizations today focus largely on storage

and systems. The technical side of documentation

systems, storage, security and retrieving documents

is beyond the scope of this booklet. There are many

sources to consult when looking for technical storage

solutions specific to an industry or area.

Documentation storage and maintenance is

important, but it only represents one step of the

five-step documentation process. (Five steps: (1)

Capturing (2) Structuring (3) Presenting (4)

Communicating (5) Storing & Maintaining

information.) Often, organizations spend

too little time creating the document and

too much time figuring out how to store

and maintain sub-standard documentation.

You need to create effective

documentation first, and then devote

resources towards safeguarding only

documentation that is high quality and

valuable.

EFFECTIVE MEETINGS

Meetings must have purpose:

to achieve specific objectives

tied to the objectives of your

organization. Effective

documentation practices

break the cycle of useless

meetings.

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Creating effective documentation can ensure that:

(1) Employees are using your

documentation regularly.

(2) Departments or teams are regularly

sharing the documentation and using it

to help clarify points.

(3) People keep the documentation handy

as a reference.

(4) The documentation is important to job

functions and job improvement.

(5) Management regards the

documentation as valuable and

naturally devotes more energy to

safeguarding it.

Documentation Storage Roles & Responsibilities

Once you have thought through how to structure your information, step back and look at the key people responsible for your organization’s or department’s documentation.

WHO TO HIRE

“You need people who

wake up in the morning

thinking “How can I

improve our

organization’s

documentation today?”

The title of your employees and consultants does not really

matter as long as the person is well-trained and is clearly

accountable and responsible for safeguarding, updating

and maintaining your organization’s documentation.

Here is a look at some of the basic roles:

(1) Content/Records Chief Information Officer

(CIO) – CIO’s are often ultimately accountable for

ensuring that their IT processes and systems are

documented, and ensuring their organization

complies with regulatory based requirements

including SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley), Payment Card

Industry (PCI), North American Electric Reliability

Corporation (NERC) or International Organization

for Standardization (ISO) related documentation.

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DOCUMENT ACCESSIBILITY

Even if you have put a lot

of energy into the quality

of your documentation

and into implementing a

good system to store it,

you will thoroughly annoy

your users if they can’t

find it due to poor

organizing, naming and

versioning!

(2) Manager – Content or Records Managers are

typically responsible for internal content produced

by the organization. This role overarches the

organization to look at different departments,

projects and initiatives to ensure that the

organization’s documentation is in order.

(3) Knowledge Manager – Knowledge Managers

are typically responsible for encouraging more

sharing of information across the organization. This

sharing may be through written records and/ or

verbal communications. Documentation may or

may not be included in the responsibilities of the

Knowledge Manager.

(4) Intellectual Property (IP) Manager – IP

Managers are responsible for managing the

organization’s intellectual property (IP) largely in

the form of patents. IP Managers are savvy about

IP issues (mostly legal and competitive ones) facing

the organization.

(5) Librarians – Librarians are traditionally

responsible for managing information from

external sources. Librarians perform research

projects on behalf of management, often for

competitive intelligence purposes. Their role is

changing today as organizations opt for self-

directed research.

(6) Document Controller – Document Controllers

are responsible for maintaining documentation

systems with a focus on organizing documentation,

version control and naming conventions.

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YOUR DOCUMENTATION LIBRARY

Organization, Naming Conventions & Versioning

To ensure that your stakeholders are able to

retrieve your documentation effectively, it is

essential that your documentation library use

well-designed:

(1) Organizational Structure

(2) Naming Conventions

(3) Versioning

These must be based on the purpose of your

project, the needs and habits of your

employees and, most of all, common sense.

Organizing – This deals with how to sort

your documents and which documents

belong to which library or folder.

Organization is often based on the strategy of

your organization and the needs of your

business. Examples may include:

Sales library

SOX compliance library

Project libraries versus libraries for

operations

Versioning – If there are multiple versions

of the document, then you must number

them or else date them for clarity. Some

examples are:

XYZ Financial Applications and Interfaces Overview for IT & Finance September 2012

DEF Project – Project Charter version2

DEF Project – Test cases and Test Scripts to Support Proof of Concept Testing version 4

Naming Conventions – How you name

your documents should be consistent from

document to document and library to library.

For example:

ABC Project – Requirements Management Document

ABC Project – Project Charter

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EXERCISE:

Organizing your Closet

This exercise will give you some insight into storage

practices, showing you that documentation storage is

really about common sense, not sophisticated practices.

STEPS:

This is a simple exercise that is useful in helping you to conceptualize how to create a logical

system for managing and organizing your documentation.

(1) Take a look at the clothes in your closet and decide the best way to categorize your

clothes based on the various activities in your life, which may include:

Going to work

Going out with friends

Going on dates

Lounging around the house

Sleeping

Working out/playing sports

(2) While organizing your clothes according to these categories, begin to ask more

questions:

How many items have you not worn in more than a year? Two years?

What is the likelihood of wearing some of these clothes again?

Which items fit into more than one activity of your life?

Which items fit into no activities of your life?

How many items would you like to get rid of?

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Once you have completed this exercise, analyze the results either on your own or with a partner.

Do you normally organize your closet according to your life activities?

How would you change the organization of your closet after this exercise?

Are there clothes that you will begin to wear more?

Are there clothes that you will give away?

Did you identify new combinations of outfits?

NOTES:

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QUICK TIPS:

Maintaining Your Documentation Library

Use these quick tips for effective results:

(1) Don’t Store Useless Documentation – If you aren’t going to use the information in

the future, and if it isn’t required for legal or compliance purposes, get rid of it. It is

worse to believe “we have those interfaces documented” when, in reality, the

documentation is so weak that the information is useless. You don’t need to store old

versions of your reports or documentation artifacts. Storing outdated versions will cause

more harm than good. Caution! Many organizations have strict documentation

retention requirements and you may have to ask permission to throw out documents.

(2) Share Information Across Your Organization – Documentation cannot be kept

under lock and key. Organizations often work in silos, refusing to share information

effectively across teams and departments. Keeping in mind confidentiality and privacy

issues, your organization must ensure that all relevant users can access your

documentation without keeping it isolated to one part of your organization.

(3) Use a Logical Folder Structure, But Don’t Make it Too Fancy – Having too

many folders is hard to manage and will make it difficult for your organization to find

and retrieve documents. A good folder structure has nothing to do with the technology

used, but everything to do with the use of your documentation to support your

corporate objectives.

(4) Ensure That Your Library is Searchable – Your employees must be able to easily

search the library in order for it to be effective. Searchability is often a function of your

technology and also how you label your documentation.

(5) Note About SharePoint– If you are using Microsoft SharePoint, beware of using a

rigid folder structure which will limit your users’ ability to search for items. SharePoint is

not able to “see” items that are kept inside folders, so use folders with caution.

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Make Your Staff Accountable!

One of the most effective ways to ensure that

your organization is producing effective

documentation and retaining critical

intellectual property is to make your

employees, consultants and contractors (or

other third parties) accountable for producing

high quality documents.

Organizations have the tendency to act like

politicians in believing that “throwing money

at” a problem will solve it. Throwing money at

a project, but demanding no documentation

a project, but demanding no documentation

out of your staff, is destined for failure and

repeated work. This is why many organizations

repeat similar projects year after year –

because the previous project teams did not

leave behind adequate documentation.

The key is that you need to make all staff

accountable for effective documentation – no

matter their position and even if they come

from a fancy firm.

So, How Do You Keep Your Staff Accountable?

(1) Be Upfront About Your Documentation Standards - You have to be completely

explicit that your organization expects high quality documentation. If you are working

with an outsourced firm, then demand that all resources have the skills and experience

to create documentation to your organization’s standards. Ask for samples of

documentation before hiring them.

(2) You Need to Implement a Feedback Loop - Documentation cannot be kept

under lock and key. Organizations often work in silos, refusing to share information

effectively across teams and departments. Keeping in mind confidentiality and privacy

issues, your organization must ensure that all relevant users can access your

documentation without keeping it isolated in one part of your organization.

(3) Review Documentation Regularly - Sit down with your staff regularly to review

their documentation. This will avoid the risk of finding out (too late) after the employee

or contractor has left that their documentation is missing or insufficient. Ensure that

documentation is complete, understandable, and well organized.

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Audit Your Documentation Regularly

Documentation does not stay up to

date on its own. If you want to

maintain your documentation in

strong working order, your

organization needs to be continually

reviewing both its practices and the

documentation itself.

It is critical to periodically perform an

“audit” of your documentation and

practices to ensure that they’re aligned with

the needs of your organization. This audit is

similar to the traditional approach of

auditing financial data; it demands outside

objectivity from your team or department

to provide honest, independent feedback.

A documentation audit is scalable to either look within one team or department or to look

across departments, teams and projects to understand your organization’s strengths and where

it is vulnerable.

Questions To Ask?

Does your organization have documentation standards?

Do departments share information?

Do you review your documentation regularly?

Do you review documentation prepared by contractors before they leave to determine if it is

sufficient and complete?

Is your documentation understandable?

Is your documentation stored in a central place and is it well organized?

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QUICK TIPS:

Performing a Documentation Audit

Use these quick tips for effective results:

(1) Identify the Purpose of Documentation - Your first step in performing a

Documentation Audit is to identify the objectives of your department’s or

organization’s documentation. The objectives may include:

Training

Compliance or Regulations

Capturing Intellectual Capital

Momentum on Projects

Improved Visibility

Accountability

Monitoring Project Performance

Project Clarity

Effective Decision-Making

Service Delivery

Reducing the Risk of Employee Turnover

Process Efficiencies

Risk Management

Transparency

Accountability

(2) Seek Objectivity From an Outside Source - For an audit to be effective, you need

someone who can deliver an honest assessment. To do so, it is important to engage a

resource that is outside and independent of your department or organization. They

must have an understanding of effective documentation practices and the skills to

identify its weaknesses and strengths and provide recommendations for improvement.

(3) Review Documentation Process - The third step of the Documentation Audit is to

review your department’s documentation processes at a high level through

interviewing key stakeholders.

(4) Align Documentation Objectives with Processes - The next step involves

creating a preliminary report that assesses the alignment of your documentation

objectives with your actual processes across projects.

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(5) Review Documentation Details- Performing a detailed review of your

documentation involves pulling samples of documentation and conducting interviews

with various stakeholders, including project team members, users, contractors and

employees.

(6) Recommendations & Next Steps for Improvement - The last step of the

documentation audit is its conclusion in which you identify and report on the strengths

and weaknesses of your organization’s documentation and make recommendations

and plans for future improvements.

NOTES:

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EXERCISE:

Documentation Audit at Home

When you have time, try organizing your personal documents using the documentation best practices that you have learned. Then, notice the results!

This exercise is best done in your home office or other room where you store documents (taxes,

home buying information, future planning and goals, children’s schooling).

(1) Take 20 minutes to think about the documentation that you have at home.

(2) Ask yourself the following questions:

How do I “define” documentation in my home life?

How do I categorize my personal documentation?

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What documentation is the most critical?

How can I rank my most critical data?

Which visuals were effective?

How does the documentation support the objectives of my life?

Do I keep documentation that I don’t need?

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Which documentation could I manage better?