Where does all this information come from

No matter the size or type of your project, information is coming in fast and furious. All aspects of a project require capturing data from documents for later retrieval, aalysis, or distribution to other parties. An organization must have a platform in place to properly capture and manage all this information.

This information can come from all kinds of sources, such as:

And this information can be delivered by many different methods, such as:

There must be a proper flow of this information, whether it is a document that is being received by the project or a document that is being sent from the project. Either direction requires proper procedures to be followed to make sure the proper data is captured and the information ends up in the correct hands for analysis and possible action.

A document flow or distribution matrix must be set up to ensure that all types of information are assigned the correct distribution and actions among the project team. It is not the responsibility of the Document Controller to properly distribute any documents unless they have this matrix available to them. Their role is to facilitate the flow of the documents based on this matrix, not to try and guess who needs to see what document.

Each of the documents above follows a document received workflow with PCM being an integral part of managing this information. Many times responses to these documents must happen within a certain timeframe declared in the contract.

There are so many terms thrown around these days related to the management of documents and proper storage and retrieval. Here are just a few of the terms that have come into use with the advent of the Internet and document storage: document management, correspondence, collaboration, repository, metadata, fields, records, query, the cloud, iDrive, and more. The key to any document management system is the storage, retrieval, and management of the document. At any point in time you should be able to review the history of any document to see who has seen it and on what date(s). You should be able to know when a certain action must be taken on a document before there are consequences to the project. There is a wide variety of types of communication within a project. Imagine if you are running multiple projects with all these types of communication; there is no way you can keep track of all the issues and responses required to keep up with the project.

PCM is not designed as a true document management system with check-in/check-out, proper version control and document history. Therefore if your organization requires such a system, it is best to use another system or repository for proper document management and then link the records back to PCM.