Document Control: Five Important Requirements
When it comes to construction, there are several types of documents and plenty of them: fabrication drawings, design plans, quality specifications, inspection and test plans, change orders, and requests for information, just to name a few. Effective Document Control practices that organize project information are about quality and consistency, ensuring that customer requirements are taken care of and that critical steps are not missed.
We sat down with SEFA’s in-house experts to hear their thoughts on the aspects of good Document Control. For those of you who also work with construction, installation, and fabrication projects, we hope you can use these insights to improve peace of mind on your next project.
Establish a Quality Management System
Behind every good Document Control process is a formal Quality Management System (QMS). The QMS provides a framework for making sure products and services meet customer requirements, including how documentation is to be maintained as evidence that those requirements were met. Roles and responsibilities, contract reviews, design reviews, project processes, purchasing, inspections and testing, and quality are covered as part of a QMS.
Designate One Owner for Every Procedure
Document Control administration requires someone to serve as both leader and coach. In addition to making sure Document Control is present and properly applied, the document owner periodically reviews procedures to make sure they are still pertinent and identifies improvements that will positively affect quality, response time, collaboration, and cost. The owner also encourages Document Control best practices and keeps the entire team focused on using Document Control as a method to help take care of the customer.
Keep Documents in a Central, Electronic Location
Rather than organizing project documents in different ways and storing them in different places, documents are kept in a central, electronic location that is accessible to the project team, including pre-construction, safety, quality, purchasing, accounting, and so on. Document files are consistently organized and named from one project to the next so that everyone always knows where to find a document, no matter what project they are working on. Electronic filing makes it easier and faster, too, to share revisions and updates with the team.
Build Upon the Benefits
When everyone is on board with Document Control, project teams take pride in knowing that the quality and workmanship is there. New team members are trained to make sure they understand each Document Control procedure, the reason it exists, and the value it generates.
Capture and Document Lessons Learned
At the end of each project, a “Lessons Learned” meeting captures processes that went well and processes that could be improved. Action items are documented in a task list with an owner and a due date. These may include updating a Document Control procedure. Finally, meeting notes are filed in a central, electronic location for the benefit of the next project having a similar scope, ensuring today’s lessons become tomorrow’s improvements.