6 Effective Practices For Business Documentation

Businesses of all sizes store and use thousands of records and documents. As your business grows, the volume of documents also grows exponentially alongside it. Without a proper management strategy in place, stockpiled documents and records may lead to inefficiency, which may ultimately cripple your business. 

Whether you’re tired of spending hours looking for a specific document or afraid of the potential legal consequences of losing critical files, this article can help you elevate your business’ documentation process. 

1. Implement A Document Management System

The first step towards well-organized business documentation is implementing and using the right document management software for your company. This software solution can help in storing, managing, securing, and controlling all kinds of documents and records that your business has. Not only does it provide easy access to business records, but it also allows employees to collaborate, share information, and improve overall productivity. In addition, most document management systems include a whole range of features and integration settings that maximize their use and efficiency. 

2. Take Advantage Of Electronic Signature Solutions

New technological trends have led to enhancements in corporate documentation. A few decades back, companies required physical records, which demanded documents to be printed and signed in person. This is not only time-consuming and tedious but also increases security risks such as tampering and information mismanagement. Thus, to keep up with secure and efficient business documentation, consider using an electronic signature tool. This solution can help speed up document signing with just a few clicks. Plus, it also ensures the authenticity and security of signatures, keeping the documents tamper-free. 

3. Formulate Standard Naming Conventions

Most businesses let their employees create their own naming conventions and folder structures. While this gives employees convenience and freedom of choice, it can lead to confusion when documents are stored in a centralized electronic location. This reduces team collaboration and productivity, which eventually results in low-quality outputs. Creating standardized naming templates and folder structures is helpful in organizing corporate records. 

You can create a template your employees can use as a guide in naming documents correctly. In general, file names should be short and descriptive. You can use elements such as project name or number, date of creation, and version number. Avoid using unnecessary spaces or special characters. Instead, use capital letters and underscores to ensure readability. 

Having a standardized naming convention can ensure uniformity and consistency. When everyone uses the same format, finding the right document becomes a breeze while preventing confusion across teams.

4. Restrict Access

Did you know that a majority of data breaches or leaked documents are caused internally? This means that the most significant threats to your business’s documents will come from your employees, whether they are caused by human error or intended breaches. 

To minimize this security risk to your documents, you need to implement access restrictions. Even if you have well-trained or trustworthy employees, it only takes one small slip-up for serious issues to occur. Additionally, not every employee needs to have access to all kinds of documents and information. 

In this case, you can use password protection to restrict unauthorized users from opening, editing, copying, or printing documents. Most document management systems also have access control features that allow you to create access levels and permissions. Most importantly, when an employee leaves your business, make sure their access is removed from the system to prevent the use of sensitive business documents. 

5. Regularly Update Backups

One of the best practices for business documentation is regularly updating data backups. In the event of document tampering or data breach, backups can reduce operational disruption. A cloud backup service or a password-protected hard drive allows you to achieve this by allowing easy recovery or restoration. If security breaches occur and any of your documents are stolen, corrupted, or deleted, you can easily access spare copies. 

6. Enforce A Document Retention Policy

Every business should have a document retention policy. It defines which and how documents are kept as well as the systematic process for deleting and destroying obsolete documents. In general, you should work with a legal counsel as early as possible to define your documentation process and needs as well as the laws surrounding their upkeep, retention, and destruction. For example, documents like business property records, business income tax returns, and receipts should never be destroyed. Storing them with records management companies like Corodata is a smart option to explore. This should help protect your business against potential litigation in the future. 

Takeaway

These are just some of the most effective practices you can implement for a more streamlined business documentation process. Whether you decide to finally declutter your business documents or want to improve the overall security of your business data, the above-mentioned tips should keep your business documents organized and accessible.