Document Control is an essential process in any organization. A huge number of documents get published every day by organizations to get the knowledge captured, and to have processes documented.

With the large amount of data embedded in documents, the biggest challenge is distribution and awareness. “How do we ensure the right employees get to the right data at the right time and in the right place?” is the unanswered question that gets asked as part of deploying any keen Document Control process.

Unfortunately, the doves that used to distribute letters and documents historically are not in service anymore. We need to find alternative and innovative ways. 

In this article, I will list document distribution methods shedding some light on mysterious space rocks organizations could face.

Distribution by Notification:

The process of automatically sending email notifications upon releasing a document is one of the worst methods I have experienced. 

Employees could be getting notifications on SOPs that interact with their processes without having the chance to provide input before the document is released.

The number of generated notifications could be too much for employees to handle. The reality is that many employees will figure out ways to remove them from their inboxes using email rules; oops!

Distribution by Learning Setup

Setting up learning on documents for the right groups is one of the most effective ways of distribution. You can ensure that the right employees get the proper training that can take place before making a new document (or a revision) effective.

Learning can be either an Instructor-Led Course or Self-Learning, and as part of deploying this distribution method, several challenges could be faced, like:

• What ensures an accurate selection of audience for this learning?
• In the case of deploying self-learning, what ensures employees fully understand the content?
• What ensures employees will remember the document’s existence a few months after making it effective?
• Given the number of misclassifications that usually happens, do employees hate to see Self-Learning Tasks coming up in their Inboxes? 

Hardcopy Distribution

Several organizations print released documents and distribute copies to several employees and locations to make them accessible. The usual motivation for this approach is that several employees on the shop floor do not have online access.

The industry is failing to address this challenge. In this digital age, we have to acknowledge that shop floor employees use technology in every aspect of their lives, and their work environment should not be any different.

Hardcopy distribution comes with countless known challenges, like:

• It is hard to keep the distribution funnel up to date with the latest released revisions of documents. It is also hard to recall and destroy all previously printed versions.
• Health risks in the era of viruses spread.
• Environmental impacts.
• Document loss tracking.
• The list goes on.

Distribution by Classification:

Classifying documents before releasing them is one of the effective distribution methods. Documents can be categorized by Department, Location, Job Positions, and more.

Employees would be able to search and find Documents related to their function.

This kind of distribution requires a usable and fast search to be effective. The biggest challenge is related to misclassification of released documents which makes search inefficient.

Location/Time Sensitive Distribution:

At Cloudtheapp, we believe all employees should be able to digitally access documents in a way that is sensitive to their location and to what they are about to do. We embedded in our platform the technology to do just that.