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Managing Project Documents

Amila Hendahewa, PMP

28th April 2011

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Content

• Definitions

• Document Life Cycle

• Document classification

• Advantages of project documentation

• Disadvantages of documenting

• Impact of poor document management

• Selecting the optimum set of documents

• Document management as a strategic tool

• Tools & technologies

• Summary

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Some Definitions (AIIM )

Document

“Recorded information or an object which can be treated as a unit"

E.g. Paper, Picture, Email, Sound, Movie, Fax

Document Management

The use of a computer system and software to store, manage and track electronic documents and

electronic images of paper based information captured through the use of a document scanner.

Enterprise Content Management (ECM)

Is the strategies, methods and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and

documents related to organizational processes.

Records Management

The field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt,

maintenance, use and disposition of records, including the processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of

and information about business activities and transactions in the form of records.

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Document Life Cycle

CreateCreate CaptureCapture ProcessProcess ArchiveArchive

ExceptionException

DisposeDispose

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How many documents / document types will be used in a typical project ?

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• Project charter

• Project management plan

• Scope statement

• System requirements

specification

• WBS

• Project schedule

• Activity list

• Resource calendars

• Risk register

• Cost estimates

• Contracts

• Quality management plan

• Progress reports

• Change requests

• UAT

• Issue log

• Procurement documents

• Agreements

• Meeting minutes

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A simple project document classification

Permanent Temporary

External Deliverable

Permanent documentation as a deliverable from the project

Temporary documentation that is an external deliverable from the project but has no value once the project has been completed

For Internal Usage

Permanent documentation to support the maintenance and enhancement of the system

Temporary documentation which is only for internal communication

In terms of the lifespan and usage of project information, there are 4 main scenarios.

"Help" information, User Manuals,

Training Materials, Forms

discussion papers, draft documents, interim progress

reports

"Design Specifications,

Database Definitions, source code, process

diagrams

ideas, issues, control, working

papers

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Not all documents are the same

• external deliverables need to be of high quality,

whereas internal documents may be informal and

incomplete.

• permanent documentation will need to be updated as

circumstances change, but temporary documentation

will usually be left unchanged.

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Advantages of project documents

• As a means of proof (“If it is not in black and white, then it really

was not said”)

• As a point of reference for any clarifications the team may face

• Will minimize the possibility for different interpretations

• Is the primary medium for communicating

• It can minimize rework / errors (e.g. SRS)

• Allows for standardization of projects

• For future reference – lessons learned

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Disadvantages of documenting in projects

• Considered as too administrative / bureaucratic

• Additional time and effort spent – increased project

cost

• Considered by team members as non-value-adding

• Ambiguity – who will create / own which document?

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Impact of poor document management

• More time spent on finding documents

• Confusions and conflicts

• Rework

• Loss of information

• Lack of visibility

• Strategic disadvantage

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The key is to select the optimum set of documents for a project

Small Projects Medium size projects Large Projects

SRS Project charter Project charter

Design Document Inception Report Inception Report

Project Schedule SRS SRS

Issue List Project Schedule Project Schedule

UAT Design Document Design Document

Deployment Plan Deployment Plan

Partial UAT Partial UAT

UAT UAT

Technical specifications

Vendor Contracts

Test Cases

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Document Management as a key differentiator

• Document management is an often less considered discipline

• The manner in which project documents are managed by project

managers can either be the driving force behind a project’s success

or a bottleneck.

• Project managers need to balance their time between administrative

work such as documentation and core activities such as managing

the project team and stakeholders.

• Having an effective document management system will help project

managers to minimize the time spent on documentation.

• Your document management strategy could make your organization

different in delivering projects

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Tools & Technologies that will help project managers on managing project documents

• Document Types & Templates

• Versioning

• Check in – Check Out

• Co-authoring

• In Place Records management

• Document Sets

• Unique document ID

• Document Capture & Archiving

• Manage emails

• Alerts

• Offline Support

• Mobile access

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Document types & templates

• Standardization / Ability to manage (update) from a central place

• Ability to run rules / workflows based on the template

• Ability to enforce relevant metadata

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Versioning

Manual versioning

• Separate file for each

version (Different file

names)

Automated versioning

• Single file (same file

name)

• Track history

• View and compare

• Restore at any time

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Check in – Check Out

• Avoid confusion while editing documents

• Control version numbers and metadata

• Find out who is currently editing a document

• Draft documents

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Co-authoring

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In Place Records Management

• Ability to declare a document as a record in the same location

Instead of moving the document to a specific Records Center

• The file stays where it is so the users can still find it

• Ability to implement rules once declared as a record

• Ability to declare documents as records either manually or

automatically. (e.g. six months after the last time that a document

is modified, the document becomes a record)

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Document Sets

• Ability to group different document types as one entity

• Ability to share same metadata (more consistent)

• Ability to version all documents as a whole

• Ability to download the whole document set together

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Unique / Permanent Document ID

• When content is reorganised, hyperlinks emailed that point to a

document will become invalid.

• Solution - Ability to assign a unique document ID that will not

change when a document is moved.

My Document

MKHYF5V6GAFS-1-1

JohnD JohnD

http://sitecollection1/_layouts/DocIdRedir.aspx?ID=MKHYF5V6GAFS-1-1

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Document Capture & Archiving

• Converting paper documents in to electronic format is

an integral part of any DMS.

• Especially used for contract documents.

• The ability to quickly retrieve a scanned document

(full text search)

• It can save lot of time and cost for the project team.

• Can extend in to Forms processing, workflows etc..

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Managing emails (and attachments !)

• Ability to save e-mail messages

in to the DMS (drag-and-drop or

a 'save on send‘)

• Share document links instead of

attachments

• Link email headers as metadata

to documents metadata.

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Alerts

• Is a very useful tool for everyone

• Email or SMS

• Send alert when– All changes, new item added, deleted, edited

• Frequency - Immediately, daily, weekly

• Contains a hyperlink to the relevant document

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Off-line Support

• Ability to work remotely / offline is a critical

requirement for modern day projects

• Enables team members to collaborate and be

productive even when they’re not connected

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Mobile Access

• Exponential growth of mobile device

usage

• Ability to access / view as well as

create / capture documents from

mobile devices

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Managing project documents in cloud

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Summary

• A document is not only a printed paper

• Importance of documenting - “If it is not in black and white, then it

really was not said”

• Lack of focus on document management as a knowledge area

• Proper document management could be a strategic differentiator

for your organization.

• Not all documents are the same. Selecting the right set of

documents is crucial for project success.

• There are many tools available that can help save lot of time and

effort for project managers – e.g. Co-authoring

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Thank you

Questions?

E : amila@sanje.com

W : www.sanje.com / www.TechOneGlobal.com

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References

• PMBOK

• AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management)

• Managing the project document - By Neil Stolovitsky

• Get your project's documentation right the first time - By

Jason P. Charvat

• The ePMbook - Simon Wallace

• Practical Project and Process Documentation By

Neil S. Potter and Mary E. Sakry