There can be lots of confusion and obscurity in how process documents are managed, and without a clear, singular method, teams are left to devise their own strategies. Reconciling the inconsistency of where and how processes are stored is a very difficult task, but can payoff greatly once complete. This article covers how to plan a successful launch of a new document management system and all the factors to consider.
A little bit of effort in pre-planning the implementation can go a long way in ensuring it will go well. At DocSigma, we encourage companies to think about the following aspects when transitioning to a new document management system
Identify how you want to group the users of your documents:
It’s a great practice to conduct interviews with your users to understand where their documents are stored today. Ask if there are any specific features that they currently utilize or if their documents are connected to websites and other pages. You may receive multiple answers from individuals within the same team, so you may have to have more conversations than expected in order to get the full picture.
Identify where documents are currently stored:
It’s a great practice to conduct interviews with your users to understand where their documents are stored today. Ask if there are any specific features that they currently utilize or if their documents are connected to websites and other pages. You may receive multiple answers from individuals within the same team, so you may have to have more conversations than expected in order to get the full picture.
Research and select your tools:
Once you’ve established your current state, research the various tools available in your organization as well as solutions focused specifically on document management. Since managing documents is often neglected by teams when it’s difficult to do, focus on the usability of the tool and how it will fit into your organization above other factors such as price or implementation time. If a tool is cheap but doesn’t make the lives of your users easier, it won’t be embraced by your users and can lead to a waste of resources.
Here's where the support of any 3rd party tool providers is important. Do they give you ample time to test without signing a multi year contract? You shouldn’t feel rushed or pressured in the testing phase, and the more room you’re given to think and experiment, the better your implementation will be.
Create a plan of which teams or types of documents will be migrated over to the new tool first. As a good practice, run the new and old systems in parallel for an extended period of time to ensure that all needs have been accounted for and can be met.
There are multiple approaches on who to involve with the piloting of the new system. You can begin with your strongest team first, assuming that the culture of documenting processes exists already so all that’s left is the adoption of the tool. Or you could start with the team that has the least amount of structure, as sometimes starting something from scratch is easier than modifying an existing method.
Once you’ve made your decision, establish a good communication plan to drive engagement in the project. Highlight the value of the changes and any new functionality that will be available. You can shift some of the training workload to the provider of your tool and leverage pre-existing product guides and training sessions so not all of the burden lies on your shoulders.
Implement the rollout plan and collect feedback:
Any release of a new tool relies on strong engagement from the users. In order to establish that, keep them heavily involved in the project and ensure that you have mechanisms to capture their feedback. The more opportunity they have to voice their experience and concerns, the better you will be able to assess the fit of the new system within your business.
While capturing feedback is one component, being able to act upon it and change things mid-implementation is important too. Have an organized way of determining whether effort needs to be spent on new requests prior to releasing the new document management system or if it can be done in a later phase. Lastly, close the feedback loop by communicating the decision with the users who requested it so no one is left in the dark.
When implementing a new document management system, planning around these points can significantly reduce the time and effort required to release any new tools or processes. Since most of these items can be taken care of prior to signing a contract, there may be a financial benefit of only paying for tools once you’re ready to use them. Addressing these factors ahead of time will give you an advantage and allow for a smooth and seamless transition to your new document management system.
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