In many businesses, countless hours and resources are devoted to the oversight and management of controlled documents. What exactly are controlled documents? you might be asking. A controlled document normally describes a reference document which over the course of time may be reviewed, edited, and subsequently re-distributed multiple times.

If you have ever worked on a construction jobsite, you're probably familiar with the protocol surrounding document control. With almost any construction or engineering project, there typically is an abundance of controlled documents that require close supervision, management, storage, and distribution. Any time a controlled document is revised, the new version supersedes its previous version.

Additionally, there typically needs to be documented approval of the changes via signature by multiple document managers before a change can be finalized. Lastly, there has to be a process in place that ensures that all outdated versions of the controlled document are destroyed while the new version of the document has to be distributed to, then read and understood by, all necessary parties.

Given the labor-intensive and time-consuming nature of managing controlled documents, document control systems, and more specifically, document control software has experienced a huge growth in popularity over the last decade. A well-designed document control software system can manage the entire document control process with far greater accuracy and efficiency than was previously possible. With the growing number of employees working remotely or in separate locations from each other, the ability to use electronic signatures made possible through the document control software saves huge amounts of time.

For a long time, controlled documents were a major source of anxiety for businesses. As labor-intensive and expensive as document control was, it was an absolute necessity nonetheless. For example, if a factory manual was not properly monitored, it could lead to defective products being built, and eventually cause a product recall which might cost millions or even billions of dollars to a business. However, the advent of document control software has allowed businesses to sleep a little easier knowing that their controlled documents are more precisely managed, and for a much lower cost than had been previously available.

Lastly, document control should not be confused with document management. Normally document management refers to an 'out-of-the-box' document scanning solution that turns cabinets of paper into a secure, version controlled and compliant document management software system.

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Article Submitted By: Chris Patterson
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