A Business Plan or Growth Plan, lets call this a document, as it has mainly words, and has probably been created using a word processor; and the start of a Profit, Loss and Cashflow forecast, lets call this data, as it is mainly numbers and has probably been created using a spreadsheet of some form (however it is still stored in a file, so we can actually call this a document as well).
How are these two key documents stored? Are they on your server, laptop, desktop, iPAD? Are they secure? Who can access them? Who do you want to make these available to? Do they conform to any company standard, or Brand? Are they backed up? Are they under Version Control? Do they get approved? What is the impact on your business if the master copies were corrupted or deleted? What would happen if your hard drive stopped working?
As businesses start to grow, each functional part of the business will start to create its own data and documents. It is important that they all conform to a company standard, with the same look and feel, in particular for all customer facing documents. It is also important that a consistent approach is followed for Document Control and Issue.
Some examples for Documents and Data are detailed below:
Finance – Business Plans, Finance Reports, Management Accounts, Budgets…
Operations – Product Specifications, Production Plans, Schedules, Work Instructions…
R&D – Plans, Specifications, Designs, Protocols, Projects…
Sales – Contracts, Proposals, Tenders, Agreements, Pricing, Sales Forecasts, partner agreements, Franchise Documents…
Marketing – Product/Service Literature, Datasheets, Newsletters, References, Press Releases…
The list goes on…..
Also as your business grows it is important to move away from being dependent on key individuals and move to a more system and process driven business.
To do this, all the systems and processes, including all the above documents and data, typically are documented in a Company Manual, and a set of operating procedures. In ISO terminology (International Standards Organisation), this is referred to as a Quality Manual. Once the Manual and Procedures are written then you need to train employees and check (internal audits) for Conformance and Compliance to the procedures. Training records must be stored. Corrective Actions will then be put in place.
The number of documents and amount of data can grow exponentially and from experience the sooner that growing businesses get this under control the better. It is not easy to manage all the above efficiently for a company with 5 employees. You can imagine the massive increase in complexity and cost of trying to put in a new system with 10 staff and a few hundred documents, image the scenario with 50 staff and a few thousand documents.
On a final note regarding Disaster Recovery, if you to take the most critical, or all of you day to day documents, from your business and store them in ComplianceControl Centre, you are 75% on your way to having a Disaster Recovery Procedure !
As your business grows, I believe your business risk can be reduced, and you can establish better control of your critical documents, data and business processes, by using an Integrated Electronic Document and Quality Management System, like ComplianceControl Centre.
My advice is to start this as soon as possible before it all gets out of control !
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David Forrest is the CEO of Compliance Control Ltd. the provider of an Integrated Electronic Document and Quality Management System. This is provided as a Software as a Service product designed specifically for Small to Medium businesses. The software can be up and running within hours with no hardware or infrastructure purchase required. Contact: david.forrest@compliance-control.com
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