Importance of a Document Controller

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What is a Document Controller? Why are Document Controllers important in an organisation or a project?

Hello my name is Sonya Hargreaves and I am one of the Document Controllers at Core Project Advisory.

Document Controllers maintain an organisation’s documents and information, similar to a records manager or administrator; however there are key differences.

Skilled Document Controllers are often utilised in major projects or in organisations with large and often dispersed asset bases.
These are places where the version control and timeliness of information exchange, namely via documentation, is critical.

For example, if dispersed project teams are working on different versions of information this could easily lead to errors, disputes, or poor outcomes.

Document Controllers are ‘super users’ of the electronic document management domain. They control the numbering, revision, storing and retrieval of both electronic and hard copy documents produced.

A key distinction of their role is that Document Controllers actively manage the document life cycle between organisations and teams. They ensure that only the latest documents and information are available and accessible by the relevant people across multiple teams or organisations.

Some key components of the document control function are:
Document identification and retrieval
Version and revision control
Information exchange and document transmittal

‘Transmittals’ are a common document control practice used to record details about who was sent what, and when, and are essential with the transfer of large volumes of information.

Document controllers are detail oriented and possess a technical understanding of the environment in which they work. They provide value added support to document review processes, quality and compliance checks, timely administration of ‘information requests’, analytical reporting, system training, and other support as required.

So, where organisation’s value high volume, timely, version controlled information exchange … it’s vital they have effective document control capability to run their document and information management systems efficiently.

To hear more about this or to discuss your Document Control requirements, please follow up with the team at Core Project Advisory, thanks for watching.

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