This is the third of our series on standards and compliance. In this posting, I’ll review what has been covered so far and the Document Center solutions for standards management you’ll need moving forward.
Good practice for standards management requires work! You’ve identified all the standards in your organization. You’ve put them into two categories: Controlled (used for essential business purposes like product specifications and standards required for regulatory compliance) and Uncontrolled (used for one-time purposes only).
Now you need a way to do the following:
- Provide access to the controlled set of standards to those individuals within the organization who need them for their job functions.
- Monitor your document set for updates and changes
- Notify document users that the new editions are available
- Confirm that users have access to the updated documents.
In smaller companies, these processes are done manually. Here’s what’s usually done and the Document Center tools that make it easier for a small business:
- Procure individual standards in paper or pdf format for the use of the individual who needs access. Sometimes small companies use a workstation or bookshelf as this type of library if more than one person will access the document set. This solution depends on single user copies.
- Use Document Center’s notification or Standards Alert services to monitor your document set. You’ll choose your level of service based on how fast you need notification of changes.
- When you receive a notification of change, purchase the new revision and make it available per your protocol. You may want to set up a Standards Express standing order service to make this even easier.
In larger companies — those with a need for multi-user access (including multiple locations) — Document Center’s Standards Online subscription service can solve your monitoring and updating requirements. This service allows for customized collections of standards to be available for clients across your company. Your controlled collection is monitored and updated by Document Center Inc., a leader in standards sales and support.
What will you gain by using Document Center’s Standards Online service?
- You reduce the risk of non-compliance that comes from using obsolete material.
- There’s easy access to standards across the organization.
- Standards can be viewed and used anywhere there’s internet connectivity.
- Regulatory and certification requirements can be easily verified.
Want to learn more about how we can help you achieve regulatory and certification compliance? Contact our staff via phone (650-591-7600), fax (650-591-7617) or email (info@document-center.com). Want to take a look at the standards we have available? Head to our webstore at www.document-center.com.
Document Center Inc. has been selling standards and supporting the correct use of standards since 1982. Make us your Standards Experts!
