How to properly organize the company's document flow?

Any enterprise has its own documentation. This can be tax reporting, accounting documents, contracts, letters, job instructions. The effectiveness of the work and management of the company as a whole depends on how correct the document flow is.

Let's understand the concepts

It is customary to consider all stages of the life of business paper as document circulation in the company - from its creation to its transfer to the archive. Also, from the very concept it becomes clear that its movement within the enterprise and beyond is understood. Accordingly, its effectiveness will consist in the coordinated work of all departments and the creation of general rules for each stage, which must be strictly adhered to.

Requirements for management clearly regulate all work with existing documentation. These include the rules of registration, the familiarization process, storage and disposal. The sum of all requirements, which are presented to the management of document management, is its basis. So, for example, the uniform requirements for registration will determine the initial stage of the correct management of the flow of documents. After all, it is precisely at this stage that the ordinary receipt acquires legal force and becomes the basis for making decisions on orders and resolutions in the company. Therefore, it is very important not to make mistakes at this step.

In general, there are several principles and stages of documentation movement. As a rule, movement occurs from top to bottom. Thus, the head of the enterprise receives the documents himself, and then distributes them to the divisions and decides who will be responsible for what. But there is another way, which will not only be more effective, but also save time. However, it is relevant when there is a clear and well-organized interaction between the company's departments, as well as the delegation of various tasks. In this case, the bulk of the papers goes directly to the executors. The entire process of signing and approval will depend on the rules established by the company (which we will talk about a little later).

Stages of moving documents:

• obtaining or creating documentation;
• primary processing;
• study and sorting;
• introduction to the database;
• execution control;
• implementation, design, adjustment;
• sending or joining the case.

There are also documentation streams. They are divided into two main types:

• External flow. This includes all documents that go beyond the company, for example, to clients, counterparties or regulatory authorities. Correspondingly, there is an incoming and an outgoing one.
• Internal flow. This is not only the internal nomenclature, instructions and orders, but also incoming letters and various contracts entering the company.

And now we will talk about everything in more detail.

Why is it important to establish a clear regulation of documentation turnover?

It doesn't matter if you are the owner of a small grocery store or a large holding - the document flow will be both there and there in any case. For unknown reasons, not all enterprises pay special attention to such a factor as document flow regulation. Although time sooner or later shows that taking this into account is a direct necessity. Most likely, employees will take a long time to get used to the regulations, but one way or another, over time it will become clear that a certain procedure will significantly save their time and increase the efficiency of the company's work.

Any enterprise in the course of its growth and development is faced with the fact that an active flow of unstructured information begins. This is due to the fact that, as a rule, during expansion, not only the number of employees, but also contractors increases. If the turnover of documents does not have the correct settings, that is, it occurs without a clear system, chaotically, then sooner or later problems begin - important contracts and reports are lost, relationships with topics or other papers are not traced, it is difficult to maintain structured management reporting. Quick access to transactions and their history will also not be tracked.

In addition, it is important to note that the establishment of such regulations is also useful from the point of view of the discipline of the team and each individual employee. For example, consider the option when simple salespeople or middle-level managers are people who have come from the regions, and they are just beginning to understand the computerized system of work, as well as correct paperwork. When an employee already begins to master such skills, he becomes more disciplined, pays attention to the smallest details, and this factor directly leads to increased work efficiency of any company, both small and large. So the documents are sent to the head office in a timely manner, which means that monitoring the work becomes much easier.

I would like to add that without regulation it will not be possible to switch to electronic document management and full automation, and in modern realities this is simply necessary.

What should you start with?

There are a number of main points that should be taken into account in order to establish the correct turnover of documentation.

1. The first thing to start with is the development of primary forms of documentation.
2. Next, it is very important to minimize the coordination stages. To do this, a certain list of documents with which they must work is attached to each existing department at the enterprise. So, for example, the same contract for the purchase of any equipment will not go through the advertising department, but will be sent directly to the financial department, which will significantly reduce the time of approval.

So, how everything happens in general. This especially applies to already established companies, in which some problems are observed with the movement of documentation.

• Initially, it is worth sorting all the available papers into categories. It is important to be able to easily find the necessary document at any time. Classification should ideally be carried out according to some main points - subject, date of admission and appointment.
• Development of a storage system and registration journal. Of course, on the one hand, this is the last century. We mean manual sorting. Ideally, the implementation of a CRM system, such as InstaDoc, which will help systematize everything quickly, and electronic document management.
• Tight control. Again, the CRM system can be an ideal helper in this matter.

In order for the work in the company to be carried out according to a single principle, an instruction is created.

What should the paperwork instruction contain?

• instructions for interacting with the documentation.
• rules of entry into the common database;
• terms of storage and destruction;
• criteria for registration and writing of cases;
• the sequence of liquidation after studying the acts and their descriptions;
• the timing of the shipment and the list of persons responsible for it;
• instructions by which the management is informed about the stages of work with a specific document;
• templates and samples.

The number of rules that should be followed.

It is logical that each company is very individual, accordingly, the rules of document management will also be determined by its peculiarities - for example, the number of departments and the field of activity. But there are basic points that are relevant for any business.

We have already said above that the processing time of any document should be as short as possible. And this is an unspoken rule, thanks to which the efficiency of the enterprise directly increases. Thus, from the moment of creation of the task to its completion, in which a certain contract or instruction was created, as little time as possible should pass. For example, if a new instruction is created in the company, then its coordination, approval and implementation should be carried out as quickly as possible. In this case, the correctness and efficiency of this process is determined precisely by time costs.

So what are the basic regulations for the movement of business papers?

1. Maximum reduction of the passage of various departments and instances. Thus, the way from one point to another should be, if possible, without intermediate stops in sections that will only slow down the turnover.
2. It is necessary to exclude a possible return to the initial position. In this case, we mean the probability of mistakes that will prevent signing and approval.
3. A highly uniform passage and process of processing the main categories of nomenclature, based on the fact that any movement must be exclusively justified.

Such a regulation will allow to create the correct circulation, which will completely eliminate the possibility of a delay of this or that paper on someone's desk.

Moreover, the observance of such an order will help ensure a significant improvement in the documentation support of the management apparatus, as well as the service that deals with paperwork at the expense of:

• the direction of movement of documents will be direct, excluding repetitions and doubles during preparation and processing;
• there is rhythmicity in the movement, which ensures uniform progress and promotes the distribution of the load on employees.

Possible violations and how to avoid them

Violations can occur both at the stage of creating the papers and during their immediate movement. In order to completely eliminate possible errors, care should be taken to create special instructions, according to which all actions with documents will be performed. And best of all, if there will be a special service in the organization that will control the entire document flow, or at least a responsible person - the project manager, will deal with its organization and management, as well as exclude possible errors.

Correct organization of document circulation will allow to realize its rhythmic and schematic circulation. As a rule, the bigger the company, the more documents it has, so it makes sense to switch to electronic document management, which will help avoid most problems and errors.

It is worth noting that such a measure is mostly effective in large organizations. In small enterprises, the owner or director deals with all issues, so he is responsible for the correctness and reliability of the documents.

Summing up, we can say the following - proper document management is one of the most important aspects of the company's successful activity.

In the modern world, in order to increase the efficiency of work, it is necessary to improve interaction with documentation, as well as the principles of its movement, since any successful management decision is based precisely on the timeliness and relevance of the information received. Also, organization in working with documents directly affects the quality of management, organization and work culture in the company.

Correct documentation is also important for two reasons:

• Without a clear organization, it is impossible to generate a timely accounting report.
• Since various kinds of disputes with inspection bodies are still relevant, it can be very difficult to prove one's rightness in one or another situation without an orderly document flow.

The ideal solution for the task we talked about today would still be modern technologies. For example, switching to an electronic document management system. This will help to significantly simplify matters related to the design, movement and systematization of business papers.

The "InstakoDoc" company will help you to properly organize work with documentation, which will significantly increase not only the company's efficiency, but also your personal efficiency. Many years of experience and a responsible approach to solving even the most difficult problems allowed us to help many organizations. We will provide you with comprehensive support and guarantee that we will significantly facilitate the work with papers.

Contact us now. Our specialists will answer all your questions.