Document Control - Simple definition of when to control a document

[Rob Nix]

Wow.

Poor little_cee wanted a "simple definition". All of the preceding is great, but I will attempt something very simple: Whenever a document is necessary for future use or reference, it should be controlled.

Perhaps too simple.

 

[RoxaneB]

Thanks for getting us back on track!

Whenever a document is necessary for future use or reference, it should be controlled.

Perhaps too simple.

For me it is simple as well....anywhere where the absence of the correct and up-to-date document can adversely impact your impact to meet requirements requires a document to be controlled.

Thinking about the future process is a bit to ambiguous for me. I mean, I know how I'd like to do Internal Audits, but for now, I document the current process. And reference documentation, well, I don't mind it being labelled as Reference, but to control it? I think that might be overkill where I work...but maybe not at another organization.

Make ISO work for you...you don't work for ISO.

 

[little__cee]

Thanks thanks and thanks

All of this is great stuff and much appreciated.

Oh, and thanks!

 

[amr1234]

More Controlled Document Questions

Our Human Resources manager has inquiredabout, among other items, the Corporate REDACTED Harrassment Policy not being a controlled document. Should it be?

Human Resources Questions: "In addition, we purchase the forklift forms and there is no way of adding a form number to them without incurring cost. Are we supposed to incur these additional costs to satisfy ISO/TS?"

"I find it hard to believe that ISO/TS is intended to add cost by requiring us to contact a safety firm that provides forklift inspection forms and tell them to specially change the printing of the forms for us. Also, if attendance policy needs a date and document number doesn't everything else we have posted?"

 

[little__cee]

Hmmm

Using Rob Nix's definition above, I'd say yes that the harassment policy should be a controlled document. BUT I am not an HR expert and it is possible that some other governing body (federal regulations, etc) would control the updating and revisions to this unless your company created it.

I know here we had discussions about the Functional Organizational Chart being a controlled document and finally decided that yes it is. I am not sure if it is ever used or referenced but theoretically it could be so yes we went ahead and controlled it, erring on the side of caution.

 

[Randy Stewart]

Arm1234,

Set up or change your system to allow departments to control their own policies/procedures.
Question: Do you control owner manuals for any equipment? I would assign that to the maintenance department.
All H.R. Policies, employee handbooks, etc. can be controlled in that department. I have never had a problem passing an audit applying that philosophy.

 

[Wes Bucey]

Our Human Resources manager has inquiredabout, among other items, the Corporate REDACTED Harrassment Policy not being a controlled document. Should it be?

Human Resources Questions: "In addition, we purchase the forklift forms and there is no way of adding a form number to them without incurring cost. Are we supposed to incur these additional costs to satisfy ISO/TS?"

"I find it hard to believe that ISO/TS is intended to add cost by requiring us to contact a safety firm that provides forklift inspection forms and tell them to specially change the printing of the forms for us. Also, if attendance policy needs a date and document number doesn't everything else we have posted?"

Good suggestions from Covers.
My take:
HR forms are not necessarily part of Quality Management System unless an organization says they are. If yes, then control. If no, no.

Re: fork lift
It is completely acceptable (definitely done in Federal Aviation Administration regulated situations all the time with part drawings) to formally "adopt" another organization's document or form as one of yours.
(Adopting means going through the same approval process as if you had created the document from scratch, with one minor difference - you can't modify the document, only adopt new modifications from the original authoring organization.)

If the numbering system is critical in your organization, add a cover sheet with your numbering system. When organization which is the author of the adopted document revises, your organization adopts the new revision. Once adopted, the document is controlled exactly as if your own organization had created it.

It is never necessary to have the author organization create a special number or form for your organization.

Minor note about unnecessary revision of an "adopted" document:
If you have adopted a "form" from some other organization, it is not necessary to update it when the authoring organization updates unless the update is necessary to your operation. (Think inspection checklist for Forklift Model 2b. Author update includes Models 2c and 2d. If you don't have those Model c & d forklifts, no reason to update (revise) checklist.)

 

[James Gutherson]

Our Human Resources manager has inquiredabout, among other items, the Corporate REDACTED Harrassment Policy not being a controlled document. Should it be?

Human Resources Questions: "In addition, we purchase the forklift forms and there is no way of adding a form number to them without incurring cost. Are we supposed to incur these additional costs to satisfy ISO/TS?"

"I find it hard to believe that ISO/TS is intended to add cost by requiring us to contact a safety firm that provides forklift inspection forms and tell them to specially change the printing of the forms for us. Also, if attendance policy needs a date and document number doesn't everything else we have posted?"

I agree with a lot of what has been said, however I would add that the issue of Document Control in itself should not be tied just to Quality Management.

I would suggest that it is a *VERY* good idea to ensure that the version of the REDACTED Harrasement Policy that is being used (floating around) is the correct one, and this is the definition of document control.

As long as there is some way of determining the version of the document, and a review and approval history, and a distribution method that ensures obsolete documents are not used, then the document is controlled. Whether this is done by the HR department, or by routing it through a central document control area (to add little numbers) is up to the organisation.
(We do it here by adding an approval date to the footer of the document to identify the version, and by distributing it over the company intranet)

As far as controlling external documents, all you need to do is ensure that you are using the correct version. There are many way of doing this. The document might be posted on the Internet and printed on an as needed basis, in say monthly batches (depending on how often the document changes), or you might decide to have someone responsible for periodically contacting the company to check whether the versions you have on site are the appropriate ones.

The larger issue might be how you refer to these documents in your internal procedures. If you refer to the exact document version, then you will need to make changes to your internal documents *every* time the external document changes. (if this were the case I would look at rewording your internal procedures to be a bit more flexible, ie refer to the 'latest version of the Forklift form, rather than 'forklift form ABC123 R12'. You would then of course need to follow the results to ensure that Non conformaties to not rise because of these changes).

Hope I haven't confused things, just remeber document control is not just for 'Quality Systems'.