Internal Document Numbering System - Please review and advise

[MarkJoel]

Please review

1 General Information
This document describes the internal document numbering system for xyz company.
2 Obtaining Document Numbers
The Director of Quality Management maintains the document numbering database.
For project-related documents, the director or project manager will request all pertinent document numbers from the director of quality management, who will provide the document numbers. All employees may request non-project-related document numbers directly from the director of quality management by electronic mail.
3 Numbering Scheme
xyz company documents are numbered as in the sample below:
Work Division Document Name Abbreviation Year Category Number + Document Number within Category Project or Course Number (Only if applicable)
HR- BF- 02- 000- (This is the template.) xxxx
HR- BF- 02- 001- (This is the first document.) xxxx

4 Document List
The following document list gives the template number for each of the document categories. The template is numbered 000. The first document in the series will be 001, then 002, and so on.
Document Name Category Document Number

Will this work?
Does it make sense?
All inputs are welcome!

I have almost completed my review of all documents within my company, that is a high level, but I noticed that I have several document types. These are as follows:

• Checklist
• Form
• Guide
• Instructions
• Process
• Report
• Standards

Are there any other types that I missed?
Won't this be a nighmare controlling all these documents?

Help!

 

[Kevin H]

re: Document Control

Just reading it, it seems on the complicated and rigid side (Which may be what your company needs). Also, sounds like the director of quality management is totally in charge of all document numbers. It meets the requirements of the standard, but do you want to be in charge of issuing all document numbers? At the company I currently work for, we let work instructions be controlled and issued by department managers. They're closer to the action, and better able to determine if a new instruction needs to be issued quickly.

Regarding other document types, have you included records (not actually a document, but in a similar vein)? Usually the result of an activity - they need to be controlled, especially length of retention, accesibility, and disposal.

We've tried to push our system down as far as possible to empower managers to create and control documents, and records. We maintain an electronic system issuing and controlling procedures, purchasing specifications for crtical raw materials, receiving and in-process testing plans, etc. Record retention and work instructions are pushed down away from QA. Forms may be either department specific - controlled by the department, or controlled by QA in the electronic system.

Just a different viewpoint - Good luck!

 

[MarkJoel]

I am very frustrated with the old document numbering scheme and would appreciate input on my new scheme.

Department Document Type Abbreviation
BD Charts, Diagrams DIA
DEV Checklists CK
FIN Forms FM
HR Guides, Instructions WI
IT Processes, Procedures PROC
OPS Reports RPT
QA Standards STD
TRN Templates TMP

Based on this scheme someone could easily identify if a document applied to a specific department for example, BD-PROC-001 would be a Business Development Process.

The OPS department contains interdepartment documents such as a progress report that everyone uses that same template.

Does this make sense? Any other suggestions?

When revising a document we could use the following scheme.

Document Sequence Document Phase
PA1 First Draft
PA2 Second Draft
…
A Final
PB1 First Draft
PB2 Second Draft
B Final

OR
Document Sequence Document Phase
P0.1 First Draft
P0.2 Second Draft
1.0 Final
P1.1 First Draft
P1.2 Second Draft
2.0 Final

Which one do you think is easlier?

 

[Shaun Daly]

MarkJoel,

Your suggested new scheme is very similiar to our existing one, and for us it works well.

HR-WI-003 is very descriptive & easy to follow for us document dudes, though most other people wouldnt care

I dont really understand the form of your draft notation though.

I do always try to keep things simple (though I dont always suceed)

What about D1, D2, FD ?

 

[Wes Bucey]

I've survived a lot of numbering schemes. I have seen good and bad features in all of them.

Typically, the best features have one scheme wherein each "authoring" department creates its own numbering scheme for "preliminary" documents and a second scheme where a new, permanent number is assigned by a central "authority" when the document goes through all approval processes and is ready to be released. The "permanent" number is often a combination of a descriptive prefix (of the department) plus a serial number issued in chronological order.

It may be important to also consider Configuration Management at this point in the process to assure all Associated Documents are similarly checked to assure no changes to them are necessary when the new document is issued.

The degree of rigidity in the process is in direct proportion to the number of people involved in creating documents and the number of documents they create in aggregate.

This means a giant company like GE is a lot more persnickety than a 10 man machine shop, where only two or three folks make documents. My advice is to keep things in perspective and do NOT try to graft the rigid system of GE on a tiny organization. Also - be sure to avoid creating a "bottleneck" or "funnel" where all documents must go through one individual. If you have a good system, several people ought to be able to access the data bank and assign the proper number in chronological order versus burdening one individual with the task.

An additional note: modern computerized document management systems automatically assign the correct number once all required approvals are in place.

 

[RoxaneB]

An additional note: modern computerized document management systems automatically assign the correct number once all required approvals are in place.

And that's why I like using document software...I don't need to worry about the numbering system. It's simply a unique identifier to help us control our documents...other than that, the number serves little purpose and I can spend my time thinking about more important things like upcoming audits, Management Review, and how not to spill my coffee on me.

 

[MarkJoel]

And that's why I like using document software...I don't need to worry about the numbering system. It's simply a unique identifier to help us control our documents...other than that, the number serves little purpose and I can spend my time thinking about more important things like upcoming audits, Management Review, and how not to spill my coffee on me.

Which document software do you use? What are the pros and cons? Is price reasonable for small businesses?

 

[RoxaneB]

Which document software do you use? What are the pros and cons? Is price reasonable for small businesses?

There is a whole forum dedicated to QMS and software packages. I recommend you read through some of the threads there.