Support Central
Read on to find out why regular reviews are important, and how to get a system in place if your organization doesn’t already have one.
Too often, project assets are thought to be things like the structure, system, and equipment. But in reality, all the information created by project participants and entered into Aconex—like records, documents, metadata, and mail—should be considered business assets. The content, quantity, quality and status of these things significantly affect decisions made in a project.
Because of this, it’s critical for projects to have a strong records management policy and procedure in place. But one thing that many organizations forget is that having procedures in place isn’t enough—you also need a plan to regularly review your records management policy.
No one likes having yet another policy in place. But when it comes to making sure project assets are recorded, reviews are key. They allow you to:
Your organization or project may already have a framework and on how to review records. If you don’t, however, our chart below can help guide you as you sift through files and documents on Aconex.
Find yourself with more “no” answers than “yes”? Your risk of running into issues with your assets increases. Now’s the time to put strategies into place to improve and protect your project’s information.
| Documents | |
|---|---|
| • Are all project related communications sent and received via Aconex, and not found in any user’s individual mailbox (e.g. Outlook, Gmail, etc.)? | • Are the documents tagged with relevant and correct metadata (including Document Number convention), according to the document management protocols? |
| • Is the mail type “General Correspondence” used minimally? | • Is the Revision Number entered in its separate field, and not entered with the Document Number? |
| • Are the right mail types used for initiating and responding to specific processes? | • Are the Document Titles (description) spelled correctly? Can documents be easily searched via key words? |
| • Is mail (O/S and Overdue items) requiring action or response managed accordingly? | • Does the Document Register show accurate results when you search a group of documents with similar attributes (e.g. Architectural Drawings that are For Construction)? |
| • Is the “Response Required” field used appropriately? | • Is the correct function (i.e. Supersede) used to update documents with its latest revision? |
| • To ensure accurate tracking and reporting, does mail that requires a response or action eventually get closed out? | • Are new revisions not registered as separate document with a different Document Number? |
| • Is mail sent to the right recipients? | • Are the right documents transmitted to the organizations that need to access them? |
| • Does Mail get sent to too many recipients? | • Is there a process in place to track documents that require review or approval? |
| • Are To/Cc fields used appropriately? | • Can you find information on who’s approved a specific document? |
| • Are drawings, specifications and other type of controlled documents distributed via the Transmittal mail type? Review mails with attachments. | • Are confidential documents handled appropriately? |
| • Are there any meaningful mail reports your team can easily access? | • Are there any meaningful document reports that your team can easily access? |
| • Is the Draft section cleaned up regularly? | • Is the Temporary Files section reviewed and cleaned up regularly? |
