Document management systems (DMS) serve as a way to protect documents and produce a trail every time the document is accessed or edited. This ensures the integrity of the documents and makes it easier to audit and resolve any potential issues that may occur.

While document management systems used to be complicated and expensive investments, they no longer need to be thanks to cloud-based systems which are easily accessible and affordable for small organizations.

Organizations in the financial sector are using document management systems to handle all their policies.

Benefits of Document Management Systems

There is a perception that DMS only help in the storage of documents and thus think that DMS are required only if an organization has a lot of confidential documents that need to be managed. However, DMS are also an integral part of good policy and procedure management and can help organizations:

  • Write policies
  • Manage policies
  • Review and protect documents
  • Verify the integrity of documents

Read on as we look at how a DMS functions when they are used effectively for policy and procedure management.

Quick Overview

Here is a quick overview of the six greatest benefits of document management systems for organizations in the financial sector:

DMS Benefit Key Advantage
Reviewing and Approving Policies Maintains single copy with visible edit history and author tracking.
Identifying and Tracking Changes Facilitates audits by quickly locating who made changes and resolving issues efficiently.
Sharing Documents Enables secure, authorized document access for employees from different operational units.
Controlling Documents Provides link-based access with permission controls and access logging.
The Document Lifecycle Prevents contradictory legacy policies by maintaining updated versions.
Preventing Outdated Policy Use Version control ensures only the latest policy versions are available to employees.

1. Reviews and Approves Policies

Document management systems allow organizations to efficiently review and approve policies under one system, eliminating disorganized approaches through emails. In contrast, under a DMS there is only one copy of a file, and everyone can see what has been edited and by who.

This helpful distinction also makes it easy for different teams and business units to distinguish between policies that have been finalized and the policies that are still being reviewed by others.

2. Identifies and Tracks Changes

Policies and procedures need to be updated to keep up with the changing business culture and dynamics of various organizations. A document management system ensures that all changes that have been made by team members are tracked.

Tracking of changes to policies is invaluable in the case of audits. This is because resolving issues becomes easier when auditors can quickly locate the person who made the change that caused the issue in question.

3. Shares documents

Document management systems don’t just protect documents; they also allow documents to be shared in a safe manner. DMS make it easy to access documents, provided you have the authority to do so. Every employee of the organization can easily find policies and procedures related to their job whenever needed. There is no need to ask someone to email documents.

4. Controls Documents

A DMS allows management to control documents and keeps confidential information safe. Organizations open themselves up to risk every time an employee sends a confidential document in an email.

Once a document has been sent to someone in an email, they may share it with anyone else they want without needing permission. Document management systems remove the need to attach these documents to emails by replacing it with a link that means team members can only:

  • Access the document if they have been given access to it
  • Share the document with someone else if they have the privileges to

This level of control and monitoring is impossible without a DMS. A DMS is also vital for any organization that wants to adhere to document control standards.

5. Manages the Document Lifecycle

Document lifecycle management is very important for policies and procedures. No policy or procedure will be relevant forever which means that every document created has an expiration date.

Document management systems track these dates and notify management when they are near. Many organizations suffer because of contradictory statements in legacy policies and procedures. DMS ensure that all documents are updated and useful.

6. Prevents the Use of Outdated Policies

Outdated policy documents are a major cause for concern. Someone may use a policy document that was in their email inbox, unaware that the policy has now been updated. DMS have version control functionality which ensure that only the latest and the correct version of policies are available for everyone.

The Document Management System Solution

Any organization that is concerned about managing policies and procedures thus needs to implement a document management system. When it comes to managing policy and procedure effectively, Predict360’s Policy and Procedure module has your team covered.

The difference between a normal document management solution and a solution like ours is that our solution has been specially designed to be used in policy and procedure management. The core functionality is the same as a document management solution but there are many added functionalities for policies and procedures.

Get in touch with our team if you want to see what our policy and procedure management solution can accomplish for your organization or request a demo to get exploring right away.