Ithuta JV

Source: TenStep Tom Mochal

It is important for the project manager to recognize the stages that a document must go through from creation to completion. This knowledge allows the project manager to understand the overall status of a document at any given time and helps ensure adequate time is allocated for the completion of the document. For instance, when a team member says he can complete a document in two weeks, is he saying that the document will be ready to circulate in two weeks or that the document will be completed and totally approved in two weeks? Not all documents need to go through all the stages of document creation and approval. However, depending on the document, one or more of the steps will be required.

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Some of the review steps defined here would also be considered part of a quality control process for the documents.

1. Plan the document
Sometimes you can sit down and just start writing your document. Other times you need to prepare and plan. This is especially true as your document gets larger and more complex. In many cases you are not able to start writing because you do not have your thoughts structured. Preparation and planning, which includes outlining the content and structuring the sections, will help you get started.

2. Create the initial document draft
In this step, the document draft is created. If there are no subsequent reviews and approvals, this step results in the creation of the final deliverable. Most of the effort associated with the document is used in this step. Subsequent steps may take a long duration, but they do not take nearly as much effort.

3. Circulate document for feedback and modify as appropriate
These two steps involve circulating the document for initial review and feedback. The document is updated based on the review comments. Depending on the particular document, this may be an iterative step. A document may have an internal review, followed by a stakeholder review, followed by a management review. After each of these reviews, the document is subsequently modified based in the feedback and sent to the next step.

4. Gain document approval
When the document has been circulated for feedback and subsequently updated, it will be ready for final approval. Some documents should be formally approved in writing. Others are simply considered complete after the final round of feedback is received.
Like all completed (production) deliverables there may be subsequent updates or enhancements that may require their own mini-document life cycle as well.

Draft Copies
Draft copies are documents that have been initially completed by the author, but are not yet ready to be considered entirely complete from a project perspective. In most cases, this is because the document is in some kind of review process. Draft copies of documents could be stored in the author's work area. However, for large projects, or ones where more rigor in document management is needed, it will make sense to maintain a library or folder for draft copies.

The update process for draft copies is as follows:

1. A document is created and edited in the author's work area.
2. After the initial draft is completed, the document is moved from the work area to the draft library. The document stays there until the author needs to update it or it is ready to be moved to the repository as an approved document.
3. When the document is in the draft library, it can be circulated for review and input.
4. If the draft copy needs to be updated again, the document is copied back to the work area for updating, leaving a copy in the draft library.
5.This process is repeated until the document is totally complete. Then the document can be moved from the draft library to its final location in the document repository.

The value in this approach is that the project team always has one official draft of each document and only one live, approved version as well.