Project Document Storage

It is usual for a project or programme to create a number of significant documents during the length of the project. Due to the time invested to create the project documents, it is exceedingly important it is straightforward to locate them.

It is unfortunate that in numerous cases project documents are stored in multiple locations, in different formats, different naming conventions, for example. In a number of cases they're stored on the local hard drive of the PC with no back up, opening up the danger of hard disc failure. This all leads to unecessary time and effort being spent for team members to find a specified document.

To address this, the PMO should define clear guidelines to project document storage:

• where documents should be stored (shared directory, Sharepoint site, etc)
• list structure (i.e. Financials, RAID’s, etc) “this makes it easy for any person to find a given document
• naming convention “as above makes it straightforward to find a RAIDs log, etc

By doing this it will make sure that all the project documents can be simply shared and found across the project, PMO or even organisation. It saves the time of having to get somebody to email a document.

Sharepoint

Sharepoint is an extremely good solution as it is intranet based and allows groups in multiple locations to simply share project paperwork. It also allows for levels of security so that access can be restricted on sensitive documents.

Value of Learned Knowledge

Another benefit of keeping all your projects in a centralized, structured manner is knowledge share. Sadly the majority of businesses don't do this. Plenty of hard effort is invested in a standard project. Nonetheless rather than making all the applicable information available for use by other groups, it is stored and forgotten.

There are some organizations who build document management systems around their project documentation. So if you have been asked to launch a project, one of the first steps is to go and check the repository and review the documents. This could really help fast track a project and, if there was a good lessons learned produced at project close, avoid mistakes.

Remember, however you decide to approach document storage “keep it simplistic.

Simon Wilkinson owns of practical PMO providing real world insights into PMO’s and project management. He writes a regular blog covering subjects such as ‘PMO set up ‘ and useful sources for project management templates.