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News Release from: Cavendish | Subject: Unifying Documentation Blueprint
Edited by the Printingtalk Editorial
Team on 24 October 2005
Simplified Communication Within Print
Management
Colin Thompson presents the fourth in a series of articles on the importance of a Print Management Service Programme: Simplified Communication.
Computers accelerate the volume and flow of information But some questions remain
This article was originally published on Printingtalk on 27 Apr 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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'Has your investment in information technology improved the way you communicate with your customers?' 'Do people understand your documents and do they get information from your documents without struggling for it?' The answers in most cases will be no, but then most companies do not even ask the questions.
For those who do and who want to improve their customer communications, the first problem is invariably 'Where do we start?' There are usually two large obstacles to overcome, namely, deciding which of the documents to look at first and who actually has responsibility for each of them.
To help tackle these issues and to establish a programme of improving the quality and efficiency of your documents, I recommend a Unifying Documentation Blueprint.
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The objective is to come to grips with the diversity, complexity and cost of your communications and then to establish a comprehensive strategy for improving their effectiveness, while reducing the cost.
Document management focuses on the documents and electronic information that customers and staff need to conduct their business.
The simplified communications we develop make your business documents easier to understand and use.
They also act as a catalyst for organisation and technology changes that result in significant cost efficiencies.
There are three phases to each Unifying Documentation Blueprint.
1 - Analysis.
In the first phase we analyse the documents used in your organisation and the processes that control them.
* What documents do you have, who uses them and how? * Which documents are the key ones? * Who is really responsible for your documents? * How are they produced and processed? * What do they cost to produce and process? * What do your customers think about them? Phase 1 establishes which documents you really need to conduct your business.
2 - Simplification Strategy.
In this phase we develop a strategy for rationalising some or all of your documents and demonstrate how the information could be simplified.
* Reduce the number of documents.
* Reduce the number of different paper stocks.
* Consolidate and restructure information.
* Design page layouts and templates.
* Simplify the language.
* Customise the information.
* Develop a strategy for effective marketing communications.
Phase 2 indicates how we simplify your documents and document systems.
3 - Blueprint Recommendations.
In the third phase we identify which documents need to be simplified first, provide fully implemented examples of re-designed documents and set out recommendations for further work.
* Establish priority for documents to be simplified.
* Calculate anticipated cost benefits.
* Compare initial costs with potential savings.
* Agree a timetable of document revisions.
* Allocate resources and confirm responsibilities on both sides.
* Provide worked examples of simplified documents.
* Implement re-designed documents.
* Recommend a programme for further simplification.
Phase 3 shows what can be done and recommends what you need to do.
Note that spoilt documents cost 15 times more to process than clean documents.
Consider the cost of badly designed documents.
There are several reasons why people do not fill in documents correctly.
They may not understand the questions, or there may be more than one answer.
The sequence may be confusing, or there may not be enough space for an adequate answer.
Whatever the cause, the consequences are predictable-frustration with the exercise, antagonism towards the organisation and a significant increase in administration costs trying to resolve the errors.
The extent of these additional costs can be seen in the following calculation.
'Spoilt documents cost 15 times more to process than clean documents' - the UK's Inland Revenue says so - and they should know.
They say that this ratio is at least 15 to 1, and that is the figure we have used for this cost comparison.
If a department processes 100,000 copies of a document each year, and it costs £10 to process each document, then the overall cost will be £1,000,000.
However, if the error rate is, say, 20%, then the additional costs are a staggering 280% of basic processing costs.
Every 10% reduction in the error rate saves 1.4 times the basic cost of processing.
The benefits of well-designed documents include fewer errors, more efficient administration, more satisfied customers and significant cost savings.
Consider also the cost of too many documents.
Each year, organisations tend to increase the number of different documents they use.
This means increased costs and the potential for greater confusion among their staff and customers.
Organisations rarely reduce the number of documents they produce, either because they do not recognise the problem or they are unable to find a solution to it.
However, a document management specialist who has considerable experience in simplifying and consolidating systems of documents can save an enormous amount of time and money.
The benefits of reducing say 9 documents to 1, or 40 to 7, are significant and quantifiable.
It is recognised that the cost of processing a document is at least 20 times the cost of producing it.
Processing includes administration, filing, transport, storage, inventory and obsolescence.
Assume that the general operating costs of a large organisation are £10million a year, and 2.5% of this figure, £250,000, represents the cost of producing all of its documents.
Any significant reduction in the number of documents will result in a reduction of costs for production and processing.
The extent of the savings can be considerable.
Annual savings are typically 10-30 times the cost of consolidating documents.
Develop quality communications through a Unifying Documentation Blueprint and save money/time/gain customer satisfaction and total control of the future.
Colin Thompson was presented by the DTI an award for Information and Manufacturing Technology for his contribution to innovation and new systems.
Also, a book titled 'The Guide to Document, Forms, Print Management Service' has been published.
This publication can be viewed and obtained by visiting the Cavendish website.
This book shows you how to implement a 'Print Management Service Programme' with full details on step by step implementation to save clerical pounds/euros which drop to the 'bottom-line'.
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