Seems like an obvious question but which version should I use? There has been few areas since the introduction of record and document management systems, where so many mistakes can be made.
Ensuring that someone has the right information at the right time can save time, money and reduce risk dramatically. If someone has the wrong information the converse can be the case.
Most organizations dealing with processes and procedures have a version and revision control system. It might be very primitive, but there is one there.
One reason for problems is in this area is the actual definitions themselves. While technology organizations (software companies) often use the terms version and revision control interchangeably, this can confuse a user of the system.
After many years of setting up document and procedure systems in organizations, I would recommend the following use of terms.
Revision control
Documents that are are a work in progress; being revised before release. Some applications even have revision control within the application, such as MS Word revision tracking for example. Using revision control has the following benefits:
- Ability to accept or reject changes from one revision to another
- In some cases the ability to accept some changes but not all from individual authors. (e.g. Word)
- Ability to save revisions with the same file name. (See example below from TaskMap Central SharePoint application)
Internal revision control with SharePoint
Version control
Versions are best labeled as a released instance of a document that indicates a particular purpose, timeframe or application. For example engineering change orders to update some equipment may have specific versions to ensure the right documentation is used when needed. Examples might include:
- Date specific release e.g. How to Maintain this Product-15 May 2011
- Version number e.g. How to Maintain this Product Version 1.01
- Abbreviation version numbering e.g. How to Maintain this Product v1.01
- Application specific version e.g. How to Maintain this Product-Sears Purifier 10010
