7 Common Document Workflow Problems and How to Fix Them

Whether you handle contracts, invoices or employee data, document review and management play a key role in a variety of business operations. That said, disconnected and overly manual workflows will turn every document into a potential source of errors and delays.

A properly set up document workflow helps your organization to keep control over a large volume of documents at all stages, from creation and review through approvals and digital transformation to storage and retrieval.

Here, we will talk about an efficient way of processing documents through appropriate document management software like SignPaperless.

Inefficient Document Workflow Patterns

The inefficiency in the document workflow hardly appears as a result of one particular error. It is a chain of incidents that slow down processing. Usually, disorganization begins when several employees store files in different places or spend hours on approval loops. As the company grows and introduces more customers, suppliers, employees, and paperworks, these issues amplify and begin to impact general efficiency.

An efficient document life cycle management assumes a continuous workflow which helps documents with different statuses flow smoothly from one step to the next. It also means that the responsible parties clearly understand their responsibilities and know where to go to get the required data instead of searching for it for days.

Now, let us see which factors tend to slow down document processing most often and how SignPaperless can change that.

7 Document Workflow Problems and Possible Solutions

1. Several document storage locations

Having many versions of the same file in email, personal computer or cloud storage, messaging, and various other applications create barriers in the document management process.

Solution: Centralized digital document storage with proper classification and accessible folders.

2. Too many manual activities

It takes a lot of time and patience to do hundreds of tiny actions that people do when processing documents. One should spend hours downloading, renaming, replying to approval emails, sending reminders, scanning, and a bunch of other activities that may seem non-critical but collectively eat up a lot of time.

Solution: Document workflow automation can eliminate repetitive actions. Emails and other status updates will be done without involvement of each participant via SignPaperless.

3. Approvals eat up to 70% of processing time

Many documents require approval and signature of various managers, directors, lawyers, and accountants. An approval email in a hidden spam folder may become the reason why a business fails to meet a critical deadline.

Solution: A set of clearly defined and automated approval steps with a responsible party for each step. In addition, reminders and notifications will reduce the delays during the approval process.

4. Multiple copies and versions

Several document copies and numerous versions created by different participants may lead to mistakes during approval, filing, or processing. As a result, a completely outdated file may be considered official because it has the latest modification date in one of the cloud storage folders.

Solution: Strict document version control which helps distinguish between different modifications and easily locate the most recent one easily with SignPaperless as your document workflow management partner. At the same time, older versions should be available for reference or processing if needed.

5. Email as a central processing tool

An email thread may seem like a safe choice for any document-related discussion. That said, it is the most insecure option for approvals because critical information, including attached contracts, gets overlooked as the conversation bloats over time.

Solution: A designated digital tool for processing documents will eliminate the need to store information in email chains.

6. Document processing With Many unnecessary steps

Some companies fail to remove or standardize paper based or electronic processing, which leads to extra paperwork, delays, and manual data entry. For some businesses, the document life cycle assumes repeated data input and verification, file exchanges between team members, approval routing, and other tasks which can be automated or optimized.

Solution: Document processing workflow system will simplify data entry and transfer between different databases. Besides, it is necessary to take a closer look at the overall document processing flow to identify and remove unnecessary steps.

7. Lack of information about the document status

It rarely remains obvious what actions should be taken when a contract, invoice, or any other document is processed. As a result, weeks of negotiations or approvals get interrupted because nobody is sure if something is still pending or completed.

Solution: Document status tracking that covers all stages of the document life cycle, beginning from creation and ending with storage or disposal can be done by a tool like SignPaperless. Specific actions, including reminder emails, should be connected with particular statuses to minimize delays and misunderstandings.

Take Away Thoughts

A document workflow can be optimized in multiple ways depending on the unique characteristics of a business. It would be best to standardize as many document management solutions as possible, minimize the number of involved parties, and automate repetitive actions. In addition to this, using document workflow software can help standardize document processes, automate repetitive tasks, and keep approvals moving.

So, don’t delay and get in touch with SignPaperless today to avail our services and to make your day-to-day business operations better than ever before.