When to Capture Information

As it happens

Capturing Information "As it happens" is by far and away the easiest way, but:

This means that staff have to be "proactive" and do it as part of their job.
- Document controllers are the key - everything must pass through them
- Often beaten by the "its in my brief case and I need it" syndrome.
Senior staff must be involved in indexing - registration is a document control function.
- Allocation of drawings to Work Packages or Tasks
- Allocation of a letter to a "Subject" (the file where it resides if paper)
- Copies have to be made for "operational purposes" as the master is now "filed"
  - On completion of use, copies of documents should be destroyed
  - Electronically of course, the "master" can also be used operationally.
Staff cannot "leave things", otherwise the action becomes "in arrears".
- No holidays for Document Controllers
- The necessary discipline must be maintained.

In arrears

It is much more difficult to file a large quantity of paper which may be piled and strewn around the office,
There are often "duplicate copies". Many of these may have been scribbled on and may thus contain vital information
During the wait for filing, documents may be lost, e.g. removed by someone for another purpose such as a meeting.
Under pressure, the risk is that filing is left and so becomes an "after the job ends"

After the job ends

Lose the element of "at the time knowledge" for indexing , e.g.
- What was the Date, & Place of photographs and what is being illustrated ?
- What specific task were the notes about ?
Things tend to be forgotten e.g.
- record drawings may be left in a site vehicle,
- an email of a decison is deleted
It is often a case of "put everything into boxes, and store the boxes"
- But was everthing actually collected ?

Points to Note