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The ability to multi-task is one of many skills that women entrepreneurs take full pride in for day to day business operations. A typical day includes anything and everything from planning a project strategy to dealing with customers, drafting contracts, seeking suppliers, negotiating new deals, and more often than not, keeping things organised on the home-front too. While this skill is not exclusive to women of course, it certainly becomes an essential skill when running any business.

The good news for those who never seem to have enough time in the day is that there are many useful tools that help you improve your operations, while also saving a great deal of time and resources. One such tool is document control software, which proves to be a very powerful weapon in your project management arsenal.

How does document control help you plan, execute and track projects however, and how does this help you in your daily operations?

Document Control and Project Management
No matter how large or small, every project that you take on needs a plan. From the creation of the project plan itself, to each process and tasks that is associated with the project, there is nearly always a great deal of paperwork that goes into project management. In the old days, this would mean a gigantic paper trail, with memos, emails, version issues and other potential frustrations that made it a nightmare to plan things smoothly.

Document control however has led to a far simpler, more effective way to manage and plan projects. Some of the benefits that are offered by the ‘new’ way of planning include the following:

• Permissions – while you want your project team to stay updated on their specific tasks and processes, you may not always want every person on the team to view every aspect of the process. By setting permissions for each team member, you will be able to give authorised team members access to the things they need to see, without the risk of revealing confidential information that may only apply to senior managers.

• Multi-media support – your project plan may include a variety of files, including image files, word documents, spreadsheets, video clips and whatever else is required. Good document control software enables support for a variety of files, to allow you to add relevant documentation to each task listed on the plan.

• Full document control – you will have full control over the project document, in terms of task creation, editing, deletion and revisions. Choose who you wish to allow access rights to be granted for each level of permission, and ensure that documents are kept secure at all times to prevent accidental deletion or unauthorised changes.

• Version control – as the very latest document is always accessible, you will not have to worry about using the wrong version of your project plan. A full history is also accessible to review updates against the latest version too, while reporting is made far easier with the help of related tools and features.

Handy tools that make your job easier are more than an investment – they are also able to give you peace of mind, along with more time to focus on everything else you need to do. And let’s be honest – we could all do with a bit more time in the day.