I was a document controller, ama

[OlaEliza]

I did document control for 20 years. Recently gave it up to emigrate and be a dog groomer.

Document control is pretty much what is says on the tin. You control documents in and out of a company, usually in construction.

Back in the day, documents and their revisions were logged manually on spreadsheets. As time went on electronic document management systems were created where users upload their documents and they all sit for everyone else to access once approved.

Its niche admin, although some people can get funny about being lumped in with admin. We are not administrators, it's much more involved and takes a lot more attention to detail. It sounds easy but not anyone can just be a good DC.

How is the change to dog grooming going?

How did you get into document control and what qualifications did you need?

What do you actually do to the documents? Are you reviewing the content or do you manipulate/prune the data in the documents or do not do the actual upload and deletion.

I work in commercial law firms and, as you can imagine, deal with lots of documents. I have been through 4 document management systems over the course of 20 years across their evolution.

Microsoft word has versioning and track changes. There is also software that can compare documents and mark up changes e.g. Deltaview or Litera Change Pro. How does what you do differ?

How is the change to dog grooming going?

It's not at the moment, I need to order a bath. Still getting delivery worked out 😂

Is it as boring as it sounds?

How did you get into document control and what qualifications did you need?

I was doing door and telephone canvassing part time while at 6th form and from that got a job as a resident liaison officer. From that I went into document control. I didn't need any qualifications, just able to use a computer.

What do you actually do to the documents? Are you reviewing the content or do you manipulate/prune the data in the documents or do not do the actual upload and deletion. I work in commercial law firms and, as you can imagine, deal with lots of documents. I have been through 4 document management systems over the course of 20 years across their evolution. Microsoft word has versioning and track changes. There is also software that can compare documents and mark up changes e.g. Deltaview or Litera Change Pro. How does what you do differ?

We QA check the documents on receipt, check the document numbers, title and revision on the actual document matches the gold some or info uploaded to the system.

We also push the documents through a workflow which means they get reviewed by the appropriate people and and then approved and pushed on to the system and distributed or returned as rejected or with comments which mean they need amending.

The main systems now are BIW, 4Projects and Aconex. Some companies have their own in-house system.

Some documents are commented on in Adobe and the changes tracked on there.

Is it as boring as it sounds?

I did it as a temp job for about 3 months and would say no, it's not as boring as it sounds. It's even worse than that.

Is it as boring as it sounds?

It depends what you like doing. I like working with spreadsheets and systems so I found it better than normal admin.

It also depends what kind of project you are on. Some are small and don't have many docs going backwards and forwards and some are big with 1000's coming in each day. It also varies throughout the project, at tender stage it can be stupid busy and just before the end before o&m's it can be quiet.

O&M's are operation and maintenance manuals which used to be a pita to collect in. Now everyone just uploads them to the system when their work is completed.

There is also BIM360 which is pretty cool, it's a virtual layout of the building with fixtures and fittings and you can move through it on the screen and click on each thing and it gives you the info about it.

The main systems now are BIW, 4Projects and Aconex. Some companies have their own in-house system.

I looked up the software platforms you mentioned. They appear to be project management/project extranets which facilitate collaboration on big construction projects.

Yes, it will be helpful to have someone (a doc controller, I guess) to sense-check and manage the documents that come in and out of the project environment and provide support to others who use the environment.

Law firms have equivalent collaborative spaces with their clients and other parties on a specific matter and their respective lawyers, if there are multi-parties and numerous documents which require input from various sources. I imagine it is the same principle.

It does sound similar.

The work of a dc is really important from a QA perspective. Doesn't help if others in the team don't follow checking and approval processes though.

I have an interview for a trainee position. Any advice and pointers would be great!