Fileplan Review

A. Finding the information needed to provide great customer service is a long and frustrating process.

When everyone adopts their own approach to filing documents, the result is needless duplication and no single source of truth for customer information. When disputes arise, or new staff come on board, piecing together the history of interaction with a customer can involve trying to make use of the limited search tools available in Microsoft Windows and attempting to access archived email inboxes.

By storing emails and documents together in a single collection, organised by libraries, lists, and folders, Fileplan provides that single source of truth, with search capabilities to pinpoint relevant information.

Features: Fileplan Windows Client, Search

B. Standards certification requires a document control procedure

Document control is a mandatory requirement of certification by the International Organization for Standards to ensure that staff are always working from the correct version of quality assurance procedures. Compliance requires that the business ensures all published documents are approved, reviewed, and updated as required, available and accessible where needed and that obsolete documents are withdrawn.

Controlled documents in Fileplan follow a structured review and approval workflow, and share options can ensure only the latest, approved version is available for use. Controlled version numbering and various document fields can be used to provide an audit history to monitor changes in the document over time.

Features: Document control

C. Share documents securely outside the business

A firm bidding for a large project will have many documents to be shared with their client over the course of the tender. Being quick, easy, and familiar, many staff will use their file sync and sharing application account. This is a risk for the business on a number of fronts:

• multiple copies of the document are created outside the firm’s control;
• the firm cannot confirm that although sent the documents were actually received and opened;
• documents exchanged may not always be saved back into corporate systems. When individuals leave the organisation, the business is effectively locked out of any documentation residing in personal accounts.

Fileplan supports guest users who can be granted read-only access to documents, folders, or library groups. The file sharing capabilities still allow easy sharing via email, however recipients are sent a link to the document within the Fileplan system, rather than making their own copy. Use of share links can be audited to show when and how often the recipient accessed the file, and can be set to expire after a designated period of time.

Features: Guest users, File Sharing