Customer Reviews

Designing a Document Strategy

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is well written and useful. It was recommended to me by one of our hardware suppliers and I'm glad I took the time to read it. Recently, my management assigned me to lead a team to put together a document strategy, but we did not know how to approach it. After several frustrating meetings not getting anywhere I started to use the book as an outline. Now we have several initiatives underway that I'm certain will save us hard dollars. Not only is the book a useful tool, it's easy and fun to read. We've purchased several to give to our bosses.

I ordered a copy of this book about a month ago and ended up giving it to my vice president...so now I'm back to get additional copies for my department. The author does an excellent job defining what a document strategy should be and demonstrating how important documents are to running a successful business. The approach is practical and in-depth without being overwhelming and overfilled with jargon. I found it to be an very valuable tool, and plan to use it with my staff to design strategies to help us save money and better communicate with our customers through our documents.

There is a lot of talk about the importance of a document strategy in the information technology business. Most of what you hear is either entirely technical or mostly philosophical. Neither is much practical use in the real-world. "Designing a Document Strategy" is the first book to provide a workable process to design a strategy.

Craine presents material from a number of areas, including Total Quality Management, Organizational Development, and Info Technology, and compiles it into a method that is both inspiring and pragmatic. This book is a must-have for anyone who is struggling to better manage information and corporate communications.

This book is a hodge podge of thrown together design and development techniques. A sprinkling of Deming, a spoon of Drucker and a heap of "personal interviews".

What is missing is a complete, well thought-out and useful methodology. This book was not without some good information, but it just wasn't enough nor was it well organized enough for me to recommend as a reference.

Anyone faced with the daunting task of implementing a document management system or any other large project will find that Designing a Document Strategy provides the critical tools necessary for creating a viable strategy. Author Kevin Craine delivers what he says is needed most -- "...a process to guide the development of your strategy so that it is meaningful, practical, and ensures worthwhile and lasting results." Designing a Document Strategy provides the framework and guidelines for that process, breaking it down to principles that can be applied to any information management project.

Using a conversational style that simplifies difficult concepts, Craine explains the importance of looking at documents as both strategic and tactical. He also describes how information assets, when they are used strategically, enable organizations to reap the benefits of increased revenue, decreased costs, and increased customer satisfaction.

Craine begins with a historical perspective of the importance of managing documents and how documents form the basis for most communications. Following is an overview of how the document strategy model must be molded to meet the needs of its users and organization. Craine emphasizes the importance of examining the types of documents created and the indivictuals who use them before looking at technological solutions.

Chapters Three and Four help readers make a baseline assessment of their current document environment in the context of their organizations' current business mission, goals, and vision and to evaluate it so that the "pain points" can be discovered. The author stresses concentrating on the lifecycle of documents as a basis for the analysis and investigation. While this book does not begin to explore all of the current document management applications available, it gives pointers about how to discover current technological trends. Finally, the author helps the reader identify the different document constituencies and how those information owners and stakeholders can impact the overall success of the plan.

In the next chapter, Craine describes various tools for determining current issues and formulating possible solutions. He does a good job of explaining how flow charts can be used effectively to help sort out issues that can be impediments to a successful document strategy.

Selling the strategy and managing the resulting change are always challenging. Craine's chapter on these topics walks the reader through presenting a proposal, including how to present a cost/benefit analysis. As part of that discussion, he explains the different accounting methods used to demonstrate cost/benefit and provides the formula for setting up an Excel spreadsheet. Assuming approval of the project, the second half of the chapter explains how the change process works and the manager's role within that process. Since implementing a document strategy will involve modifications in process, it is important to understand the psyche of change and how individual employees and an organization's culture can respond to change. Craine gives an overview of the potential and tactics that can be used to bring down these barriers.

In Chapter Seven, "Project Planning and Implementation," Craine provides an easy-to-understand overview of this critical process, providing for both novices and seasoned project management veterans the basic considerations and key elements needed to ensure success. Examples of how to write effective project statements and action plans are given, and useful guidelines on how to manage time, resources, and materials are discussed. Craine emphasizes here that throughout the project, the manager must continue to focus on the baseline analysis and investigation because these provide the means for measuring the success of the strategy. He closes with a discussion of practical ways to communicate the success of the project to sponsors and co-workers and of issues to consider at the time the final product is turned over to users. This chapter is not a primer on project management, but it provides the fundamentals to get readers well on their way.

Each chapter builds upon the previous one and provides meaningful examples of the concepts being explained, including case studies and questions that can be used as a checklist throughout the planning and implementation process. The only disappointing aspect of the book is that the author does not specifically mention the value that records and information professionals can add to the process.

Designing a Document Strategy is not a detailed treatise on project management or a detailed technological expose. However, in 166 pages this book provides information professionals with an easy-to-read and easyto-understand primer on how to develop a document strategy that can be used to achieve the goals of any information management project.

I still go back to this book for guidence in my everyday work. It is easy to read and comprehend. Written for the everyday user - NOT the "techs" that some books are written for.

The start of the book is very promising with lots of tips and tricks in the creation of a specific document strategy. But the last half of the book becomes regular projectmanagement and strategy development techniques. I was expecting some more specifics within the context of defining a document communication strategy.

This book is a great resource for those of us in the information and document processing industry. It is put together in such a way as to walk you through a methodology that is complete, well rounded, and ultimately...profitable. Kevin Craine has done a good job applying techniques and methods from proven areas of business strategy development and casting them with a "document focus." The result is a practical reference, plus added thoughts and insights that make you think, ponder and act.

The book is a mix of subjects and don't absolutely contributes to build any document strategy... Only for basic, very basic reading.