--- title: Document Control description: This answers the commonly asked question 'what is document control'. It explains why document control is important for organisations and how they can implement this into their business processes. --- [![mango_ecoonline](https://www.mangolive.com/hubfs/Mango%20Theme%202024/mango_ecoonline.svg "mango_ecoonline")](https://www.mangolive.com/?hsLang=en) [![Client Login](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/308986/50884387-f40d-4aa4-83e1-6f160fd3eedc.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/308986/50884387-f40d-4aa4-83e1-6f160fd3eedc) QHSE Compliance Software Solutions Mango can be used to control and maintain all aspects of an organisation's QHSE compliance requirements. So whatever your needs - be they Health & Safety, Quality, Environmental Management, Food Safety - or all four - Mango is the answer. QHSE Compliance Software Mango can be used to control and maintain all aspects of an organisation's QHSE compliance requirements. So whatever your needs - be they Health & Safety, Quality, Environmental Management, Food Safety - or all four - Mango is the answer. QHSE Learning Centre Broaden your QHSE knowledge with resources for all skill levels. Whether you need the latest advanced tactics, a refresher on the basics, or to start from scratch, this is your home for QHSE knowledge. QHSE Clients Watch and listen to some Mango clients. They are just like you. Wrestling with QHSE compliance. They tell stories of before and after using Mango. They tell it like it is. # Document Control [Learn QHSE](https://www.mangolive.com/learn-qhse?hsLang=en) / [Quality Management](https://www.mangolive.com/learn-qhse?hsLang=en#quality-management) / What is Document Control ## What is Document Control? Document control is the planned method that will ensure the required information for your organisation is managed and organised.  Effective document control ensures that all relevant information is available for your employees to do their jobs.   ## **Why is document control important?** Document control is important because it can become your **single source of truth** that the right things took place, that the right people were involved, and that the right products or service were indeed implemented. When your employees can't find information or know how to store information, it can cause enormous amounts of confusion.  They end up maintaining documents on their hard drives, or resort to setting up some different storage to share files, but those places just become dump stations for random documents. Therefore it is critical that documents are controlled effectively to ensure they are reliable, traceable, and are kept in a secured location, as this leads to the assurance of quality of the documents. Simply put, without document control, there will be no quality assurance. ## Document Control Best Practice: Here is some best practice guideline for the control of documents, these are as follows: 1. Make your procedures thin and meaningful and ensure they focus on the value-added outputs. 2. Ensure they reflect what you do as an organisation – rather than trying to align to standards, clause-by-clause. 3. Remember who the reader is – there’s really no point having a complicated document control and approval system unless you’re NASA. 4. Use a good compliance software tool that is output-focused, not document-control focused.Approving the documents are adequate prior to use 5. Make sure your continuously review and update the documents where necessary and re-approve them 6. Identify changes and the revision status 7. Ensure all relevant documents are available when needed 8. Ensure the documents are always legible and easy to identify 9. Ensure you identify the documents that originate from outside of organisation and control them 10. Prevent the accidental use of outdated documents. If they need to be kept for any purpose, ensure they are named outdated #### Learn More: - [Why have Document Management](https://www.mangolive.com/blog-mango/why-document-management-is-no-substitute-for-origami?hsLang=en) - [What is Documented Information - Clause 7.5](https://www.mangolive.com/blog-mango/iso-9001-clause-7.5-documented-information?hsLang=en) [![mango_ecoonline](https://www.mangolive.com/hubfs/Mango%20Theme%202024/mango_ecoonline.svg "mango_ecoonline")](https://www.mangolive.com/?hsLang=en) 2024 Copyright. All rights reserved. [Privacy policy](https://www.ecoonline.com/privacy-notice-ecoonline). - [**](https://www.facebook.com/Mango.Ltd) - [**](https://x.com/MangoLimited) - [**](http://www.linkedin.com/company/mango-limited?trk=fc_badge) - [**](https://www.youtube.com/user/mangosoftware)