Capabilities to look for in modern documentation management solutions

Document digitization began more than a decade ago by digitizing paper to PDFs containing tags that enabled searching. Since then, the quantity and complexity of digital documents has increased. As a result

• it has become difficult for employees to find information relevant to their role and tasks

• administrators invest significant time replicating content across other documents

• and the processes to request / approve / communicate changes have become… well let’s just say “darn complex”.

Organizations managing critical infrastructure (such as railways) are adopting newer technology that frees content from static PDFs, categorizes it into “information modules”, which can be filtered to deliver employees only the information they need. This post explains how it works, and what to consider when evaluating modern documentation management tools.

Information modules – dynamic content rather than static PDFs

PDFs tagged with keywords enable filtering on document level. However, it requires that employees still scan through the entire PDF to find the information relevant to them.

Dynamic content is different.

An information module is a unit of information. It can be as short as a single sentence, a table row, a graphic, etc.

Adding filters (such as job role, task, topic, language, etc.) to information modules enables companies to

• efficiently organize their documentation

• then deliver employees just the information they need for their role and task.

If this sounds simple, that is good. It is also one of those cases where showing is easier than telling (there is a “Request Demo” button in the top right corner).

What to look for in a digital documentation solution

1. Deliver employees content based on their role or task

PDFs are static documents, requiring a user to search for what is important. This is why employees often note the parts of documents that are important to their work, and store copies off-line. However, delivering employees only the information they need

• saves time

• reduces the desire for employees to keep off-line copies of important documents

• increases compliance to your company’s best practices

2. Ability to reuse content

Solutions using static PDF pages require careful copying / pasting when reusing content. Information modules save a lot of time because they can be reused in any other document. When something in the original information module changes (for instance: a sentence is updated, or a number in a trailing tonnage chart is changed), the update is immediately reflected in every document that the information module is reused in. In short, all documents reflect the most current information without manual work.

3. Ability to easily revise content and send personalized revision updates

Managing documentation is a collaborative process requiring consensus among many stakeholders. Here are three things to look for when evaluating a platform:

• Is it easy for end users to suggest updates?
  The conductors and inspectors with many years of experience are subject matter experts. If they can optimize the accuracy of what is in the documentation by opening a change request right in the content, then the company benefits with best practices that are optimized to the reality on the ground.

• Are the right stakeholders notified when a change is requested?
  This is easy to set up with automated workflows and defined user or admin roles.

• Can you inform only the employees impacted by a change?
  If your documentation management uses static PDFs, then people are receiving information about changes that do not impact them. In Yonder, employees can be explicitely informed about those changes that actually have an impact on their role and mission, as illustrated in the video below. For example, a railway operator announces that bridge maintenance work is scheduled for the next seven weeks on a particular line. Only the conductors running trains on that line should receive notifications. Informing only employees impacted by a change with this level of granularity is easily automated when using information modules.

Personalized change notifications inform users only about the changes that affect their role.