Document Control: Audits

Schedule a monthly cleanup to ensure files haven't drifted into the wrong folders and that the Document Register matches the actual files in the system.

 Regular audits are important for the following reasons:

1. Ensuring the "Single Source of Truth"

The biggest risk in any project is Scope creep. An audit verifies that old, superseded drawings or contracts have been moved to archive folders and are not being accessed by the on-site team. It guarantees the document is the most current version.

2. Maintaining Compliance

In many industries, you are legally required to keep records for a specific number of years (e.g., safety certificates, bank statements or waste transfer notes).

3. Verifying Naming and Filing Consistency

As projects get busy, teams often get lazy with naming conventions, ensuring there is a consistent naming convention in place. Conducting regular audits to check consistency, will help the team overall when  required to retrieve accurate up to date information.

4. Security and Access Control

People change roles, and subcontractors come and go, regular audits ensure any links are broken and admin rights are removed. SharePoint has report views that can make this job very simple and time efficient.

5. Identifying Training Gaps

If an audit reveals that one specific department is constantly misfiling documents or skipping approval workflows, it tells you exactly where you need to focus your Regular Training.

6. Proving the "Audit Trail"

In the event of a dispute, you may need to prove who authorised what and when.

Document Control Aduit checklist:

During an internal audit, you should ask these three questions of a random sample of documents:

1. Can I find it? (Is it in the right folder with the right name?)

2. Is it the right version? (Does it match the Document Register?)

3. Has it been authorised?