step one

There are many steps to a successful information document redesign. Keep in mind, the number of steps and the amount of time and detail required will vary depending on the complexity of the document or if there are multiple documents. First, let me say that when looking at an organization total forms and documents, it is always best to start small and build on successful redesign projects. Otherwise, the project may bog down and fail. Often times, we will start with one document or with one area of an organization and the documents that might be valuable within that area.

The first step in any redesign project is to create a project team and establish goals.

PROJECT TEAM - The project team should consist of key players within the organization. Often we have a large group, but a small subset is the day to day working team. The large group, however, needs to include a representative of the key departments that touch the document. This usually will include marketing, IT, legal, regulatory, customer service and more depending on the document. The members need to be people who can make a decision or at the very least, get to a decision maker within their department easily. This ensures two things, the project will keep moving and all departments will have a say and buy in to the decisions.

ESTABLISH GOALS – this is critical since to make the project a success, there needs to be a starting point from which to compare the results. Sometimes I found that this is difficult since most customer service groups don’t have hard facts about the problems with a document. But, there are other possible measurements; production savings, mailing and printing costs, error reductions and service time. All of these are important measurements and will help to determine the success of a project.

And, of course, determine the main purpose of the document.