What to note about a document when it comes in, passes to someone else, or leaves the business? A register should do just that: show what the document is, when it started, who manages it, and what action is required.
Make a temporary practice register with five sample records to work out what fields you need. These samples might include an incoming request, an outgoing response, an internal instruction, a pending approval document, and a completed record. Fill in only data that would help you recognize the document, move it along, check on its progress, or file a request about it. You will soon see that some columns add value while others increase the workload.
Every document has a name. Do not simply use labels such as letter, scan, new file, document, etc. The document title should describe what is in the document, rather than just the whole document text. The date of registration and the registration number should be formatted consistently, as these will assist in differentiating similar documents, and also provide an audit trail.
The sender and addressee fields indicate the direction of the document flow. In the case of an incoming document, state the sender, and who the organization is receiving it from, and for an outgoing document, record the sender or author and the recipient addressee, whether it is an external organization or internal. This is often the organizational department, job title, or person responsible. Having this is very helpful in classification and routing.
The responsible person and status field make the register a working tool. The responsible person is the individual managing the document in question and their current status could say, waiting to be reviewed, returned for amendment, ready for approval, sent, complete, or processed. The terms active, in progress, etc. should only be used if everyone using the register knows what they imply.
Additional columns may also be needed to record things such as attachments, version, completed date, file location, or digital link to file, etc., but these must only exist if they add something to the document flow. The attachment field might only be needed if documents are often received without attachments. It is helpful for the document version field if there are many working versions. The document location may not be needed at first, once complete documents are filed, it is vital to know where they can be located.
A document register should not be minimal but simple, a person should be able to understand where a document is without opening every file or asking who is managing it at that stage. Be consistent with each field, clear with all columns, review empty columns when sending a document on to the next person or action, and delete any unused column.