Speaker 1: On a project, we can end up in all sorts of problems if we have multiple versions of the same document and we are not sure which one is up-to-date and accurate, or if we inadvertently use an out-of-date version of that document. As a result, we need version control. But what is version control and, critically, how can you implement it on your project? Version control is how we manage multiple variations of the same document. It's about knowing what each version of the document is and its current status. So, version control lets us keep a clear record of how a document was created, developed, and changed over time. It provides us with an audit trail of what changes have been made to the document, who made those changes, and who approved those changes, and when they were implemented. There are many software solutions that can help to implement effective version control. Some of them are stand-alone document management systems, others are version control applications sitting in wider project management information systems. However, I'm not making it my brief to examine any of these. There are just too many of them to look at. What I want to focus on is the principles. The principles for how to conduct good quality version control within a project environment. Principle number one. Every new version or variation of a document has a new number and a new name. Typically that name would include a reference to the version and to the date. My preference on my project is that all file names include the title, the status of the document, whether it is a draft or approved document or a revised document, for example, the version number and the date of the document. Principle number two. We keep track of all changes made to a document. The version number, the dates and the status, whether it is approved or not, whether it is a draft or a final document or a revised document, all of that information we track and make available. My preference is that that information is contained within a change control or version tracking table within the document. I prefer to have it at the front of the document rather than the back, but I would insist where I can that that table is in each document. That table will include the version number, the date, the author or authors of the changes, and what the principal changes are and the reasons for them. This will allow a reader to track back from the original document through to the current document to see the different changes that were made and why they were made and when they were made. Principle number three. File storage or document storage needs to make it as easy as possible to find the most up-to-date current version of each document and as hard as possible to accidentally confuse the wrong version, an out-of-date version of the document and think it is current and up-to-date. My preference is therefore to implement a suitable software that makes life easy for the team so that they have to do a minimum amount of work to comply with good version control practices. More importantly, if the software manages the process, it makes it harder for the team members to make mistakes. Principle number four is to adopt a clear version numbering system. My preference is for a three-part numbering system, for example 2.03.02. In this example, the first part represents the status. A zero as the first digit suggests a draft. A one would suggest an approved document. A two, three or four in the first place would indicate successive approved major revisions to the document. The second part is for major approved revisions to the document, but approved by the project manager rather than by the governance structure sitting outside of the project. And the third part is for minor changes that are approved within the project team, usually by workstream leaders or team leaders. So in our example, we've got the second major version of the document. It is fully approved, but it has had three major revisions approved by the project manager and since the third of those, there have been two minor updates approved by a team leader or workstream leader. So version control is how we keep track of the versions of a document on a fast moving project. And if you can adopt each of these four principles, then you will have good version control on your project and set up the conditions to be confident that any team member pulling any document out of the storage system will have the most current up-to-date version of the document upon which they can rely. Please do give us a thumbs up if you've enjoyed this video. There's loads more great project management content to come, so please do subscribe to our channel and hit the bell so you don't miss any of it. And I'll look forward to seeing you in the next video. Bye.