Where is the latest version of everything?
Each product you sell has a file of documents behind it. Yours are folders on a shared drive, one per product, created when each product launched. Some are neat. Others have three versions of the safety assessment, test reports saved in the wrong product's folder, and nothing since the formula changed last year. The person who set them up has moved on.
When someone asks to see a product's file, preparing it becomes a project.
A file is a collection, not a folder
The documents belong to different processes and change on different timetables. A folder on a drive has no idea what should be in it, whether it is complete, or when something upstream has changed.
- Contents come from the formulator, the buyer, external labs, your safety assessor and the design team.
- A formula change affects several documents, and nobody checks which.
- Versions pile up without a clear current one.
- Documents that apply to many products, such as a raw material's documents, are copied into each folder.
- Nobody can see which products' files have gaps.
What an untidy file costs
Keeping product files current is part of selling cosmetics, and the effort of assembling them in a hurry is considerable. Gaps are found at the worst time. Documents that contradict each other, such as a label that does not match the current formula version, are embarrassing to explain. What your product files must contain is a matter for you, your responsible person arrangements and your adviser. We do not advise on it. We keep track of the documents you decide belong there.
The growth of the range makes it steadily worse. A business with a handful of products can keep files straight by care and memory. At thirty or forty products, with shade and scent variants and some products made for brand clients, the same approach quietly stops working, and nobody notices until a file is asked for.
A document index for each product
- You set a checklist of document types for a product file, with your adviser's input. We build the index to match your checklist, not ours.
- Each product's index links to the current version of each document, wherever it lives: the formula record, the supplier document register, test reports, the safety assessment, artwork and batch records.
- Shared documents, such as raw material specifications, are linked rather than copied, so one update reaches every product that uses that material.
- Each item shows its version, date and who added it. Superseded versions are kept but clearly marked.
- Changes elsewhere, such as a new formula version or new artwork, flag the documents in the index that you have said depend on them.
- A completeness view shows every product and which items are missing, out of date or flagged for review, and the whole file can be exported in order when needed.
| Question | With folders | With an index |
|---|---|---|
| Is this product's file complete? | Open the folder and look | Checklist shows gaps |
| Which is the current version? | Guess from file names | Marked current, older kept |
| What does a formula change affect? | Remembered, maybe | Dependent items flagged |
| Prepare the file for someone | A project | Export in order |
A file you are not worried about
Each product's file is visibly complete or visibly not, and the gaps are dealt with in your own time. When a formula or label changes, the documents that need a look are flagged for the right person. Preparing a file for someone to see becomes an export rather than a hunt.
Is this where you are?
- Product files are shared drive folders set up at launch.
- Folders have several versions of the same document.
- Formula changes do not trigger a review of other documents.
- Preparing a product file takes days.
- You cannot see at a glance which products have gaps.