Document analysis is a crucial step in project management analysis. Project managers peruse documents to get information about the current status of the project. The thing is that project managers need to study different documents in order to understand what the operation is all about.
Analyzing documents give project managers a good sense of what the project is all about. Document analysis is used to determine requirements by analyzing the existing documents. This process also identifies the types of information that are important to the requirements. There are numerous types of documents that are analyzed in project management to draw out the important requirements. These include business plans, contractual agreements, marketing literature, requests for proposal, logical data models, current process flows, business rule repositories, application software documentations, interface documentation, policies, work procedures, requirement documentations and other regulatory documentations like ordinances and local codes. It is important to gather the necessary information first before organizing or scheduling an interview with the stakeholders.
Document analysis is done in three stages. The first stage is the preparation stage which involves the identification of materials that are suitable for relevant analysis. This is followed by the review stage which involves studying the material and listing down questions for the stakeholders. Lastly, the wrap-up stage involves reviewing the notes with the stakeholders and seeking answers to the follow-up questions raised during the meeting.
Document analysis is very useful for the organization. It ensures that the project manager does not work initially with a blank page. Having a data or information that can back him or her up is crucial for effective project planning. However, it is important that the documents that the project manager is analyzing are updated to reflect the current situation of the project otherwise bad decisions are likely to be made.