We are currently using SharePoint to manage nearly all the documents associated with SMCR. Is this a good approach or should we consider looking at alternatives?
SMCR places a heavy burden on managing and updating documents ranging from Statements of Responsibilities to regulatory references and fitness and propriety assessments. It is very difficult to keep control of all these documents without a good document management solution.
SharePoint is a powerful toolset that includes document management as a key functionality but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is right for your SMCR implementation. It will probably require considerable set up and configuration in order to match your requirements, it is certainly not as out of the box as some other solutions.
However, SharePoint may be ideal if you are a firm that uses Microsoft applications across your organisation and you have the IT resource to invest in setting up and configuring the solution.
Our recommendation
Either way, we would recommend that you have structured approach to assessing potential SMCR solutions and that you ensure that any solution you select ticks the following functional boxes:
It has one centralised approach to storing SMCR documents – this will provide a single version of the truth and avoid multiple versions of the same document being shared around your firm.
It can support various workflows that lead from document creation to final approval – this is important for areas such as fitness and propriety assessments where various pieces of information are collected over time.
It can support some level of integration with other systems that you currently use – for example, you may have HR solutions supporting annual appraisals, disciplinary processes etc
It has a robust approach to permissions that allows people in different roles to access different documents and do different things with those documents (edit them, approve them, archive them etc)
We also take it as read that any solution needs to be secure and easily accessed and used via a mobile device.