Document management is the systematic approach to creating, storing, organising, retrieving and disposing of documents and records throughout their entire lifecycle. In a compliance context, this includes policies, procedures, evidence records, audit reports, risk assessments and contractual documents, all of which must be maintained in a controlled manner with appropriate access restrictions, retention schedules and disposal procedures.
A robust document management system is fundamental to demonstrating compliance with frameworks like ISO 27001, SOC 2 and the GDPR, where auditors expect to see well-organised, versioned and easily retrievable documentation. It reduces the time spent preparing for audits, ensures that staff always have access to the latest approved versions of critical documents and supports knowledge continuity when team members change roles.