Document management solution allows for centralized file management, file versioning, searchable metadata, multi-user sign-on, auditability, and efficient transmittal capability.
Critical Issue:
The firm’s document management system suffered from user error, duplication, lost files, lack of auditability, and poor versioning. When its database crashed, it cost $2,000 plus reputational damage.
Solution:
A document management solution offering centralized file management, streamlined versioning, searchable metadata, multi-user sign-on, auditability, and efficient transmittal capability.
Excerpts below from a case study show how an engineering firm in the oil and gas industry of Western Canada is finding success with Document Locator. Read the SWAT Projects Case Study.
How to Find Any Drawing, From Any Project, From Any Year?
The firm’s documents lead an interesting life. Each plant has its own set of drawings, which are loaned to SWAT, modified, and returned. Clients aren’t the only ones who might request a document from SWAT. The firm is regulated by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA), and must stand ready to retrieve any record, from any project, from any year, to demonstrate compliance.
Until recently, the firm relied on a local server for document storage – but it’s not easy to dig up records from a complex folder structure.
The System Was Tolerable, But Not Perfect.
User error was unavoidable, duplication happened, single-user access wasn’t auditable, broken links made files unfindable, and the system didn’t support versioning, so the folder structure got quite deep.
Then One Day, The Database Went Down.
In addition to system stability and an auditable trail of deliverables – two key requirements – SWAT needed a solution with transmittal capability. SWAT often exchanges large files with people outside the firm; due to file size, email and FTP would not do.
SWAT found Document Locator. With centralized management, streamlined versioning, searchable metadata, multi-user sign-on, auditability, and transmittals, it had everything the firm needed.
Processing Time Cut in Half; Efficiency Supports Company Growth.
Since rollout, SWAT has cut its document processing time in half. This efficiency is a selling point for clients; it also empowered SWAT to expand its client base without hiring additional controllers, saving on salary and onboarding costs. There were some unexpected benefits, as well.
Request a Document Management Software demo or read the full SWAT Projects case study.
