An EDMS offers benefits in every aspect of project management and delivery, from costs to quality to customer satisfaction to brand-building. Let’s start with the first one: cost management.

Lowered costs are what most often comes to mind when we think of the ROI from any software investment and with an engineering document management system this expectation is magnified because EDMS is not a generic software; rather it is a system of document management that has been tailor-made to engineering and project organisations and engineering and project data. Thus, the benefits are even more intense and the immediate tangible effect that can be seen after installing an EDMS is in cost management. To begin with, paper costs are all but eliminated as documents become digital. Calculated over the course of an entire project these add up to very significant savings by the end of the project. There are also huge savings in manpower; the EDMS reduces the amount of man-hours required per task since most of the hands-on work is taken over by the system, and that also means travel costs, communication and meeting costs, and other associated costs become unnecessary when you switch to EDMS.

Intangible benefits include increased efficiency in Document Management which translates to a more productive and stress-free work culture, which results in a more balanced and happier workforce. It also translates to conflict-free collaboration amongst project stakeholders as the EDMS enables multiple people from multiple time zones to work together on the same secure platform and this also contributes to a work environment based on trust and transparency. Of course there will be some teething troubles initially as teams get used to the new working methods but in the long term adopting an EDMS will result in a work environment that isn’t all about damage control and firefighting. For the same reasons, EDMS makes it possible for managers to work proactively rather than reactively all the time, and this lets them take more control of their schedules and deliverables so work can proceed as planned and on schedule and within the allocated budget.

EDMS helps collaboration in another very tangible way ie with revision control.

A project typically entails hundreds and even thousands of documents, and most documents undergo several revisions through their lifecycle. Keeping track of those revision manually is a nightmare, when you consider how many people actually have access to documents. With an EDMS this is completely resolved as the system takes over revision management and effortlessly stores and tracks document revisions, avoiding duplications and ensuring that only the latest revision is available to users at any given time. This eliminates a lot of human error, as well as the rework that would almost inevitably ensue, which is also linked to costs and time. Some EDMS can integrate with other applications used by the various stakeholders and this also ensures smooth collaboration across various partner organisations.

Another intangible benefit is in the field of compliance and quality management. Without an EDMS, companies have no reliable way to enforce workflows and regulations and protocols other than manual micro-managing teams in real time, and human error does creep in because of the sheer volume of processes and documents involved. An EDMS with built-in workflows that were set up according to a QMS and the various regulations that need to be followed will automatically ensure that each process is followed exactly as it should be, step by step, from start to finish. This in turn ensures that quality is achievable in every deliverable without extra effort from overworked managers.

Data Security is another benefit the modern EDMS offers. Its centralised database means that every transaction, query, and retrieval request is logged and can be audited at any point in the future and only authorised personnel can be given access to sensitive information. In today’s landscape the ability to keep your data safe is becoming a growing concern and although specialised security solutions do exist and provide value, the EDMS provides an additional layer of security at the source.

Above are some of the more obvious benefits but now let us turn to an often-overlooked one, and that is knowledge management or knowledge reuse. EPC project companies have historical project data stored, including past problems+solutions, and an EDMS allows them to benefit from this stored knowledge in a real and practical way. With an EDMS all useful data from the past would have been properly organised and categorised, so that any user with the right authorisation can find what he is looking for almost instantly. This saves managers from having to reinvent wheels.

A final rarely mentioned benefit an EDMS can offer is in internal employee management. When you consider the software’s unique ability to connect all users across all departments in a common work environment, it become easy to see how this can be leveraged into various non-technical activities like employee training and other interactive exercises between stakeholders, and this can further help build trust and rapport  within the project teams.