With many design and construction companies these days looking to EDMS solutions to help them manage their data, it needs to be acknowledged that not all EDMS are created equal. A Standard EDMS cannot support the complexity of the engineering process or the technical nature of its data, in fact, a system intended to function as a document workflow management system for engineering teams has to take into account the unique nature of engineering data and procedures.

I’ll give you an example. If I gave my team a work order which wasn’t part of an integrated and easily-searchable document management system, it would be like giving them a hammer when they needed a Philips-head screwdriver – a general tool instead of a specialized one. In other words, I would be making things more difficult for them. They would have to record and log the changes manually and this could – as any engineer working on a project will tell you – lead to all kinds of problems like documentation errors, safety concerns, escalating work order costs, flawed version control, etc. That’s because a generic document workflow management system is not built for dynamic engineering content; it does not support CAD drawing files (with linkages to CAD authoring tools and/or Building Information Management (BIM)), and if you try to adapt it to your engineering data and procedures, you will most likely need third-party add-ins and even software customizations, which would be pretty expensive.

That’s not to say standard electronic document/data management systems are ineffective; on the contrary, they are very effective on static and linear data, like customer and sales records, marketing campaign data and marketing collateral, business communication, blogs, graphics, etc. 

However, when we speak of Engineering data, the requirements are different. Such data is unique because it is specific to the engineering process. It is a highly technical and rigidly-formatted kind of data like CAD drawings, worksheets, reports, and so on and it is not static, i.e. a document is not created and left alone as with other kinds of data. In fact, you could think of engineering documents as living and evolving entities that must be continually updated, shared, tracked, and controlled. 

So a non-specialized or standard EDMS works well on unstructured data (which doesn’t follow a pre-set model) or un-connected documents (which are not linked to other documents) but when it comes to documentation that is being used concurrently by several departments and has multiple versions driven by multiple regulations & protocols across multiple locations, trying to use a document workflow management system not specifically designed for the purpose will almost certainly end up adding more work to the users and more complexity to the process.

Compare this to an EDMS that was designed and developed specifically for engineering document workflow management on current capital projects. This kind of EDMS solution will do more than manage document workflows across design and construction – it will optimize the handover process, which is a huge pain point, and streamline operations and maintenance after the handover. 

What is the difference? To start with, a dedicated EDMS would have been set up with a centralized data archive that allows users to access and update the documents from anywhere (which would be useful for Facilities Management, Operations, Maintenance, Refurbishment or extension, Asset de-commissioning, etc.) and it would contain industry-specific workflows for each document and task and activity, thereby optimizing collaboration and ensuring quality & compliance throughout the document or deliverable lifecycle.

Let’s look at some of the things you can do with a dedicated engineering document workflow management system:

• Efficiently manage linked/interdependent documents like CAD files, BIM models, drawings, schematics, etc. 

• Update master documentation with effective change management 

• Give all teams real-time and secure access to engineering drawings and other time-critical data

• Reduce the time required to search/find files 

• Give assurance of working only with the latest versions of documents and drawings 

• Provide the information needed from anywhere at any time on the user’s mobile device

• Reduce or eliminate human error (and therefore rework)

• Enable managers to make proactive decisions, and reduce the risk of delay

• Significantly reduce maintenance time and labor costs

• Allow managers to track the document lifecycle without relying on email or meetings or phone calls

• Proactively keep all stakeholders and clients in the loop 

In addition, some of the more advanced engineering document workflow management systems allow for Rules to be applied within the system itself; for example project schedules that are dynamically linked with other workflows/documents, and this is an efficient and reliable way to ensure that document changes are managed without the need for third-party add-ins.

To sum up, a dedicated EDMS is a valuable business asset on capital EPC projects because it streamlines document workflow management across the company, fosters transparency and accountability, ensures quality through automated workflows, and reduces costs and the risk of delay.

Read more: In part 1 talks about Why You Need a Non-Generic EDMS