One of the most important topics that my Energy and Engineering customers want to talk about is transmittal management. The flow of this project documentation is like the bloodstream in the human body—it is essential for survival. They want to improve, automate and accelerate the process.
It may seem trivial because a transmittal is nothing more than a package of important documents – with important information about project details and status – that one company sends to another. However, the real challenge is volume. During large capital projects, companies send and receive hundreds of transmittals daily. If the process is not reliable and auditable, projects can stall, confusion can mount, and in some cases, companies can be fined for non-compliance.
There are three areas of improvement for transmittal management that I always discuss with Document Controllers in the context of Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS).
Automatic Synchronization
Typically Document Controllers exchange hundreds of transmittals daily using an FTP server or email attachments. It is possible to partly automate the process with FTP client software; however, it remains intensive manual work. Document Controllers have dreamt of an automatic way to coordinate transmittal contents. Now, synchronization is a reality with easy, secure file sharing that allows for seamless, automatic synchronization of transmittals.
Here’s how it works. The transmittal is saved in a specific folder on a local computer, where Syncplicity immediately and automatically uploads it to the cloud where others will automatically have it downloaded to their local folder. Documentum Capital Projects is integrated with Syncplicity, so the transmittal process is controlled and automated. Document Controllers do not waste time manually distributing transmittals.
Easy Loading
Since transmittals can include hundreds of drawings, it is important to be able to automatically load large amounts. But what does a Document Controller do if there are errors in transmittal? Many of my customers have validated a best practice to handle this.
Using an automatically generated Excel spreadsheet that lists the documents and metadata (such as number and revision number) for each transmittal, Documentum Capital Projects validates the metadata and reports errors. If there are no errors, the transmittal is automatically loaded. If there’s an error, the system updates the Excel spreadsheet, adds a comment or explanation next to the error, and it’s ready to send it to the contractor. Sounds easy, right?
Fast Distribution
Once all transmittals are uploaded, work doesn’t end for the Document Controller. The next step is to distribute them to the engineering teams for review. Document Controllers love this feature in Documentum Capital Project because it allows them to define standard distribution matrixes once and reuse them throughout the project.
After completing the review process, Document Controllers must generate outgoing transmittals. With Documentum Capital Projects, this process is also automated. Just select the documents and the distribution matrix to have the transmittal – including the coversheet – automatically created. Finally, the complete transmittal package can be automatically uploaded to Syncplicity for distribution.
So as you can see, OpenText knows how to automate and optimize transmittals flow. Documentum Capital Projects is designed with industry best practices and covers the entire transmittal process. Many of my customers have reduced their transmittal cycle by 50% or more by eliminating many manual steps.
Visit the Documentum Energy website to learn more about Documentum Capital Projects as well as other our solutions for Energy and Engineering.
