Remote Collaboration is a type of project collaboration where project stakeholders (owners, contractors, consultants) and project teams/departments work together on the same deliverables, but from different locations. This kind of collaboration used to be handled ‘manually’ – drawings would be made in CAD, printed, and sent to other departments for comment and review, and the process of sharing, reviewing, commenting, revising, approving, and releasing a document (as laid out in the organisation’s quality protocols) would be managed by a human Document Controller.
This continued even with the adoption of digital technology; hard copies got replaced with electronic copies (shared via email) but the basic process was the same ie a human document controller was in charge of documents being stored and updated and shared.
With platforms like SharePoint came the concept of shared folders. Everybody would open and comment and make changes in the shared folder and the Document Controller would use a Comment Resolution Sheet to manage all the comments and versions after which the folder would be shared with the client for his comments, and so on to final approval and release. But it was essentially the same collaboration process except that the data was electronic/digital.
And that was the problem. Collaboration was extremely vulnerable to human error and delay, as well as being inefficient and tedious and slow.
Now, we have a new generation of engineering document management systems and now for the first time the problem is being solved at the root because today’s EDMS does a lot more than digitise files and automate (some of the) procedures, it digitises the process along with its data (CAD drawings, excel sheets, emails, reports, transmittals, etc.) and so data and process and people work intuitively together in an environment designed for and adapted to remote collaboration.
The modern EDMS automates each step of a collaborative activity, say, reviewing a drawing, by taking the steps stored in human memory and experience and converting them into workflows stored inside the software ie the workflows are the guiding force, not human memory and effort.
So it’s the EDMS that ‘pushes’ the drawing from one person to the next (according to the workflow), it’s the EDMS that tracks and records all transactions pertaining to that drawing, it’s the EDMS that stores and updates revisions, and it’s the EDMS that manages access based on role and/or workstage.
Workflows can be as flexible or rigid as you choose. For example, an EDMs will by default always ‘know’ which is the latest version of a drawing and will make only that version available – like putting the most important document on top of the pile where it can’t be missed – but you could also set it up so authorised personnel can access older versions if required, like in the case of referring to older versions to settle a conflict or clarify a doubt. But the default is the latest version.
The modern engineering document management software also uses mobile technology to streamline collaboration in ways unique to EPC projects. For example, in cases where a drawing has to be printed out and sent to the site, the system will automatically add a QR code to the printout and you can use the EDMS app on your phone to scan the code and check whether any changes were made to the drawing after it was printed out.
Security is another aspect of collaboration greatly enhanced by an EDMS. With so many stakeholders it becomes necessary to control access to data, some of which may be sensitive – at least for a time – like when onsite teams don’t need access to a work-in-progress drawing but design teams do, or when there’s a different cut-off date for each team, or only some people in each team should have access, and so on. This kind of super-specialised and ‘contextual’ access to documents is only possible with a modern EDMS.
Without an EDMS you’d likely have several people (reviewers) who have been granted access to a shared folder. However, they all can’t comment on the original document, which could be a CAD file or a 3D model. So you’d have to create a sort of interim copy, usually a PDF, on which everybody comments, and then the document controller consolidates all the comments and shares them and tracks the resulting actions. With an EDMS it all happens automatically; comments get consolidated along with commenter name and timestamps into a Comment Resolution Sheet, changes are tracked and recorded, status and versions are updated, and reminders if changes don’t happen on time are sent out – all without human intervention.
In short, you could say that the modern EDMS takes on the role of document controller, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg. What EDMS is actually doing is changing collaboration from a reactive and unpredictable activity to a planned and very controllable one, much like ATMs did for banking. In fact with today’s EDMS you are less likely to be caught off guard for any reason, either internal or external, and more likely to make a plan and stick to it, from making your WBS to handing over deliverables at the right time.
