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Global PM Tool

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Auminer

Civil/Environmental
Nov 22, 2002
5
My project team is researching PM tools we can use to manage our project documentation and document approvals for a globally supported project. The collaboration system, eRoom, offered by Documentum, has caught our attention. Has anyone out there had experience in applying eRoom to their project? Am very interested to know more about your success and lessons learned - also if there are other systems that you've had good success with.
 
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Primavera Expedition is a very good document control program. It takes a commitment to you use it to its real potential (nearly a dedicated administrator). It really is a remarkable tool for form letters, submittals, and overall project adminstration.
 
What about buzzsaw from AutoDesk?

I've only seen the demo but it may be worth considering.

Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
 
We used a Documentum system 2 years ago on a project at KBR in Houston. I was on the clients team, but the system was promulgated by KBR. It worked quite well, from my viewpoint. It seemed to handle all manner of documents, and have sufficient controls for routing, review, approvals, etc.
 
Anytime you are doing a global project, you have additional considerations in document control not at issue on a domestic only project. A global documentation solution that protects your data from outsiders as well as making it available to those with the proper authorization is nigh on impossible without the staffing to support it. I have not seen any easy fixes.

One global company I've worked for used a home-grown system, another used Lotus Notes with QSI's QMS package. Our documentation included (but was not limited to) files created in Pro/E (managed until formal release within Pro/PDM), AutoCAD, Word, Excel, Access, Adobe, email tools. Both companies had FT staffing (and, by staffing I mean more than one person, but these were large multi-national companies with multiple projects to manage) to support the documentation database requirements.

Currently the system I work under is primarily local access. Some documentation is controlled by the originator via write protection & stored on shared drives or the intranet. Other documentation is controlled by CM/DM and can be accessed via the Intranet. Still other documentation is managed manually with hand-written records.

Documentation control only works as well as those creating the documentation. It won't matter how great your system is if you have people who will go around the system for any reason. Uncontrolled documentation is a very frequent write-up by auditors. Make sure whatever system(s) used are documented in procedurally in your QMS if you are subject to audits such as those by ISO registrars.
 
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