Proarc EDMS Value for Engineers
At Ascertra, we work with engineers every day and understand the complexity and risk they must manage when working on large industrial construction projects and asset operations:
- unique demands from clients
- multiple engineering contractors with major scopes of work
- unique engineered equipment
- schedule-driven design deliverables
- inter-disciplinary reviews
- high levels of change
- and many more critical success factors
The primary role of engineers is not document control, so asking them to use a generic document management system in compliance with project information management policies can introduce some challenges.
Proarc software is designed to manage engineering documents. This article spotlights some of the Proarc features designed to solve challenges faced by engineers working in a document management system and refinements that help improve their user experience. (Watch a quick video at the end of this article to see some of these features in action.)
Challenge 1:
Understand issues & priorities with specific document deliverables
Proarc provides a personalized, interactive dashboard on the home page for engineers. The dashboard summarizes document data for each engineer’s area of responsibility such as client, work package, purchase order, discipline, system, etc. Dashboard metrics summarize status and progress across document sets. Dashboard indicators alert engineers to issues with links for actioning and expediting.
Challenge 2:
Find information faster and more easily
Links from the engineer’s personal dashboard are complemented by features to find information faster. Proarc administrators can present tailored search forms for engineers to easily find specific types of documents. Engineers can save and re-use searches and maintain a personal list of document favorites. A list of recently-accessed documents quickly gets them back to where they were the last time they used the system.
Proarc’s dynamic folders provide a guided navigation experience for engineers. Simply by selecting from a hierarchy of document categories, engineers can progressively narrow a large repository of documents to a specific document list.
Challenge 3:
Accelerate intensive document reviews
A time-consuming aspect of engineers’ work is reviewing and commenting on document revisions. Proarc’s document review workflows include commenting features for quick entry. ProView Markup provides an enhanced annotation experience with simple clicks for applying comments, shapes, symbols, stamps, and signatures. Responsible engineers can quickly consolidate and approve comments from others and produce a PDF file rendition and comment sheet for clients with a single click. Engineers can also participate in workflows from offline locations with Proarc Mobile.
For engineers required to issue document revisions to internal or external stakeholders, Proarc has optimized the functions for sending documents via transmittals, email distributions, and workflows.
Challenge 4:
Input essential document data
Document management systems often present engineers with complicated data input requirements when creating or revising documents in the system. Proarc makes it easy with interactive web forms, spreadsheets, file templates, and other features that validate data on entry and provide feedback to engineers. Proarc validation features optimize efficiency with features such as automated data fill, hotkeys, and picklists.
Ascertra customers have successfully integrated Proarc with engineering design systems using APIs and bulk import utilities to automate engineering data input and validation. For example, one integration automatically generates and imports a list of documents and metadata based on Sales Order, Line Number, and Document Type.
Summary & Demo Video
Document control is an important practice to manage project risk, but if your document management system introduces obstacles to engineers’ daily work, you will encounter resistance and ultimately non-compliance with policies. Ascertra understands the challenges engineers face when operating a document management system and Proarc provides a built-for-purpose solution. If your team, organization, or project involves engineers managing document deliverables, then Proarc is your solution.
Quick Demo
Watch our quick demo below to see how Proarc makes it easy for engineers to perform their document deliverable tasks.
Looking to learn more? Visit the Proarc EDMS solution page or contact us for a personalized demonstration.
