Engineering Informatics (EI) recently implemented the Iscor Vanderbijlpark Steel document management system (DMS) under the auspices of the SHERQ (safety, health, environmental, risk and quality) division.

The system, which has successfully addressed the legacy issues of Iscor Vanderbijlpark Steel's manual DMS, also conforms to the document management requirements of the International Standards Organisation (ISO9001 2000) as recently audited by the SABS (South African Bureau of Standards).

The Iscor Vanderbijlpark Steel, SHERQ division is responsible for the integrity and quality of the plant's document management system. While the legacy system being used at the plant adequately addressed the document control requirements for ISO certification (dating back to 1989), it was unable to deal with any of the demands of a modern, IT driven document management environment. "Our technology was not satisfying the need," says Brenda Simms, system administrator. "Things fell through the cracks because we had no proper control over documentation - we were using a very cumbersome manual distribution network, which included manual logging systems and so forth."

Document distribution and control was performed manually at Iscor Vanderbijlpark Steel. The administrator would make a hard copy of a document due for distribution, attaching a document control slip. The staff member receiving the document then had to sign this slip, and after delivery the distributor had to update a distribution index to reflect the current status of the document. Iscor staff members also had access to intranet storage, and were able to copy documents to the plant intranet - allowing for wide access to documents.

Critical issues surrounding the Iscor Vanderbijlpark Steel DMS system were:

* The document index was on one system, while the physical document was on another - leading to data-integrity issues.

* A lack of automatic processing of documents opened the door for the manipulation of document contents, deadlines and conditions.

* Revision dates on documents could be changed without revising the document itself.

* There was no uniformity in the document management process as a whole

* Manual distribution led to excessive paper creation.

* There was no integration between differing systems and processes.

* Intranet storage lacked control mechanisms - users were not required to update crucial document data on the intranet.

In order to deal with the above issues, EI implemented and customised the SAP DMS module - which lay dormant within the SAP ERP system that Iscor Vanderbijlpark Steel had already paid for and implemented in most other operational areas.

"It made clear business sense to implement the module that comes as part and parcel of the SAP system," says Simms. "The result has been excellent. All the legacy issues of the old system have been dealt with - we now have a document management system with full referential integrity and control, from a single source. Changes to documents are always tracked and managed, as is the distribution of documents. We have also finally escaped the paper trail!

"The fact that the system conforms to the requirements of the ISO standard is really just the cherry on top - the most important thing for us was that we now have a fully efficient and effective DMS," concludes Simms.

For more information contact Engineering Informatics, 011 791 1028.