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Issue Date: October 2004

Engineering Informatics pushes Australian expansion

1 October 2004

Engineering Informatics' presence in Australia has got off to a blistering start. Beginning its first project in January 2004, the information engineering specialist company is currently at work on its sixth major project 'down under'.
"We are on the verge of registering Engineering Informatics Australia as a locally managed company in Melbourne, and ultimately we will be looking to use Australian skills in the business," says Rob Cells, Engineering Informatics South Africa business development manager. "In the short term, however, the Australian business is leveraging our South African skills base, which is amongst the best in the world." Engineering Informatics South Africa began life as a certified SAP Specialist Partner, operating in the DMS (document management system)/PLM sphere.
The SAP DMS module is a small component within the broader SAP system. As such, execution of the module has been largely ignored by corporations, who have focused on establishing their ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems in an operational context.
Nevertheless, DMS/PLM efficiency greatly enhances the flow of information across an organisation, and offers considerable bottom line return on investment. Now that most companies are on their ERP feet, operationally speaking, optimising the flow of information across the organisation has become a significant point of competitive advantage.
"Engineering Informatics grew as the only South African specialist in ERP DMS execution," says Cells. "This means that we developed world-leading EDMS (enterprise document management system) abilities, when most other global players were focusing on more conventional ERP implementations."
Engineering Informatics was invited to Australia late in 2002, to assist SAP Australia with a DMS orientated tender. The company then embarked on a country-wide road show in 2003 to articulate the business benefits of EDMS to the Australian market. That marketing drive is now bearing considerable fruit, with Engineering Informatics Australia engaged in the following 2004 projects:
National Australia Bank: EBP DMS implementation.
KPMG Australia, Melbourne: Easy DMS proof of concept project.
Zinifex (Mining): Technical Drawing Office and Health and safety orientated DMS intervention.
A phased approach will see the project roll-out into Tasmania, and possibly the Netherlands and the USA.
Powercor/CitiPower, Victoria: Enterprise Content Management Strategy.
Recommendations will go forward into the next budget cycle, and the roll-out of the EDMS (enterprise document management system) will begin in 2005.
WMC Resources (Mining): Development of DMS prototype for project documentation.
WMC Resources Group Projects: SAP DMS implementation for the effective management of project documentation.
Although currently leveraging its South African skills base for the Engineering Informatics Australia business, the South African mother company is launching a priority skills upgrade training programme in Australia, to avoid stretching its skills across two continents.


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