Electronic Database Management Systems, also known as EDMS platforms, are both common place and numerous, but variations between operating systems and their effectiveness can be vast. It is sometimes necessary to develop client's software to help advance the level of efficiency, workflow coordination and reporting for the purpose of contract managment.

ASIC Consulting have previously worked closely with client’s and their representatives, other consultancies, programmers and developers to help progress document management systems. Enabling EDMS operating systems to fully achieve the desired construction management levels of coordination and reporting, is crucial to the success of a live project.

When development is required, ASIC Consulting will firstly consult with the client to determine requirements and best practice. Subsequently, it is often prudent to liaise with consultants and general users to ascertain their individual requirements and project specific needs to advance the efficacy of the software, whilst maintaining the best interest of the project and associated users in mind. The ability to suggest necessary development of an operating system's functionality, in direct comparison to alternative EDMS platform packages and software providers, has been hugely advantageous in meeting the specific needs of a project’s professional and construction team by enabling the programmers of a Client’s chosen EDMS platform to compare, build, rectify or resolve any issue, with a clear idea of the operating model required in advance of task completion.

Previous developments have included; workflow and revision functionality improvements, increased access and notification for comments and statuses, improvements to document and status tracking inclusive of additional enhanced reporting features therein. One of the biggest programming challenges ASIC Consulting has recently worked on was the request to build into an existing system the additional function and ability to link and track documentation with the internal systems Change Control process. Once achieved we were able to directly generate Contract Administrators Instructions from the initial Change Request Forms inclusive of all documents/items associated with the original process. This change created a time saving for both the client and professional team, who by signing off the CRF and associated items through the new online functionality, automatically generated the CAI, which in turn saved the Project Managers from re-collating and re-associating all the necessary documentation for distribution onto the construction management team and onto tier 2 contractors for coordination and construction. Both CRF and CAI processes were directly linked to the documentation held within, enabling Trades, Consultants and Construction Managers the ability to quickly search/track any document or additional process, such as further CRFs/CAIs and associated document within the additional processes. This proficiency in collating information could then be directly reported on within a single report, designed to track the newly developed processes from initial ‘request’ through to completed ‘instruction’. Improved development to the users Dashboard/Front End interface providing an ‘at-a-glance’ record of all CRF/CAI numbers associated against a single document.

ASIC Consulting's aspiration for the development of document management systems is modelled, where possible, on known systems capabilities; providing detailed reporting on functions, processes, documents or associated item/s linked within the system. The enhanced content of reportable detail this provides is invaluable to the accurate reporting and management, in particularly within the context of Construction Management through to Practical Completion and Handover. A system’s ability to internally link and record clear auditable paths between associated items will provide all users with the necessary tools to review workflow life cycles and enable teams to be proactive rather than reactive to information. Once recorded, data should be easily transferable and extractable as either documentation or internal process within a formatted collated report, which will provide accurate up-to-date project data enabling the project team to flag any potential issues in a timely and efficient manner.

| asic-consulting.org |