How To Improve Project Accuracy and Turnaround Times

How To Improve Project Accuracy and Turnaround Times

Most engineers create their designs using a combination of 2D and 3D modeling software to create a cohesive picture of their desired result. AutoCAD, Inventor, Revit, SOLIDWORKS, and NX are among the many tools used to achieve this result. While these are all great tools for creating and designing drawings, engineers and owners need a single repository to store, render, review, edit, and approve technical drawings and documents. Often, owners must collaborate with engineers, vendors, and downstream contractors to achieve their objectives quickly and accurately. This is where an engineering workflow and document management system comes into play.

An engineering document management system eliminates complexity, errors, and sometimes plain chaos associated with complex engineering projects.  The system is a CAD software agnostic solution that works harmoniously with computer-aided design software to support and manage every digital file type. Not only does it serve as an active repository, but it also serves as a collaboration workspace that can streamline document and drawing reviews and improve overall project turnaround.

In this article, we discuss the following ways an engineering workflow and document management help to improve project accuracy and turnaround times.

1. Version control and workflow management
2. Third-party collaboration
3. Concurrent design
4. Engineering change control

Version control and workflow management

ImageSite helps engineering and design departments manage document versions using a combination of version control and workflow management capabilities. It integrates with the leading CAD systems and includes CAD connectors allowing workers to make changes to a file while ensuring other workflow participants are informed of the most current version and that changes have been made. Making sure all project participants are using the latest – and same – version of drawings improves overall project accuracy.  The system also enables users to revisit back-versions of a document or drawing, to help reduce rework, and ensure mistakes are easily reversible.

ImageSite provides complete visibility over project workflows and helps organizations tackle information silos that create unnecessary and unwanted project delays. The system is a single source of verity for all information throughout the project lifecycle and can be used to eliminate various labor-intensive tasks, from document retrieval to publishing or archiving.

Third-party collaboration

Communication is critical to the timeliness and success of a project, and with the vast amount of work outsourced to external contractors, it’s important to have a way to accurately communicate field changes. Whether your company works in manufacturing, construction, or any other engineering-related industry, changes must be communicated using an interpretable, standardized system for managing changes and requests.

The RFIs/Submittals module, helps organizations manage RFIs (Requests For Information) and Submittals digitally within ImageSite. Not only do project members have access to the information they need as they need it, but they can also create notes and comments that are visible to all authorized collaborators. The system provides tracking and reporting of this key decision-making process as well as audit trails for verification and analysis to improve on response handling.

Concurrent design

ImageSite promotes concurrent design through numerous features. Project members are informed of document revisions immediately through notifications, as all files are managed within the system. The system provides the option to link several documents, including 3D models, system/building diagrams, and various parts lists using ImageSite’s Workflow+ and Sets modules. The Sets module simply allows users to create a set of interrelated documents to keep relevant documents organized, while the Workflow+ module enables them to automate document-centric actions associated with a project’s workflow. All activity associated with sets and workflows can be viewed and managed from within the software’s dashboard, giving managers oversight of all working projects and allowing team members to provide valuable input, when needed.

Additionally, ImageSite expedites markups by enabling reviewers to create markups and comments concurrently while providing the option of adding text, images, audio, and video to markups. Documents and drawing still reside within the EDMS throughout the markup process, ensuring all proprietary information remains secure while keeping the integrity of the native files.

Engineering change control

Organizations can use ImageSite to manage both simple and complex review processes. By utilizing automation to improve workflow accuracy and efficiency, companies reduce the number of time-consuming activities created by changes in design and drawings. Further, changes can be easily monitored as ImageSite encapsulates a complete account of all changes, triggering appropriate notifications throughout a workflow.

Different engineers may need to review documents/drawings concurrently or separately depending on the size of the organization and the scope of their responsibilities. ImageSite makes it easy for multiple reviewers to approve changes, as Workflow + includes configurable review and approval options contingent on the organization’s needs while ensuring multiple reviews are consistent with the current files.

Additional EDMS Features

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