PMIS 102: How to Capture and Store All Projects’ Documents?
Regardless of the size, duration of location of your capital project, your project site will always have the filing room. Usually, there will be at least two filing rooms on each project site, the first for the project owner and the project management consultant while the second will be for the Contractor. This room will have many folders and racks that hard copies of all project’s documents and records are stored. The majority of those documents and records and the project’s formal communication that will be needed during the project delivery duration and after the project’s completion to close all pending change orders, claims and disputes.
A Project Management Information System (PMIS) will not eliminate the need for having those filing rooms but will improve the process for storing, sharing and locating the documents and records stored in those files. The PMIS will allow attaching those documents to the different project’s records to provide the needed supportive documents for any type of communication. Sometimes the PMIS might need to integrate with applications that will improve the available document management capabilities such as marking up drawings, comparing different versions of a specific document and converting documents to searchable content using OCR.
Creating the Project Filing Structure
Regardless of the PMIS application that the organization selects to use, one of the key requirements for the document management function is the ability to create folders and subfolders that will match the project filing structure. Using a PMIS like PMWeb, the organization can create the filing structure that match the exact project requirement. Further, for each folder the organization could set the security rights by the project roles and responsibilities to limit who can access every specific folder. In addition, users can subscribe to the created folders to get email notification when a new document is uploaded or downloaded, when a new version is created among others.
Each authorized project team member can upload a single document or multiple documents in bulk. There is no restriction to the file type to be uploaded into PMWeb although the PMWeb administrator would usually define file extensions that cannot be uploaded. Although PMWeb allows the user to upload files that could be 2.2 GB in size, nevertheless, the common practice is to limit each document file size to 250 MB. For the uploaded documents, the user can add all attributes that are relevant for the uploaded documents. In addition, PMWeb allows defining and assigning additionally created user defined fields for each uploaded document. Further, the PMWeb notes tab allows the user to add text notes to each uploaded document.
To ensure the quality of uploaded documents, PMWeb allows assigning checklists for each uploaded file. The content of the checklist could vary depending on the type of the uploaded documents, for example drawing, method statement, catalogue, etc. or the building system that it serves, for example substructure, superstructure, mechanical, etc. This will enforce the project team members who are uploading documents to ensure that the uploaded documents are aligned with the organization’s quality assurance requirements.
The PMWeb document scoring option provides a structured list for how to score a document in terms of its quality, completion status among others. PMWeb scoring is a list that can be defined by the user where the categories for assessing a document are added with the points available to score and the weight of that scoring compared to other scoring criteria. The scoring could be also based on Yes/No answer, date, value, selection form a predefined list of values, answer to a question among others. In addition to this objective scoring, PMWeb offers subjective scoring for each document by allowing users to rate a document on a scale of 5 stars, where 1 is the lowest score and 5 is the highest score.
It is common that sometimes a single document could be relevant to another document that was uploaded into PMWeb. Therefore, PMWeb attachment tab allows attaching other documents to a specific document as well as link PMWeb records, which will be detailed in follow-up articles, and emails that had been imported into PMWeb email repository. This ensures that the project team member has complete understanding of what project documents, records and email that could be relevant to the document being reviewed.
PMWeb PMIS also provides the option to maintain versions of uploaded documents by using the check out and check in options. Although as it will be detailed later on, in the construction industry, this is not the right way of maintaining records of document versions as each document version could have its own contractual implications. PMWeb drawings list, to be also explained later on, allows the organization to formally capture the history of each project document transmitted during the project life cycle stages.
PMWeb document viewer provides the organization with the option to review PDF and picture files. In addition, it allows markup of those documents by adding shapes, texts and stamps. Further, it allows linking PMWeb records to specific locations to the document. PMWeb will record all those markups detailing the users who have provided those markups. Different colors will be assigned to each user to easily differentiate the markups done by each user.
For those organizations who require advanced document markup capabilities, PMWeb provides an integration with Bluebeam Revu, which is considered to be the global standard in document markup. Using Bluebeam Revu, the user will have advanced markup features, automated documents comparison, digital signature to documents among other advanced features. The integration with PMWeb allows importing all comments made in Bluebeam Revu to PMWeb so that can be tracked and reported on.
Similar to all other modules in PMWeb, a workflow can be assigned to each document to ensure the formal submit, review and approve process. This workflow ensures that there is a governed process to change the status of each uploaded document from draft to approved as sometimes an uploaded document might not be authorized to be used as a formal project document until it is formally reviewed and approved.
Should there be a need to share the uploaded document with other project team members, whether they have access to PMWeb or not, PMWeb notification option allows sending the selected document via email to those project team members. The email could have other attachments such as reports among others if needed. All issued notifications will be captured in the notification tab to maintain a log of all issued notifications for that specific document.
The search command in PMWeb document management repository allows the user to search for documents based on the details captured for each document as well as the content of each uploaded document as long as the text searchable. Using Bluebeam Revu OCR function allows the project team to convert the unsearchable text into searchable text by saving the converted version of the document into PMWeb document management repository.
In summary, each PMIS needs to have the functions and features of a document management system as this will be used to upload and store all project documents needed to support everyday project management processes and communications. Nevertheless, the document management system must have the functions and features that are specific to capital projects such as the ability to have folders and subfolders for which generic document management systems usually lack to have.
The next PMIS article will focus on how documents get transmitted in capital projects using what is known at the “Transmittal Form”. This form which is common for all capital projects identify the required actions from transmitting project documents and provide a recognized method for formal project communication.