Order in the document jungle

LCA Automation is an innovative specialist in the field of special machine construction for automation, process and process engineering. The company has been automating processes for international customers in the automotive and transport industries, building services and other sectors for almost 45 years. In addition, LCA develops manufacturing concepts, specific machine tools, test benches and offers services in the field of mechanical engineering. The company has grown strongly in recent years, both organically and through several acquisitions. The IT system landscape has developed in a correspondingly confusing manner. Ueli Imhof, Head of Administration at LCA, was finally entrusted with the task of consolidating the most important large systems. With the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics AX, a new ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system brought order to the proliferation of applications. This was followed by technical applications for electronic and mechanical design. Finally, in 2014, Imhof set about professionalizing its document management. Although some of the internal documents were now available in the ERP, the overall storage of documents was still uncoordinated. On the one hand, external documents such as invoices, delivery notes, etc. were still only archived in paper form, which meant that they were sometimes not accessible or only accessible with difficulty. On the other hand, various file systems for project data, operating information, etc. led to uncontrolled growth and disorder, because each employee could create folders as he or she saw fit. "Authorizations were difficult to handle with the existing systems, which meant that in some cases no rights were assigned at all and the employees' working methods could therefore only be controlled unsatisfactorily," says Imhof, describing the situation at the time. A new document management system (DMS) was needed to remedy the situation, in which all documents are automatically indexed, stored and made accessible to the responsible employees according to a defined role concept. It had to be taken into account that LCA project staff are often out of the office and on the road all over the world. The new system therefore had to be a web solution that could also be used with mobile devices.

Staggered into three subprojects

The choice finally fell on Infoshare from the Swiss manufacturer Kendox, based in Oberriet in St. Gallen. In making his decision, Imhof followed a recommendation from a Microsoft partner he knew. "Kendox could already demonstrate many years of experience in implementing its DMS system in Microsoft Dynamics AX. Accordingly, an interface to our ERP application already existed. We could therefore assume that this would facilitate the introduction of the new, uniform DMS solution," says Imhof. "However, in order not to overload the ship, we decided to split it into three sub-projects."

First on the agenda was the most important component of the system: the introduction of a project file, its connection to the ERP application and the transfer of existing documents from the file system to the new solution. This was followed in the second sub-project by the introduction of the personnel file, the integration of incoming invoices and the organization of all non-project-related documents from the ERP system, for example those from sales that could not yet be assigned to a project. Finally, the third sub-project involved implementing external access for LCA's customers and ensuring that plant documentation in particular could be easily exchanged between LCA and the customer. At LCA, each customer order for a new plant means a separate project. So the first step was to pay the greatest attention to the project file, as Imhof wanted to get the maximum benefit from the new system for the company as quickly as possible. It was particularly important to him that no one should store any more ERP documents in one of the old file systems. For this reason, when the subprojects went live, the option of storing documents on the file system was eliminated. The old systems were effectively locked away, so that the old archive was only available in exceptional cases - and then only via the IT department. "The aim was to guide the employees so that they would get to grips with the new system as quickly as possible and also use it. In retrospect, this measure was one of the decisive points in the successful introduction of the new solution.

Test environment and basic installation

A test environment was installed for the staggered introduction across the three subprojects. The initial aim was to carry out system, backup and database tests and to validate any necessary data recovery. In parallel, the administrators were trained on the new solution "on the job". "After the training and tests, our system administrator should be able to restore the basic installation in an emergency," says Imhof, explaining the procedure. After the successful system and operational tests and training, the application was configured for the different document types and properties, access permissions, integration with Microsoft Office and Outlook, the connector to Dynamics AX, etc. Subsequently, the key users were trained on the application in the fully configured and prepared test environment. It is worth mentioning that the relocation of the company was scheduled during this period. Thanks to good organisation on the part of IT and in coordination with Kendox, this did not pose a serious challenge within the scope of the project. After the relocation, things got serious at the end of June 2015: The application was put into operation, the project files were automatically created based on existing Dynamics AX master data and the project-related documents were imported from Dynamics AX. The latter, however, meant that first of all, the previously used

The DMS system brings an increase in quality on the one hand and more efficiency on the other.

The new DMS for the project files finally went into productive operation on 1 July. The new DMS for the project files finally went into productive operation on 1 July.

customer service

Next followed a similar procedure for sub-project 2 for all non-project-related documents stored in the ERP system, the personnel file and the integration of incoming invoices. The first step was to hold analysis workshops and configure the personnel file, incoming invoices and the connection to the ERP application in the test environment, carry out a test load and then train the key users. Finally, all elements were rolled out to the production system and the documents were imported from the ERP system and from the drive into the new DMS environment. Finally, on October 1, 2015, the system went live for the additional documents and files.

Similarly, the third sub-project (portal access for customers and provision of asset documentation) was started with detailed analysis workshops, whereby the authorization concept for external customer access via the web portal was also specified. In August 2016, this area within the new DMS system also went live.

Significantly improved quality and increased efficiency

"The introduction of the project file was of the utmost importance for us as a project-oriented organization, since a project includes all steps, starting with the development, construction, and maintenance up to the documentation of a plant," says Imhof in retrospect. Since LCA is also required by law to create plant documentation for each plant and to keep it for the long term, the DMS application also takes regulatory aspects into account. "With the new system, we can guarantee audit-proof storage of documents in accordance with compliance and security requirements," says Imhof. The investment documentation, which can contain up to 3000 documents, is now itself part of the project file and can be automatically transferred by the customer to his system. Alternatively, the customer can also access the documentation via a web portal, if desired even before delivery of the plant. In particular, the automated provision and transfer represent an enormous reduction in workload and increase in efficiency, both for the customer and for LCA itself. "In the past, we had to create various preliminary versions in such cases, send them to the customer for checking and then laboriously transfer them back again. Today, the customer can access the documentation directly, for example, view over- and under-lists, and we can transfer the file for import into the customer's system at the click of a mouse." For this reason, the DMS system brings a clear increase in quality on the one hand, and on the other hand it has a positive effect on the efficiency of the work: "The documents can be found much faster than in the old system. Of course, filing also requires order and discipline, but when searching for invoices, delivery notes, schedules, etc., you get the desired results in seconds, just like Google." At the same time, the documents are available to all users from everywhere and from all end devices, which makes work much easier in practice.