SharePoint University

Glad to be back to SharePointu after a bit of a hiatus.  I missed you guys.

So... We have a client who is  looking for an enterprise doc management system.

They're eyeing Live Link, Documentum and PM+ (JD Edwards I think). They are happy with the functionalities these tools offer but haven’t compared prices.  They want to know what SharePoint could do (I'm guessing MOSS)


Soltuion should be able to store Engineering Drawings  and have  Archiving and Collaboration functionality. 

Also:

• User-defined hierarchical directory structure
• Supports controlled viewing, printing, emailing, and downloading of documents
• Check in/out edit control
• Electronic approval system
• Full electronic distribution
• Distribution Log for controlled documents
• Revision tracking system and revision control
• Generate revision and processed documents reports
• Search  track and retrieval options
• Automated Periodic Review
• View Security & Edit Security through Security Roles
• User-defined Champions and/or Groups
• Fully-integrated with the Universal Attachment System (UAS), which allows one or more files to be attached/linked to any record within the database.
• The system should enable us to trace the full lifecycle of the document/drawing and generate automatically  a transmittal for each document processed as well as document numbers
• Multiple methods for “adding” files to the control system: Upload the file, Point to a File on Local Area Network, Local Vault Storage, Refer to an Existing Document, Create a file from a Template, Capture a Snapshot of a  Report, Web Address ,Scan Document, Mass Load.
• Revision control
• Another goal for our department is to implement an enterprise wide Records and information Management System. For this the application should enable us to classify and manage records, providing us with the ability to efficiently manage a retention schedule and subsequent disposal of records as well as archiving.
• A labeling/indexing feature would be an asset
•  Ability to store, edit, distribute, and manage documents
• Enable pulling information from multiple sources to compile, over 2000 page manuals.

Also:

-          Their main function in document control is to process and distribute documents/drawings, and a repository of all project related information and the production of maintenance and instruction manuals.

-          Their current databases are not serving the purpose and they use access to process most of the information.

Anyone, know how SharePoint (MOSS) would handle this? Where could I get cost information? Any idea?

ThThanks!

JJay 

I'd say that SharePoint can handle 95% of what you are asking for. I was initially concerned about the size of the files (engineering drawings) being tossed back and forth, but when I saw your last line that said you are currently using Access, I kind of laughed. SharePoint is not a file share, but more of an environment for managing the creation and collaboration of documents within the system.

That said, it looks as if SharePoint might be an alternative for what you are trying to do. You'll need a good site architect to develop a plan, especially since you are going to let end users define their own hierarchical struture. Youch! You're going to a have a big headache once your libraries start to grow. Get a solid base foundation and enforce some kind of best practices before you open the site. You'll want naming conventions at the very least. In addition, consider training the end users on views vs hierarchical folder structures. You might be surprise at how robust a solution they can develop without using folders for everything.

Regards,
Mark

One thing you will need to consider is the type of drawing package you're using. For example, many of our engineering drawings from our Physical Plant are done in Autodesk. As long as the files do not have links, they'll play just fine in SharePoint. However, when there are linked files in Autocad, the sometimes break.

Is this an issue with the way they are rendered from the database? Not sure why links would break unless something is getting transformed along the way.

Mark

No, many of the files have embedded links to other files (similar to OLE). These references point to other files in a file share. When uploaded into SharePoint, many of these OLE style links are broken and the user gets a warning about each one -- and then the drawing doesn't show the linked drawings. However, because of storage limitations at this time, we haven't even begun allowing them to upload these to Sharepoint.

I found this, this morning. Someone did a pretty good summary rating of SharePoint document management features. They used the one-to-five stars appoach. Worth a quick look.

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/usecases/archive/2007/10/09/how-good-is-sharepoint-as-document-management-system.aspx

Mark

Good link! Thanks for sharing.

If you're intersted in a product that will improve the capture score, check out Knowledge Lake's Capture server that extends SharePoint to allow for scan capturing.