Document Control

and Management System

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The Assai team flourishes in the challenging environment of large scale

engineering projects, to which it contributes a solid foundation of engineering
expertise, project management experience and software design.

Norsk Hydro ASA

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Assai
Software Services
Large scale engineering projects such as oil-drilling sites and infrastructural
works face major challenges when it comes to controlling the flow of
project information. Tender documents, proposals, specifications, reports,
drawings, spreadsheets and e-mails constantly flow forwards and backwards
between internal and external personnel. Moreover, revision cycles multiply
the number of documents involved. Time is precious and cost is a key factor,
therefore the entire flow requires tight management.
Projects of this nature make up the challenging environment in which
Assai flourishes. Due to a solid foundation of engineering expertise, project
management experience and software design, the Assai team offers intelligent,
powerful project control solutions. A team well-skilled in analyzing requirements
and creating solutions that deliver precisely what customers need.
However, theres more that makes Assai an attractive partner: commitment to
excellent services, products and support which is available the very moment its
requested. This results in extremely short timeframes for creating solutions to
customers specific requests.
Centrally located in the Netherlands, Assai is never far away from its globally distributed
clients. Clients such as Nexen, Qatar Petroleum, London Underground, Atkins, Petrom,
Shell International Exploration and Production, Dublin Airport Authority and CH2M HILL.
Clients that operate the flagships of the worlds engineering projects in harsh environments
such as Siberia, Eastern Russia and Nigeria.

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AssaiDCMS puts you in control of your document flow and allows

you to anticipate on events well before they become a problem.

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Document Control
and Management System
The number of documents involved in large engineering projects can run
up to hundreds of thousands. Various disciplines such as mechanical and
electrical engineering may process huge numbers of deliverable documents.
Moreover, these documents need to circulate among engineering teams,
contractors and managers, each requiring up-to-date information from a
different perspective. Project information needs to be instantly available to your
staff, regardless of whether they reside in the US, Europe, the Middle East, the
Far East or anywhere else in the world.
Assais cornerstone DCMS - Document Control and Management System - offers
the power required to control projects of this scope. Robust, versatile, flexible and
intelligent software, based on the solid foundation of the Oracle database platform,
combined with the experience of some of Europes leading document control and
information management experts. AssaiDCMS enables managers to control the
dynamics of the complex document cycle by providing detailed insight anticipating on
events well before they become a problem.
Excellent support for teamwork
AssaiDCMSs web-based features excel in supporting collaboration between team
members, regardless of where they are working. Automated commenting, transmittal
and distribution enable smooth interaction. Tracking a documents status and hereabouts
is supported by extensive control of revision, status and approval changes. Intuitive 3D
navigation and web interfaces provide transparent access to data, personalized to an
individual users information need and working methods. Extensive planning, progress
calculation and reporting allow information on overdue documents and control over delays.
Interfaces with planning systems such as P3 and MS-Project offer the required tools to
control the progress of your project.
Interoperability with other systems
AssaiDCMS interoperates with other document systems such as LiveLink, Documentum and
other programs. This means you can benefit from AssaiDCMSs dedicated document tracking,
reporting and planning features while retaining your previous investment in other document
management systems.
Fast implementation
A wealth of functionality, ready to use from an out-of-the-box product with a minimum of implementation
time, resulting in an attractive and transparent cost structure without months of consultancy taking
up your valuable time.

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Costs of unplanned work can amount up to 1% of extra project costs, which is

a huge absolute amount on a major project. A tool like AssaiDCMS helps
to control these costs.

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Valuable asset for

information managers
Complex IT landscapes comprise a huge variety of systems and tools;
Networked and interfaced for efficient accessing, sharing and processing
of information.
AssaiDCMS was developed with these requirements in mind. Developed to
excel in transmitting, tracking and accessing documents. Assais document
management system ensures controlled access from any location in the world.
In case you already have a document management system operational, Assai
is able to disclose the information as well. Thus protecting valuable investments
by means of interoperability with other systems.
The same convenience applies to the easy installation. Once installed, AssaiDCMS
is available to an entire organization, allowing new projects to be added in a
minimum of time. The products flexibility and versatility makes it easily adjustable to
specific requirements of different projects or different phases of a project. For that
matter AssaiDCMS will prove its value right from preparing a tender, through the
design phase right up to the handover and maintenance phase of a project.
As an information manager you have to ensure that people get the right information
in time. For instance, engineers need to know where everything is at all times and
project managers want access to management information that alerts them of potential
problems at an early stage.
The challenge is to bring together all available documents, including its different revisions,
originating from people in different locations all over the world. For instance, when you build a
refinery in Nigeria, some of its components might be built in the US. Another challenge is the
huge volume of documents, as well as the time and cost factor. Costs of unplanned work can
amount up to 1% of extra project costs, which is a huge absolute amount on a major project.
A tool like AssaiDCMS helps to control these costs.
During the years AssaiDCMS has proven to be an excellent solution that easily handles these
challenges. Thanks to its power and versatility. AssaiDCMS leaves many other products far behind
because AssaiDCMS can easily be adopted to your specific requirements.

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For us as users, AssaiDCMS is a breeze. Its easy to use and because it is

customized to our working methods, it does everything we need.
Linda Seery, Assurance Co-ordinator at London Underground.

Piccadilly Line Train Finsbury Park Station Transport for London.

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Control instrument
for contract
compliance monitoring
In projects involving multiple external contractors, monitoring compliance
with contractual obligations is of crucial importance. In performing their
tasks contract managers constantly exchange documents and they need
to know the precise location and timing of any document in the management
cycle. Naturally, in time delivery is essential since one overdue document
can have substantial impact on many aspects of the project.
Linda Seery, Assurance Co-ordinator at London Underground:
In our job as contract managers in the Contract Directorate of London
Underground, we register all incoming and outgoing documents and drawings
that we send to and receive from external contractors and internal stakeholders.
Moreover, we generate transmittals, we track responses and we produce a
variety of management and progress reports.
In an environment like the London Underground, this involves hundreds of documents
a day. Needless to say, it would be impossible to keep track of the flow of documents
without proper tools. We need to know who we sent to, who we still need to send to
and who needs to send us documents.
Before London Underground started using AssaiDCMS, a number of years ago, tracking
was done by means of spreadsheets. Since the accuracy of tracking largely depended on
human alertness, the risks became unacceptably high. Thats why it was decided to look
around for a tool specially designed for this job.
AssaiDCMS won the race and has proven its value well above expectation. This is confirmed
by the fact that London Underground uses AssaiDCMS for all its projects as its main control
instrument for monitoring document flows and contract compliance. AssaiDCMS gives us
clear status information, warns us of potential delays, and provides detailed reports. Whats
more, using the same system throughout the company makes information exchanges with
other departments for instance the Engineering Department - extremely easy.
For us as users, AssaiDCMS is a breeze. Its easy to use and because it is customized to our
working methods, it does everything we need. Moreover, there are never any problems and on the
odd occasion that something does happen, we report it to our IT department and, together with
Assai, it is usually resolved within the hour.

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With AssaiDCMS we foresee a huge improvement in turnaround time.

Michael Lindsay, Lead Project Engineer in the Gulf region.

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Efficiency benefits
for engineers
Engineers need constant access to up-to-date information, originating from hundreds
of documents in different locations and different stages of their development cycle.
Each engineers information requirements depend on his specialization: piping, wiring,
foundation, and so on. At the same time, the entire team of professionals is working
on one, single project which means they need to exchange a wide variety of information
from different perspectives.

AssaiDCMS assists engineers in finding the right information in a minimum of time and
from the latest version of a document. An intelligent code structure makes sure that all
related information is only one mouse-click away. Moreover, when it comes to collaboration
with others, AssaiDCMS offers a wide range of support. From intelligent and intuitive review
functionality to efficient and easy transmittal by e-mail. Thus streamlining the review cycle and
making visible who provided which comment to which part of a document.

Michael Lindsay, Lead Project Engineer in the Gulf region:

Weve been using AssaiDCMS in over a dozen projects for some time. One example which I am
handling at the moment would be the installation of a fuel gas supply pipeline for a new cement plant
in the Gulf region.

We sent out an invitation to tender for a new document control system about two years ago.
Before that we used a series of databases developed in MS Access to track documents. While we
are not yet fully utilizing all of the features of AssaiDCMS, as we continue the role out of the product we
have seen an improvement over our previous system. One significant improvement is that AssaiDCMS
can be accessed through the network. As a project engineer I can work on line and dont need to depend
on the availability of a document clerk or outdated status printouts.

Since the roll out of AssaiDCMS, Ive been using AssaiDCMS everyday for distribution and tracking of
documents and transmittal of comments back to the contractors. Clearly laid out screens and reports show
me who has to review what and if anyone is late I can follow up. In that way I control documentation streams
for various projects.

Needless to say as we continue to role out AssaiDCMS and get more of our users trained and using the system,
we foresee a huge improvement in turnaround time.

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On various projects AssaiDCMS controls, in terms of monitoring and

tracking, 10.000 deliverables a month providing an essential contribution to
the progress of the project.

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Powerful tool for

document managers
Document managers are the hub in the intricate network of document
traffic, responsible for making information available to everyone involved.
This means that documents received from designers or contractors need to
be registered, stored and forwarded to vendors in operational departments
across multiple locations. In a flow that consists of thousands of documents,
accurate tracking is of critical importance. Add to this the constant challenge
of deadlines and you have the role of the document manager.
As a document controller, you are responsible for the entire set of non-technical
deliverables, including procedures, standards, specifications, detailed specs and
so on. The amount of information is huge. You are dealing with contractors and
third parties. Government agencies often require a lot of information.
A tool like AssaiDCMS makes it possible to control these tasks. AssaiDCMS enables
you to track the status and whereabouts of documents and provides you the required
management information. AssaiDCMS controls projects in terms of monitoring and
tracking up to 10.000 deliverables a month, providing an essential contribution to the
progress of the projects. Moreover, AssaiDCMS saves a substantial amount of time
and manpower which translates into significant cost savings.
AssaiDCMS shortens review cycles and improves the communication in the commenting
process. Retrieval time for finding documents is shortened due to multiple, easy to use,
search and drill down options. In AssaiDCMS you will always find the latest revision and your
engineers can indicate if they want to be notified about any changes on document revisions.
AssaiDCMS has many reports providing you the required information.

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Assais strong focus on its customers requirements is obvious looking at AssaiDCMSs

rich set of features. Features that cover the entire document control cycle.
Assais services take yet another step in ensuring a smooth implementation
and roll-out, a short learning curve and continuity due to prompt support. All
aimed at the ultimate goal of maximizing the return on your investment.

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Support and services

we offer a wide range of world class services to support our clients and the enduser community.
Helpdesk
Many of our support team have worked exclusively with assaiDcMs and its user
community for over a decade. this ensures world class support and in depth
understanding of customer activities and requirements. all received queries are
promptly logged, prioritized and allocated to the correct department. we ensure fast
response and effective, friendly support.
Consultancy
with extensive industry experience our consultants provide practical advice and hands-on
assistance in a wide range of areas such as:
Establishing sound document control and management standards (corporate and project),
definition and implementation of proven document control and numbering procedures,
assisting in the transition from hard copy to electronic document transfer, streamlining
document exchange process throughout the supply chain, assaiDcMs workflow and report
configuration, hands on roll-out support (per project or company-wide), hands on support for
the document control department, establishing iron-clad audit trails, on site system support,
awareness sessions, trouble shooting, legacy data conversion and floor walking.
Training
we offer a wide range of training schemes tailored to support your specific requirements. we
have provided effective, friendly and culturally aware training all over the world to users of all abilities.
Possessing a sound knowledge of relevant business processes enables us to provide high quality
practical training focused on the specific needs of individuals or groups:
Group sessions for the engineering group, desk to desk floor walking for reviewers,
1 to 1 training for management, technical support training,
Document controller introductory, Document controller intermediate,
Document controller advanced (administrator).
Implementation support
assais implementation team is highly experienced in providing support throughout the system
implementation and go-live phases. we specialize in a wide range of activities such as: user and corporate
requirement analysis, system customization, configuration and installation. let us help pave the way to
successful system use.
Report building
our team is experienced in building high quality reports tailored and presented to your exact requirements.
we also offer assistance in identifying reporting gaps and ideas on improving your reporting capability.
Database hosting
assais hosting services can relieve clients of the costs and challenges involved in local database installation
and maintenance. we install and maintain servers in a fully secure environment, managing back-ups and
upgrades. in short, we take care of all those cumbersome yet essential tasks allowing our clients to focus on
core business activities.

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ASSAI software services BV

Markt 13, 4101 BW Culemborg, The Netherlands
Phone +31 (0)345 516 663, Fax +31 (0)345 531 097
E-mail info@assai.nl, Website www.assai-software.com