Document Control management still seems to be an understated service at present day, even in large busy companies. 
Especially in the current situation with resources and employment boom, companies are constantly looking for ways in maximising productivity and efficiency whilst minimising cost and time. However, many companies are not informed in regards of how Document Control management is one of the best solutions they can adopt in achieving this. 
In a nut shell, Document Control management manages all documents of a company’s and it’s corresponding through a secure, online document management and web collaboration system such as Aconex, Project centre, QTrack etc. Gone are days of inconvenient, inefficiency, costly and time consuming of documents handling. It is even unnecessary to keep hard copies and physical filing which take up much more rooms.  
By using collaborative document management systems all users are able to get access to any documents, wherever they are in the world. The key for this system to work at its full potential is for all users to communicate through the system when dealing with everything such as emails, documents, procedures, contracts, drawings, etc. 

In summary, if all users stick to this rule and use the systems like how they’re trained, all users and companies will benefit from this and wouldn’t have it any other way.

As we all gear up for another busy new year fueled by the rampaging beast called the “boom”, LDC hopes that you have been able to reflect on what was a challenging year for many, and thought out appropriate strategies for the begining of this year.

LDC has been able to recently add new Document Control staff, with most of them ready for action during January 2008.

We suspect that finding appropriate professional personal for engineering and construction projects this year will be as hard, if not harder than last year. The Western Australian Government has recently approached the Federal Government to mitigate the ridiculously long times taking to process 457 Visa’s. We won’t wait with baited breath on things being improved that much.

WA have indicated that it will need 400,000 extra skilled workers over the next ten years (unpreceedented population growth). We assume their figures are sound projections, and if true will mean the pressure on finding resources to run projects (new or maintenance) will be be huge.

Over the past few months, Logic Document control have been involved in training our clients staff/contractors in various document control systems across Australia and Internationally.

LDC’s Neal Bedingfeld states, “Demand for the use of Collaborative Document Control systems is increasing rapidly on Australian projects, however the ability of personnel to adequately operate these systems is coming under fire. In some cases the systems are being blamed for poor document control.”

At LDC we firmly beleive that training of project personnel on the proper use and management of Collaborative document control systems is essential.  We also beleive it is essential for projects to be auditted by LDC for an independant assessment of the Document control systems in place.

This week we blog a feature on one of our key clients…Schneider-Electric.

The Logic Document Control team has had a long association with Schneider-Electric. We currently have two document controllers assigned to Schneider-Electric Boddington Gold Mine expansion project. Denise O’Brien is currently our most senior document controller who is currently the Document administrator on the Project. Denise is managing two personnel, which includes one of LDC’s other staff members, Eden Winnacott.  All personnel are responsible for transmitting documents from the client (AKCMR) to a number of international factories and sub contractors. In addition they will ensure all correspondence; technical queries, contracts and registers are maintained using Project Centre software. Neal Bedingfeld has been conducting Project Centre training for the international factories and sub contractors, this is in order to minimise delays when submitting documents to the client for approval. Neal has also been involved with the configuration of the software to optimiseall its functions.

Schneider-Electric will also be starting up a smaller project for Proteus, which is also for the Boddington Mine Expansion Project. Overseas factories will also be involved with the design and manufacture for the Project. Neal Bedingfeld is currently setting up a new project Project Centre database.

JCA’s Document Control department,

(LDC), is pleased to announce plans for the continued expansion of it’s document control capabilities.

With close (but impartial) alliances with the leading document control software/system sellers, LDC is pursuing it’s goal to become the leading provider of document control consulting services in Australia.

There currently is a severe lack of outsourceable document control services in Australia, and LDC aims to service a large slice of that need. With-in 2 years LDC plans to have a team of 10 to 20 document control experts to manage our clients doc control systems for short to long term project assignments.

One of the recent staff additions to LDC’s team, is Eden Winnacott. Eden comes to LDC with experience accross a range of projects as a document controller, and is a welcome addition to the JCA-LDC team with her understanding of various doc control systems.

LDC are also in discussions with a number of other potential document control staff and will make further announcements in the coming months.