Operational Ideas

There are always many ways to do anything....

• Paper
  • Mostly very reliable
  • ALWAYS easy to use
  • Easy to replicate
  • Mostly easy to file (index)
  • Mostly easy to find
• Electronic
  • May need an IT department
  • May need dedicated servers for storage of large volumes of images
  • Cannot handle paper "as is".
  • Easy to "lose" documents which are improperly "profiled"
• Mixed
  • The ultimate solution ???
  • Keep electronic documents electronic as long as the process being performed does NOT need paper, then move to paper.
  • Scanning paper back to an electronic format is only suitable (after KOFAX) when:
    • the paper is in perfect condition,
    • the paper is of a uniform type and size.

Indexing is a never ending process of generating information to allow documents meeting searchable criteria to be located or listed for further research.

• Index information grows as actions are taken - by virtue of records of actions being kept
• Additional information may be added as it becomes available, namely
  • Keywords which are allocated manually - often based on word search's such as "Include xxx Exclude yyy"
  • Entities such as Work Packages, Zones, Areas, Levels, etc which are allocated at document level

The format depends on:

• what you want to keep (the content of the archive),
• why you want to keep it (the reasons - from statutory to ...)
• where you want to keep it (on site, off site etc)

Moving some information with or without attached documents from one place to another

• Post - public reliable, and takes place mostly overnight
• Courier - private, expensive, and takes place on demand
• Email - reliable, cheap, but has its limitations - usually only on size, but also on content
• FTP - reliable, cheap, has virtually no limitations - BUT requires setting up usually via a third party server
• Email is a way of sending a message. It is is however often taken as being the message which was transmitted
• Email is structured in that the following information can be extracted
  • The Recipients (including copied to and even blind copied to)
  • The Subject
  • The Message - its contents
  • Any attachments

Owners

• Health & Safety File (As Built)
• Construction Decisions
• Communicate with Others

CEMDC

Finance & Operation