In the recent industry survey commissioned by DocBoss, suppliers indicated their EPC-driven documentation challenges to be:
• A lack of attention to deliverable timelines
• A lack of clearly defined submission protocols
• Receiving poor quality document scans or copies that simply aren’t usable.
The single most important factor to EPC respondents is accuracy and format. More than 80% of EPC survey respondents stated that data validation and correct formatting are the most important factors for successful supplier document management.
Suppliers often have no document control system or clearly defined protocols. To compensate and to ensure the EPC provider and the end users get the data they require, EPC teams force structure on their suppliers by:
• Providing very specific instructions for project documents including specifications for document numbering, formatting details, and status
• Strictly managing the compliance of documents to the submittal standard, often rejecting documentation and sending it back for revision
• Receiving documents, juggling revisions and resubmissions, and loading documents into their own document management systems
• Manually bundling information according to the project engineer’s preference
• Holding back a portion of the supplier’s final payment in order to get the document scope completed thoroughly and properly
The management of this process requires a major communication effort between the EPC and supplier. The EPC document controllers can be left to feel suppliers are uncooperative when it comes to documentation. EPCs indicated their key overall challenges in working with suppliers to be:
If you find yourself struggling with these and other document control issues, contact us to see if DocBoss can help you.