Customer Success Story
Portal Systems software based on SharePoint Online improves global document workflows at the manufacturer of industrial plants.
NEUMAN and ESSER is active for its customers at 19 different locations worldwide. This decentralisation poses particular challenges for a centralised document management system – and thus for an industry-compliant document control system in accordance with DIN ISO 9001. Document control is the systematic management and control of documents to monitor and track their creation, revision, release and archiving. It also includes processes to ensure document consistency, policy compliance and access rights to ensure the integrity and availability of information. A document management system (DMS) combined with an integrated management system (IMS), which combines compliance with requirements from different areas in a unified structure, is ideal for this.
NEUMAN and ESSER is a family-owned company with its head office in Übach-Palenberg, near Aachen, Germany. The company specialises in the construction of large industrial plants. It manufactures customised products such as mills and visualisation systems, compressor systems, valves and piping systems, as well as hydrogen production systems such as electrolysers and steam reformers. In addition, the company offers digital products such as an IoT platform, rebuild and modernisation services as well as consulting and project development services. NEUMAN and ESSER was founded in 1830 and today has around 1,600 employees in 29 engineering and service companies in 12 countries worldwide, as well as 4 production sites in Germany and one in the USA.
“Our IMS system has been based on an add-on for Microsoft SharePoint for many years. However, the move to the cloud and SharePoint Online meant that this add-on had to be replaced,” explains Thomas Kloke, Head of IT at NEUMAN and ESSER. “We deliberately chose a SharePoint-based solution because it is the standard Microsoft product for document management.”
The previous IMS system also complied with the ISO 9001 quality management standard, which defines the procedure for quotations, order processing, document processing, document control, change control, access control and monitoring for certain industries. The problem: “Migrating to SharePoint Online was not possible because the cloud version did not allow the necessary customisation,” says Kloke. “We wanted to retain the principle of using SharePoint, even in the cloud,” he adds.
A new provider had to be found who could offer a suitable IMS system that would meet all the legal requirements in the cloud version. An online search led Kloke and his team to Portal Systems and its Shareflex Quality Documents document management system, which is specifically designed for document control. The next step was to implement the functionality of the legacy system into the new software. “We presented Portal Systems with what the legacy software was capable of doing. The team then evaluated how the functionality could be implemented similarly in the cloud version.”
In this context, the ability to implement the ISO 9001 standard with the new solution was of particular importance. “This includes certain requirements for document management in order to set up an integrated management system,” explains Thomas Kloke. “This includes, for example, defined responsibilities and procedures. In short, it is about describing and defining exactly how a company works with documents”.
Many industries now require ISO 9001 certification, from automotive and logistics to hospitals and medical practices. “To obtain this certification, a detailed documentation of the way a company works is required,” summarises Thomas Kloke. What’s more, “this documentation must be reviewed at least every five years to ensure that it remains up to date. It should also help new employees find their way around the company and adapt to the established working methods and processes,” says the IT specialist.
In order to be sure that “Shareflex Quality Documents” was really the right solution, NEUMAN and ESSER arranged for reference customers to be contacted so that they could talk to them about the product in question. “I do this regularly for projects like this because it helps me to make decisions,” explains Thomas Kloke. “Then you are dealing with experts who are already using the product productively and can tell you whether it works or not.”
“We had a very informative discussion with a reference customer of Portal Systems and, after a test installation, decided to introduce ‘Shareflex Quality Documents’ at NEUMAN and ESSER. A project framework was defined, and the system was gradually set up in weekly meetings.”
An experienced NEUMAN ESSER employee, who was very familiar with the functions of the old system, meticulously monitored the progress of the project and ensured that Portal Systems implemented all the functions of the previous system in “Shareflex Quality Documents”. “All this was done in close consultation with the head of our quality management,” adds Kloke. “The two of them managed the project together and brought it to a successful conclusion in various tests and coordination rounds with Portal Systems.” Duration: around 6 months. Thomas Kloke is satisfied that Portal Systems met every single one of the requirements defined by NEUMAN and ESSER.
The IT manager at NEUMAN ESSER describes the collaboration with Portal Systems as “very fruitful”. Requirements were defined and tests carried out in regular weekly meetings. “Communication was always at eye level. Everything worked very well.” He particularly appreciated the informal atmosphere. “The interaction was very informal – but the focus was always on the goal of implementing the required functions and rolling them out quickly,” says Thomas Kloke, praising the team’s cooperation.
A particular challenge for NEUMAN and ESSER was to ensure data quality and data maintenance in order to make optimal use of the new system. “Of course, this has nothing to do with Portal Systems. But it was important for us to label the documents in such a way that we could find them again later.”
Shareflex Quality Documents has been in use at NEUMAN and ESSER for six months. “The system is easier for users to operate,” says Kloke, citing a key advantage, and explains: “It is simply more intuitive, the training effort is lower and there are significantly fewer queries than with the old system. Especially from employees who use the software less often because it is very Microsoft-heavy – and people know that.”
The individual benefit for the IT manager at NEUMAN and ESSER is that he was able to solve his company’s technical problem resulting from the cloud strategy with “Shareflex Quality Documents”. “That’s how I see it from my IT point of view.” There are, of course, other benefits to the solution, such as the “user-friendliness” that benefits the entire company worldwide. “You have to look at it this way,” says Kloke, “that from Germany to Thailand to China, there is a higher level of acceptance due to the ease of use, and therefore the system is used more actively.”
Patrick Carl
Chief Sales Officer
Email: info[at]portalsystems.de
This post is also available in: German