Article #344 How Can Document Controllers on Capital Construction Projects Survive

and Grow Their Value During the Challenging Times of the Covid-19 Pandemic?
One of the many lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic is how true Darwin’s theory “It Is Not the Strongest of the
Species that Survives But the Most Adaptable to Change” was.
Document Controllers on capital construction projects are no different from other project team members who are facing
one of the toughest times in their career life. Although the role that Document Controllers play on projects is important
and will continue to be required, nevertheless, document controllers need to improve their skills to survive the new
business norms. In addition to the work-for-home (WFH) and social distancing practices, there is also the challenge of
fewer projects to build and less money to spend on projects, at least for the near future. This means that document
controllers who continue to depend on the same skill sets and tools that are common to the tens of thousands of other
document controllers will surely have fewer chances and opportunities to survive those tough times than others who have
figured out how to develop their skills to increase their value to projects.
Document controllers can increase their business value when they can undertake more tasks for less effort by automating
many of the processes that they are either responsible for or have to depend on others to do. For example, they need to
automate the generation of all templates and registers where MS Excel or MS Word continue to be used to generate.
Those include the forms and registers for shop drawing and as-built drawings, material samples, method statements
among other submittal types, site inspection requests, non-compliance reports, request for information, confirmation of
verbal instructions, daily reports, and safety incidents among others. This automation will reduce the time consumed to
create, verify, maintain, and share the logs of those processes as well as the dashboards to report their performance. Also,
the additional captured data will give document controllers more content to report the volume of transactions by status,
location, and other categories, the average turnaround time for each type of process, and the time elapsed for submitted
documents among others.
In addition, document controllers need to play a more proactive role by issuing warning notifications for delayed processes
that they are responsible for. For example, having a detailed register of the project’s required submittals that is linked to
the project’s integrated schedule activities, will enable document controllers to play the proactive role of identifying what
will be the due submittals for the next 30 days rather than just wait for them to happen.
Further, document controllers can improve their reporting on the review status of all types of documents they are
responsible for. It is a fact that workflow tasks, duration of tasks, sequence of performing those tasks, and the approval
authority levels need to be specific to each document type as there is no single workflow that can fit all. Therefore, by
automating all those workflows, document controllers will have a real-time register of all due and delayed workflow tasks
grouped by process type that can be shared with those reviewers and other stakeholders.
Accordingly, document controllers who are keen to increase their business value and want to differentiate themselves from
the competition might need to consider using new tools that will enable them to do the additional tasks that maybe the
current tools in use lack the required functions and features. In addition, document controllers need to understand that
with the growing demand for digital transformation for project management processes, many of the tools that they have
used in the past should now be considered as part of the overall new solution. In other words, not only does the data
captured in all those tools need to be consolidated but also needs to comply with data protection rules that could make
SaaS or cloud-hosted solutions not permitted to be used.
Therefore, document controllers need to start seriously learning and mastering how Project Management Information
Systems (PMIS) like PMWeb can increase their business value. For example, they need to understand how a PMIS like
PMWeb can fulfill their current document control requirements while also providing the functions and features that
enable them to do more tasks that will increase their value for the projects they are working on.
The first must-have requirement for all document controllers is to have a document management repository that can
upload and store all types of documents that could be generated and exchanged during the project life cycle stages. There
is also the need to assign attributes to the uploaded documents so they can be used to report and search for documents.
PMWeb document management repository enables uploading all types of project documents into folders and subfolders
to match the filing structure used on the project. Access rights can be assigned to those folders to restrict access to who
can access and edit the content of those folders. In addition, it allows assigning an unlimited number of attributes and
user-defined fields to the uploaded documents. Of course, common document management system functionalities like
checking out and checking documents to maintain version control, document search, and document redlining and markup
are all by default in PMWeb.

The second requirement is managing the submittal process for which PMWeb provides two options to fulfill this
requirement. The first option, which is similar to other document management systems is using transmittals for which
PMWeb will create a new transmittal for each submittal and attach all related documents.

The second option will be using another out-of-the-box PMWeb module which is the submittal module. This module
allows changing the submittal process from being a reactive process into a proactive process. This change will become
possible by having a submittal log of all project’s due submittal as soon as the project starts. This log which is usually
created using MS Excel will be uploaded into PMWeb along with the relevant project schedule submittal activity included
in the integrated project schedule. PMWeb scheduling module will be used to import and store the integrated project
baseline schedule and all subsequent revisions and updates.

Each submittal can be attached with the documents that need to be submitted for review and approval. Those documents
will be uploaded to the PMWeb document management repository as detailed earlier. In addition, PMWeb allows linking
records from other project management processes that are managed in PMWeb but are relevant to the submittal. Those
could include for example other submittals, meeting minutes, and requests for information among others. In addition,
PMWeb allows linking imported MS Outlook emails to the submittal.

The PMWeb conditional workflow assigned to the submittal module will allow defining of different workflow tasks and
sequences for those tasks depending on the submittal type. In other words, there could be unique workflows for
structural, architectural, mechanical, electrical, and another type of submittals. In addition, there will be other additional
unique workflows for the many other processes managed using PMWeb such as Non-Compliance Report, Request for
Information, Safety Violation Report, and Confirmation of Verbal Instruction among others.
There are several benefits that a document controller will gain from having all these unique workflows predefined. The
first will be the saved effort of selecting which workflow to assign for the review and approval process of a submittal
document or others. The second is that the likelihood of having a wrong distribution of a document or process will be
eliminated. The third benefit is the ability to have a real-time report that is detailed to each process type showing due and
delayed workflow tasks by responsibility.

By having all these processes captured in PMWeb, real-time registers of all processes will be automatically generated.
Those reports can be customized in any desired form and format to enable document controllers to make those reports
readily available for their intended recipients. This will eliminate the time-consuming effort of using MS Excel to create
those registers with the associated risks of wrong or incomplete data entry, and outdated registers among others. Those
reports can include both tabular and graphical visuals to provide the needed insight for monitoring, evaluating, and
reporting the performance of each document management process.
By having this wealth of real-time, trustworthy data, document controllers can provide the needed information for
different dashboards that are designed to provide project executives with the insight to make better and faster-informed
decisions. Those dashboards are also examples of the benefits a document controller would bring to the project when it
comes to monitoring, evaluating, and reporting the overall project’s performance.
About the Author
Bassam Samman, PMP, PSP, EVP, GPM is a Senior Project Management Consultant
with a 40-year service record providing project management, project controls services,
and project management information systems to over 200 projects with a total value of
over US $100 Billion. Those projects included Commercial, Residential, Education and
Healthcare Buildings and Infrastructure, Entertainment, Hospitality, and Shopping-
Malls, Oil and Gas Plants and Refineries, Telecommunication, and Information
Technology projects. He is thoroughly experienced in complete project management
including project management control systems, computerized project control software,
claims analysis/prevention, risk analysis/management (contingency planning), design,
supervision, training, and business development.
Bassam is a frequent speaker on topics relating to Project Management, Strategic Project
Management, and Project Management Personal Skills. Over the past 40 years, he has
lectured at more than 350 events and courses at different locations in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and South
America. He has written more than 300 articles on project management and project management information systems that
were featured in international and regional magazines and newspapers. He is a co-founder of the Project Management
Institute- Arabian Gulf Chapter (PMI-AGC) and has served on its board of directors for more than 6 years. He is a
certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI), a certified Planning and
Scheduling Professional (PSP), an Earned Value Professional (EVP) from the American Association of Cost Engineers
(AACE), and Green Project Management (GPM). He is the author of two books - “Let’s Transform: Enabling Digital
Transformation of Capital Construction Projects using PMWeb” and “Project Control System 4.0”.
Bassam holds a Master’s in Engineering Administration (Construction Management) with Faculty Commendation, from
George Washington University, Washington, D.C., USA, Bachelor in Civil Engineering – from Kuwait University, Kuwait,
and has attended many executive management programs at Harvard Business School, Boston, USA and London Business
School, London, UK