Document Management

This Business Scenario Map is designed for all industries. It shows how the creators, approvers, and consumers of business documents work together over the entire document life cycle, from creation down to the distribution of the final version. The Map illustrates the benefits of the document management system as part of SAP PLM. The documents are checked in after creation and routed to the approver. After release, the documents are visible to all internal and external consumers, and can be linked to any business process, such as project management or production. Advanced search and document distribution capabilities ensure fast document access via the Web. The result is efficient management of business documents for the extended enterprise, which provides significant value potential due to the huge number of document-based processes.

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Value Potentials	Business Benefits
Up to 20% fewer new documents*	Search for existing documents (re-use) or template-based creation and automatic check-in
Up to 100% reduced costs for administration of archives*	Digital record instead of paper and microfilms and easy and secure administration of electronic vaults
Up to 80% reduced costs for paper-based reproduction*	Integration of document output management systems
Up to 50% reduced costs for document distribution*	Workflow driven electronic document distribution and predefined recipient lists for internal and external data consumers
Up to 100% reduced costs for external viewing tools*	Integrated viewing and redlining instead of interfacing external tools

Approver

Creators

Consumers

Approve change

Approve document

Automatic document distribution

Change of document according to redlining

Link document to accompanying business processes

Creation and check-in of document

Receive and display of modified document

Registration in distribution list

Searching, display and redlining of document

Source:
* Discussions with Customers

The value potentials shown in this table have been reported by selected SAP customers or independent third parties as referenced herein. However, there is no guarantee that such value potentials can be realized in any particular customer-specific business processes, and SAP does not make any representations and disclaims any liability as to the appropriateness of the referenced value potentials for any specific customer situation.
©SAP AG 2008

Business Benefits	Value Potentials
Integration of required documents in all kinds of business processes e.g. project management, production or service	Up to 20% improved user efficiency*
Advanced document search capabilities like full text retrieval or search via object links supported, instant document access	Up to 80% reduced time for document search and access*
Workflow-based approval, change processes and use of redlining and engineering change management for all kinds of documents	Up to 30% reduced time for approval and change processes*


Document Management To work efficiently in all kinds of business processes, such as project management, R&D, production, and service, a comprehensive document management system is a necessity. In many companies thousands of documents are created each day, and even more often documents are searched for and used by data consumers. The enormous number of people involved and the high volume of document creation and search processes indicate that the value potential for the basic parts of document management alone cannot be overestimated. When it comes to more complex creation and approval processes for documents, first of all a flexible status network for business documents is needed not just to indicate the current status of the life cycle, but also to enable status-based access control. On top of that, version control and the integration of document management with engineering change management (ECM) are essential to support secure change processes under formal control. Finally, status-based workflows can speed up processes significantly. In many cases, it has turned out that tight integration between business documents and other business objects, such as materials, equipment, projects, customers, and production orders, is key for companies using a document management system. Only a direct link allows the people who are involved in any kind of document-based business process to directly find and access the relevant documents without leaving their usual environment. This ensures high-quality processes and saves a lot of time looking for the valid version of the right documents time that was often wasted in the past. If people use documents frequently, they want to be notified as soon as changes to the document occur or a new version of the document is available. This requires comprehensive document distribution capabilities. Event-triggered notifications are sent electronically to all internal and external users who are registered on the distribution list, which often replaces time-consuming, paper-based distribution processes. The management of original application files uses secure electronic vaults, which can be administered with a standardized administration workbench.