Case study · Oil & Gas / Energy · Stavanger, Norway
A Stavanger energy supplier managed engineering documents — drawings, datasheets, procedures — across shared drives and email. ITSECOPS implemented a controlled document management system: numbering, revisions, review-and-approval workflow and transmittals that stand up to operator audits.
The client
A supplier to North Sea operators based in Stavanger, contractually required to demonstrate controlled document management for engineering deliverables.
The challenge
Multiple “final” versions of the same drawing, no reliable revision history, and transmittals to operators tracked in a spreadsheet. Failing a document-control audit would have threatened frame agreements.
What we did
- Designed the document control framework: numbering convention, revision scheme, document types and metadata aligned to operator requirements.
- Implemented the DMS on SharePoint with content types, enforced metadata and unique document numbers — no more folder-name archaeology.
- Built review-and-approval workflows with electronic sign-off, so a revision cannot go “issued for construction” without the right approvals.
- Created a transmittal process with automatic logs of what was sent to which operator, when, at which revision.
- Migrated legacy documents with metadata backfill, and trained document controllers and engineers on the new discipline.
Results
- Single source of truth per document — duplicate “final” versions eliminated.
- Passed the next operator document-control audit without findings.
- Transmittal history reconstructable in seconds instead of spreadsheet forensics.
FAQ
What makes engineering document management different from file storage?
Control: unique numbering, revision history, approval workflow and transmittal records. Storage says where a file is; a DMS proves which revision is valid and who approved it.
Is SharePoint good enough for engineering document control?
For most suppliers, yes — content types, metadata and workflow cover operator requirements without the licence cost of a dedicated EDMS. The design discipline matters more than the product.
How long does a DMS implementation take?
Framework and system in 6–8 weeks; legacy migration depends on volume and how much metadata must be backfilled.