Empower Document Controllers to Drive Capital Project Success

Reduce Administrative Burden with Smart Automation and Clear Workflows

Save Hours with Automated Distribution and Smart Folders

When document controllers spend less time manually routing and organizing files, they can spend more time validating accuracy, monitoring compliance, and maintaining consistency across fast-moving project environments.

Automate Document Distribution for Scalable Workflows

Manual document distribution is one of the most time-consuming responsibilities in document control. Routing files through email, maintaining distribution lists, and confirming receipt across contractors, engineers, and owners quickly becomes unsustainable and unreliable as document volumes grow.

Reduce the load on document controllers with predefined rules for automated distribution, which ensure the right stakeholders receive the latest version automatically when documents are approved, revised, or issued.

Reliable document distribution:

• Leads to a more efficient construction process;
• Saves time in the office and the field;
• Reduces rework; and
• Builds trust with the team that documentation is handled correctly from preconstruction to closeout.

Enable Consistent Organization with Smart Folders

To prevent document mismanagement from becoming a source of project risk, operations and project leaders must provide systems that reduce reliance on manual filing. A manual system requires document controllers to:

• Create a hierarchy of folders and subfolders;
• Standardize file naming;
• Create version control systems; and
• Define access rules across shared drives.

These tasks require a strong attention to detail and a commitment to continuous updating throughout the project.

When operations and project leaders leverage smart folders to streamline the filing process, document controllers can automate organizing documents based on attributes like discipline, status, or document type in smart folders that update in real time. Automation allows them to focus less on monotonous organizational tasks for filing and more on ensuring the project is progressing smoothly.

Reduce Manual Document Classification Through Metadata Extraction

Tagging each document with the information needed for classification and organization prepares contractors for claims, regulatory reviews, and turnover. But document controllers face the challenge of accurately capturing the many data sets needed for consistent tagging, like:

• File names;
• Revisions;
• Dates;
• Disciplines;
• Statuses; and
• Embedded headers.

Manually extracting and entering this data is slow and risky, as even the most skilled document controllers are more likely to input errors than technology. Tagging documents well and consistently takes valuable time that could be spent focusing on accuracy and compliance. And inconsistent metadata undermines accountability, making audits, claims support, and regulatory reviews harder to defend.

Automate Metadata Extraction to Improve Accuracy, Searchability, and Compliance

Operations and project leaders can empower their document controllers with document control systems that automate metadata extraction, pulling the information needed for organization while ignoring unneeded data based on preset metadata filters.

Technologies like Optical Character Recognition (OCR) capture key attributes when teams upload documents, cutting intake time by as much as 75% while improving consistency across the dataset.

Document controllers can save multiple file types of the same document to support the optimal file type for viewing, editing, and distributing documents. A system that provides accurate and consistent tagging for all documents makes them easier to find, review, and trace.

When project documents are managed and organized well with technology that reduces the administrative burden on document controllers, operations and project leaders can be confident nothing slipped through the cracks, resulting in:

• Better compliance;
• Audit readiness; and
• Long-term traceability.

Contractors can only scale their businesses to win large, profitable, and challenging projects when they can rely on strong systems to empower document controllers to better manage large numbers of documents.

Standardize Workflows to Improve Consistency Across Project Teams

As projects grow in size and complexity, inconsistent document workflows create confusion that leads to risks contractors can’t afford.

• Expensive rework occurs because of an outdated document or a missed change order.
• Productivity decreases due to time spent searching for paperwork and fixing mistakes.
• Schedule delays occur from hindered productivity that may derail the project.
• Delays impact the budget, which can impact the contract value.
• Litigation and audit risks increase, potentially resulting in fines and lawsuits.
• Reputation damage occurs when owners see inconsistencies.

Instead, operations and project leaders should develop standardized workflows that fit projects of all sizes to create predictable, repeatable steps for document filing, review, approval, and distribution. Creating a standardized workflow requires:

1. A cloud-based, centralized location that serves as a single source of truth for document storage, so all project stakeholders can gain controlled access to the information they need when they need it.
2. Strong document controls that automate file storage and metadata extraction provides easy searchability and access.
3. Real-time alerts to communicate changes as they arise, reducing time and keeping all stakeholders on the same page throughout the project.

Create a Standardized Workflow That Scales Across Capital Projects

To develop a standardized workflow, train teams on naming and filing conventions that are created using simple, easy-to-remember structures that can be implemented on fast-moving projects. Assign a point-of-contact on every team or every jobsite who can guide team members on this process and help ensure consistent workflows for document controllers. Assigning a point-of-contact establishes clear accountability for document workflows, ensuring standards are reinforced even under schedule pressure.

When all teams use the same standard workflows for document management, they’re better able to collaborate across disciplines. They can access the information they need when they need it, trusting they’re viewing the most updated document.

When controllers trust standardized workflows for document management, they don’t spend the majority of their time:

• Searching for documents;
• Entering data manually;
• Validating versions and information; and
• Answering questions.

Instead, they can focus on better managing oversight and maintaining quality at scale.

Better Visibility Enables Document Controllers to Support Successful Execution

Real-time insight into document status, revisions, and dependencies provides a bird’s-eye view of the construction project. Without that level of access, operations and project leaders are forced to be reactive. Instead of alerting leadership about issues that could spiral into expensive rework and major hits to the schedule and budget, document controllers spend too much time looking for answers to questions and validating information.

Centralized visibility allows document controllers to quickly identify opportunities for risk to leadership before they impact the project, like:

• Stalled reviews;
• Missing approvals; or
• Misaligned information.

Making informed, actionable decisions based on information flagged by document controllers that all stakeholders trust to be reliable can mean the difference between project success and failure.

High-Level Visibility Supports Risk Mitigation and Decision-Making

Every $1 billion in project value generates between 30,000 and 40,000 documents, so organizing them in a way that provides trustworthy project visibility relies on creating a strong system for document management.

• Create custom dashboards and reports that allow the various project stakeholders to view information specific to their needs without sorting through irrelevant data.
• Leverage data visualization tools to turn documents into complex data sets that are easy to understand and analyze, allowing leadership to make high-level decisions on cost trending, forecasting, and risk mitigation.
• Set up personalized alerts for various stakeholders that communicate when attention is needed on various parts of the job. Recipients can respond to problems immediately to determine solutions that keep the project moving forward.

By empowering document controllers with high levels of visibility into construction projects thanks to data analyzed by a strong document management system, operations and project leaders can identify risks before they turn into real problems. Risk mitigation solves problems quickly and reduces contractors’ exposure during legal disputes and audits.

Modern Document Control Systems Elevate the Document Control Function

Capital projects are more complex than ever, with larger teams, tighter schedules, evolving compliance requirements, and a large volume of documents moving across disciplines. Trying to manage this environment manually or with disconnected systems creates an unsustainable administrative load for document controllers. It also opens the door to version confusion, missed updates, and preventable rework that can threaten budgets, schedules, and contractor credibility.

Modern document control systems reduce that risk by centralizing documents. With one platform for storing, routing, reviewing, and auditing documents, teams gain a reliable single source of truth.

Automation, standardized workflows, and real-time project visibility reduce the administrative burden on document controllers, allowing them to focus on higher-value responsibilities. like:

• Maintaining quality and compliance;
• Improving data integrity;
• Guiding teams toward better information practices; and
• Proactively supporting project execution.

When operations and project leaders take accountability for the systems, standards, and workflows that govern information through centralized, purpose-built systems, document controllers can shift from reactive record-keepers to strategic project partners who actively support project execution.