CS Holdings implements document management system at SA Medical Research Council

The Western Cape office of JSE-listed CS Holdings has, in partnership with systems development company Jam Warehouse, developed and implemented the first of a multiphase document management system (DMS) for the Medical Research Council of South Africa (MRC).

Headquartered in Cape Town, the MRC is the best-established statutory research body in sub-Saharan Africa. Its task is to improve the health and quality of life of the population of SA through scientific research. The MRC`s researchers include 350 core scientists and technologists as well as many students and associates, all of whom have unique skills and specific training.

"Although the MRC made extensive use of information and communication technologies, it relied primarily on unstructured personal drives, shared drives and e-mail as the main storage and collaborative technologies," explains Denham Trollip of CS Holdings` Western Cape office. "This resulted substantial duplication, flimsy security and version control, as well as minimal workflow management, no indexing, and poor general access to information assets."

"The MRC wanted to improve the management of its corporate documentation, research output and Web content," he continues. "Existing and emerging requirements showed a strong need for information sharing, consolidation and collaboration. There was a growing realisation that the main assets of the organisation, which are the creation and use of knowledge and innovation, could be better maintained and serviced by the implementation of a technology-enabled system."

After a stringent selection process, the MRC selected a joint proposal from CS Holdings and Jam Warehouse. "We realised that the process of implementing a DMS would be a lengthy project, requiring good project management and careful user interaction," says MRC knowledge management division manager Gill Staniland. "CS Holdings was selected as they displayed in-depth project management experience, yet were able to adjust their methodologies to fit our culture. Their experience in other academic and research-type projects was also a factor in the selection process. Additionally, CS Holdings have an impressive black economic empowerment policy. This is a high priority for the MRC and we were pleased to be associated with an IT company currently implementing practical BEE policies."

This first phase of the project focused on document management and sharing, as well as piloting the new system in five of the MRC research units. CS Holdings provided project management and business analysis, knowledge management and information management skills, while Jam Warehouse was responsible for technical development, innovation and quality management.

"The DMS was built using open source technologies (Linux, Free BSD, PHP, Linux, Apache, Solaris and SunOne) in line with South African government`s support for these technologies," says Trollip. "This means the DMS application (called Knowledge Tree) has significant licence cost advantages over similar imported applications."

"Since the start of the project, CS Holdings have maintained their interest and commitment, and have guided the project team through analysis, design, development and implementation," says Staniland. "The combination of CS Holdings and Jam Warehouse has worked well. The problem of network security and sign-on, as well as the challenges involved in porting the system from free BSD to Linux and Sun Solaris were competently dealt with, while system performance over the Internet was also addressed."

Following phases will add sophisticated collaboration, workflow, archiving and reporting features, and integrate the Knowledge Tree with other MRC systems. The system will be gradually implemented in all of the MRC`s 70 business units, and will be extended to appropriate associate communities.