EI implements Kendal Power Station`s document management system

Engineering Informatics (EI), in a team project with SAP public services, is currently finalising the implementation of a SAP R/3 electronic Document Management System (DMS) at Eskom`s Kendal Power Station in Mpumalanga. The project began in October 2002 and the system went live on the 17th of March 2003.

"Our brief was to implement an electronic DMS across the whole of the Kendal Power Station," says Gerhard du Plessis, EI Project Manager.

"The station had dispersed systems running independently, and not interacting with each other. Kendal required a standard, uniform infrastructure where everybody uses the same system for document management."

EI had to analyse the entire spectrum of Kendal`s business in order to find out how the station currently dealt with and processed documentation. The new DMS was then designed accordingly. The core focus of the project was the migration of current manual processes into electronic format - the full and final transfer of company information into a modern, electronic system.

The Kendal power station supplies the national grid with electricity, and in order to meet the company`s service obligations a complex series of interrelated tasks had to be performed within a specific time frame.

Carol Mafa, Kendal Power Station Information Manager, comments. "We need accurate and up to date information that is authoritative and easy to access. Using the wrong information or specifications affects the viability of our operation. So the implementation of the new DMS was a business imperative."

The Kendal DMS project culminated after careful and intensive research and planning. The process was facilitated by EI`s understanding of the nature of Kendal`s business.

"Fortunately, EI have a background in implementing DMS in power plants like our own," says Mafa. "They know the business language, they know the kind of documents that are being used and they understand our business processes as well. It would have been very, very difficult if the guys didn`t have that knowledge. They really have been there for us and have been very open minded and sensitive to the business needs."

Due to the wide scope of the project EI and Eskom combined their skills to create a project team of almost 40 specialists to see the implementation through to completion.

"We had to cover all corners of the plant and there was a lot of interaction and a lot of co-ordination," says du Plessis. "We broke the EI team into streams, each with different areas of responsibility. Everybody had their own field of expertise, but also an overall collaborative role to play in order to provide a smooth, uniform solution instead of a segregated or departmentalised one."

"EI handled themselves very professionally," adds Mafa. "Even when we were still doing the market survey they were great. Their marketing strategy, the way they packaged their proposals and every step thereafter has been handled in a professional and convincing manner."