The Death of the Filing Cabinet

LET GO OF THE PAPER. STEP AWAY FROM THE FILE CABINET. No matter how tradition-bound you may feel, when looking for a design document, either current or outdated, these days the best advice is: Boot up the computer.

Managing engineering documents electronically—that is, via a computer system on which users share files—enables all engineers to be on the same page, literally. But benefits extend far beyond what’s called version control.

Not only does electronic document management function as an on-line library complete with check-out rights, but it also allows engineering firms to maintain archival records of older designs and the engineering thought behind them. The archival storage and automatic search capabilities inherent in these systems let engineers produce relevant documents in no time.

And those engineering firms that need to keep documents to comply with regulatory requirements find the software—which acts as an electronic file cabinet—vital. Indeed, companies have found that such systems actually help protect them in the event of lawsuits.

Still, version control and workflow management are the most often cited reasons to house engineering documents on a server. Digital management prevents too many cooks (or engineers) from spoiling the design soup by ensuring only one person at a time gets to make changes to a drawing or document. Workflow management means incipient designs can pass between pertinent mechanical engineers, analysts, and manufacturing engineers at the proper time in the design cycle.

Mandar Rege, senior director at management company Alvarez and Marsal of New York has glimpsed both the business and legal benefits to be gained by electronic document management. His firm is currently overseeing the Lehman Brothers restructure.

Alvarez and Marsal’s data analysis and preservation side handles large amounts of electronic data, and Rege, who is also a chemical and mechanical engineer, has a hand in contro