The Document Control Tribune Issue9 Consepsys

THE
DOCUMENT CONTROL
TRIBUNE Issue no. 9 - June 2016
Email
management
.
Challenges and
solutions
Crisis in the Oil and Mining Industries:

Impacts on Document Control
The Document Control Professionals
Consultancy, Recruitment, Training Courses, Certification
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THE DOCUMENT CONTROL TRIBUNE Issue no.9
Inside this issue: Editorial
After inaugurating the new design of the

Crisis in the Oil and Mining Industries: Impacts Page 4 newsletter in March, having evolved to an e-
magazine format, we are pleased to present
on Document Control you with the June issue!
In this issue, we explore the impacts of the

Oil and Gas and Mining industries on Docu-
ment Controllers over the world: direct im-
pacts and indirect ones (page 4).
How to stand out in a tough job market Page 5
As many Document Control professionals
are currently looking for a new job, we pub-
lish an article on how to stand out in a tough
job market (page 5): we hope this helps!
Building credibility is also an essential key to

any professional and contributes to a happy
Building credibility Page 6 life at work. We tackle the subject in page 6.
We also address a few common issues for

Document Control professionals: how to se-
lect the best EDMS? (page 11) or how to
deal with the growing presence of emails: do
we need to record them? How to handle
them? (page 8).
Comic Strip Series: Hanging in There with Page 7
This month we invite you to meet Nicole
D.Ceecee, the Document Controller Larsen from Denmark for the Portrait of a
Document Controller section (page 10).
Finally, D.Ceecee, the fun comics strip char-

acter is also back a new real-life story! It will
surely remind you of your daily worklife, with
Email management: challenges and solutions Page 8 a fun twist to it!
And as always, dont hesitate to share it with

your friends and colleagues!
Portrait of a Document Controller Page 10

Free
Nicole Larsen, Project Coordinator at Siemens
Wind Power in Denmark Subscription
to the newsletter:
Selecting an EDMS Page 11 www.consepsys.com/publications/
newsletter/
Subscribe
Page 3 of 12
Consepsys Ltd are not and shall not be responsible for any statement made or opinions expressed in The Document Control Tribune. Unless described as such, statements and
opinions expressed in The Document Control Tribune do not represent the views or policies of Consepsys Ltd. Consepsys Ltd accept advertising for goods and services which, in the
publishers judgement, address the professional interests of its readers. Consepsys Ltd reserve the right to refuse any advertising and articles which they consider to be unacceptable.
CRISIS IN THE OIL & MINING INDUSTRIES:

IMPACTS ON DOCUMENT CONTROL
F
or those of us working ei- ago the phone was ringing every We have seen the surge of optimized
ther in the Oil and Gas in- week with a new job opportunity, it workflows, streamlined processes,
dustry or in the Mining in- has now got much harder to find job enhanced communication, more
dustry, the past two years moves from paper to electronic pro-
have been challenging on cesses, and an overall and careful
many levels. thought about: what can be done
differently? Better? In a more effi-
For the Oil industry, for example,
cient way?
while the price of oil was ranging be-
tween 90 and 108 US Dollar a barrel In the process, we have to make
back in 2013, it went as low as 29 sure that safety, control and quality
USD a barrel early 2016. Thats a are not sacrificed over budget con-
slump of up to 73% in less than 3 straints and tight deadlines.
years.
ads to apply for. In a word, it forces us to be creative,
to think outside of the box, and that
This time of crisis has forced a cer-
is, in the short term as well as on the
tain number of Document Controllers
long run, a positive outcome.
The crisis also forces us to think about what can

we do differently? Better? More efficiently?
to either relocate, rethink their career The crisis will not run for ever. Prices
Chart: Oil price between 2012 and 2016 strategy, learn new skills, or move to will come up again, and business will
another industry. resume eventually, maybe not as
The mining sector has also been
usual , but it will pick up again.
confronted to a very difficult environ- There has been other consequences
ment: From its peak in 2011 to the in the daily lives of Document Con- We can only hope that this difficult
beginning of 2016, the global mining trollers. Indeed, with higher con- period has made the DC discipline,
sector has gone through a 90% re- straints on budgets, it is now more stronger than ever before.
duction in global market capitalisa- difficult to recruit help (even tempo-
tion. rary) when it is needed. This means
more work to be done by
Any drop of this dimension obviously
fewer people, which
has a direct impact on business, how
usually comes with high-
they operate, and on jobs.
er stress levels but also
The first impact of the crisis on these with risks in terms of
industries is direct: many companies quality and safety.
had to let people go due to new
It actually comes with a
budget constraints. Many companies
good side too: it forces
actually had to go through massive
Document Control
scale redundancies. This process
teams to think about
impacted Document Control profes-
their processes and
sionals as any other job role or func-
tools and to see what
tions.
could be done to be
The second impact of the crisis is a more effective: to do
direct consequence of the first: the more with less, without
job market is now flooded with many compromising quality in
applicants, most of them very experi- the process.
enced and able. While a few years
Page 4 of 12
HOW TO STAND OUT IN A TOUGH

JOB MARKET
W
hen the job market Get help from professionals
gets tense, it does
not mean that you You can also get professional ad-
cant get a job. It vice on your career and CV.
usually means that you will have to
work harder to land the job of your Having your CV reviewed by ex-
dreams and that competition will perts can dramatically improve
be fierce. your chances too.
But rest assured: there are many They will give you their expert ad-
things that you can do to dramati- vice on what to improve to maxim-
cally improve your chances. ise your potential, and to give your
CV the best possible odds!
Research the job market
Manage your online presence
To beat the competition and get
your CV selected instead of some- Once you have passed the first
one elses, you have to think first screenings, more and more recruit-
about your profile: take a moment ers now check the online presence
to think about your skills and expe- of potential candidates.
rience.
A good profile on LinkedIn can AS-06
How would you say you compare help you: only if you remember
that professional social networks
to other Document Controllers? :
Is there any specific knowledge or like LinkedIn are part of your pro- Third Page Vertical
experience that you have acquired fessional image and credibility.
and that is not so common? Your profile, pictures, posts and
likes have to be targeted at a pro-
It is also beneficial to have a thor- fessional audience.
ough look at the current job ads: is
there any specific knowledge, cer- More challenging to manage
tification, tasks, that are required sometimes is your online presence
or preferred by employers? elsewhere on the web: other social
networks such as Facebook, Twit-
Studying both the market (whats ter, participations on forums or
on offer) and the competition (who group discussions, etc. You mostly
else is looking for a job), should have two ways about it: either re-
give you a clear idea about where strict access to these media only to
are your strengths, but also what people you authorise (for example
are your weaknesses. through the manage confidential-
ity option of Facebook), or en-
Make sure that your strengths sure that all your public contribu-
stand out in your CV / resume. tions are either anonymous or risk-
free from the public image point of
Make your CV stands out view.
As recruiters only spend on aver- Little plus that can make the
age 5 to 7 seconds to review a CV difference
for its first screening, you have to
make sure that your CV can con- Getting recommendations from
vince in less than 5 seconds. former managers, clients, interfac-
es is a good way to reassure the
This means a careful choice of recruiters on your skills and behav-
words, a spotless formatting and iour at work.
proofreading as well as a thought-
ful summary of skills and experi- Dont forget also that formalising
ence. your knowledge, getting your skills
certified, or learning new skills
Once you have finalised your CV, helps to improve both your profile
have it reviewed by friends and and your work life.
family.
Page 5 of 12
BUILDING CREDIBILITY
E
stablishing credibility is How to built credibility? Develop your role of domain expert
one of the most difficult but dont oversell yourself either: giv-
No matter what your role or position
things to achieve in the ing false information when you do not
are, credibility is something that you
professional environment. know something leads to making bad
have to earn.
Loosing credibility however can hap- decisions and will undermine your
pen very quickly and sometimes irre- It takes time, patience, and con- reputation.
versibly. sistency to build it.
Work on transparency
What is credibility? Start by identifying the core values of
Being open and honest helps build-
the profession (think for example
The word comes from the Latin ing credibility as others will therefore
about the TICCQS philosophy) and
credo meaning I believe. Credibility understand your intentions and
your own values. Ensure that every-
is the quality of being believable, goals.
thing you do and say is compatible,
worthy of trust.
consistent and in line with these val- It means making sure the lines of
Why do you need to build your credi- ues. communication are never interrupted
bility? Because without credibility, or blurred, especially when you have
Integrity and authenticity are essen-
you are likely to struggle on a daily
basis to get your point across: in the
Document Control area for example, No matter your role or position, credibility is
it will help you when you reject a doc- something that you have to earn
ument, when you explain the DC pro-
cedure to a user, when you train an bad news to announce.
tial to build credibility. You need to be
engineer to the DC software pack-
known as someone who does the Sometimes we also tend to work
age, etc.
right things for the right reasons. hard without really communicating
Would you buy a car from a sales about what we do: this does not help
Develop your expertise
professional who does not seem your credibility. Although you may be
trustworthy, does not know about the The more expertise you demon- doing a great job, no one knows
product, or seems to be hiding things strate, the greater your credibility. about it. Take some time to com-
because of his lack of knowledge? municate about achievements too.
This means developing your
Surely you would not.
knowledge and skills, by attending You establish credibility when you
This is the reason why, if you want to courses and industry conferences for inspire trust in others. Demonstrating
convince people to follow DC rules example, but also not taking anything honesty, integrity, transparency and
and processes, you have to start by for granted. It means taking every expertise will go a long way to help
building your own credibility and that opportunity to learn and integrate you achieving your goals.
of your DC group. lessons.
Page 6 of 12
Sponsored by
Hanging in there with D. Ceecee - the Document Controller by Tuffmee
Credits
Follow D. Ceecee on and on Graphical concept: Myranda Saffarine
Scenario & Design: Tuffmee & Nwash
Page 7 of 12
EMAIL MANAGEMENT: CHALLENGES & SOLUTIONS
W
e usually define cor- Traceability requirements interference, or prying. This implies
respondence as resistance of some users to formal
If official matters are discussed by
communication by email management.
email, including decisions made, le-
exchanging letters.
gal and contractual agreements, Tackling emails
By extension, the term
technical comments, etc., then we
correspondence covers official let- To tackle the challenges lying with
need to have a way to track and ar-
ters, as well as emails, faxes and emails management, even before
chive those important emails.
memos. thinking about a technical solution,
Traceability is key in Document Con- the first thing to do is to issue corpo-
Although managing correspondence
trol: one of the functions of Docu- rate policy / guidelines about emails.
is not typically under the scope of
ment Control professionals is to en-
Document Controllers (usually fo- Are there any subjects that should
sure that there is traceability in pro-
cused on technical documents, draw- not be discussed by email? Any re-
jects /departments / companies:
ings, management documents), more quirement to formalise by letter or in
traceability of documents, comments,
and more Document Control profes- documents when it comes to certain
decisions, transmittals, etc.
sionals are faced with new challeng- topics?
es linked to correspondence man- If an incident happens, or if the com-
Email management is also far easier
agement and tracking. pany is investigated or audited, we
when emails follow a certain conven-
have to be able to provide evidence
Fewer letters, more emails tion in terms of subject line (for ex-
of what was done, why, when, by
ample Contract XXX - Accurate
The first challenge comes from the whom, etc.
description of the subject matter ).
rampant use of emails. We used to
formalize any official discussion by Along with these guidelines, there
an official letter. This was a clear and should also be clear rules about
traceable way of discussing or offi- which emails need recording and
cially clarifying a point. which ones do not.
Managing letters was not different Indeed, there is no need to record all
from managing a document, from the emails, just those containing
Document Control stand-point: en- important information (what is con-
suring that the letter had a unique sidered as important has to be de-
number, that it contained the relevant It means that important emails have fined by the company).
identification information, that it was to be tracked, traceable, retrievable,
The next step is about technical solu-
registered and filed. recorded.
tions to email tracking and recording.
Nowadays, we can Challenges of emails manage- Some EDMS integrate a feature to
see that a trend is ment record emails automatically. For ex-
emerging for using ample each folder in the EDMS is
more emails, and Number of emails: Everyone can allocated an email address. When
fewer letters. Im- send an email and does it daily the user sends an important email
portant topics are countless times. Same goes for the that needs recording, he/she will just
sometimes dis- replies to emails. This means that have to copy this address and the
cussed endlessly there can be thousands of emails EDMS will do the rest: record the
by exchange of exchanged every day in a single email, the information (from, to, date,
emails and are rarely formalised offi- project or department. etc), as well as the attachments.
cially in letters. Numerous replies: While with official When no such solution is available in
Although in many companies email letters, the number of letters and the company, Document Controllers
have been declared not official replies on the same subject was usually use a dedicated mailbox, that
and unfit to discuss contractual, fi- limited, with emails you can have users copy when email needs re-
nancial or legal matters, the reality is dozens of emails exchanged to dis- cording. Then, they either archive
here: we observe a surge in the use cuss the same topic. emails in the mailbox, or make a
of emails to discuss official topics. PDF of the email at the end of the
User resistance: tracking of emails is
conversation and register them.
sometimes perceived by users as
Page 8 of 12
PORTRAIT OF A DOCUMENT CONTROLLER
Nicole Larsen
Project Coordinator with Siemens Wind Power
in Denmark
Nicole attended the Certified Document

Controller Course with Consepsys in
Aberdeen in June 2016.
Can you tell us a bit about you? tional Business from the Aarhus Uni- ment?
versity in Denmark.
My name is Nicole Larsen, I am a 30 This course has left a very positive
year old German-Filipino, working and I have worked in the logistics, airline impact on me. Understanding the
living in Denmark for almost 8 years. and energy industries. I started work- basic principles in document control
ing for Siemens Wind Power back in has boosted my confidence at work.
I grew up in Manila, Philippines and
2011 and have been working in vari- Passing the exam and receiving the
moved to Denmark, initially to pursue
ous offshore wind farm projects since certificate, has given me a sense of
my graduate studies. Then life hap-
then, such as the London Array Off- accomplishment and is proof to myself
pened, I met my partner, found a good
job and had a son who is turning 4
years old this year. The course has left a very positive impact on me
During my spare time, I love to travel and has boosted my confidence at work
in order to see new sights, experience
different cultures and taste local cui-
sines. At home, I enjoy cooking Asian shore Wind Farm, which during its and to others that I am knowledgeable
food and meeting up with friends for a time, was the largest offshore wind in Document Control.
cup of coffee. farm in the world.
I was so excited to share my experi-
What is your current role? Which Consepsys course did you ence with my manager, telling her the
attend and when? course was a must have for all my
I am a Project Coordinator, focusing
colleagues working on documentation
on Documentation at Siemens Wind I completed the Certified Document
in the company. Personally, the course
Power, currently the largest offshore Controller course of Consepsys in Ab-
has allowed me to have a solid under-
wind turbine supplier in the world. erdeen, UK back in June 2016.
standing of the documentation require-
Im responsible for collecting, organis- Early on, I informed my manager that I ments of the client, as well as improve
ing, storing and transmittal of project was very interested in documentation, the existing procedures in the compa-
documentation. Aside from that, I also and I wanted to learn more about the ny, and planning for future projects.
support the project group in relation to job. I was told that I could attend a
I am looking forward to attending the
planning, execution and completion of training course that I found useful to
Advanced Document Controller
projects. grow in this direction. I presented the
course, I believe that this will enhance
Consepsys course content to my man-
Can you describe your professional the knowledge that I received from the
ager, and we both agreed that this
experience? Certified Document Controller course.
course would be perfect for my devel-
I have a degree in B.A. Humanities opment.
and Management from the University To read the full interview
What did you think about the
of Asia and the Pacific in the Philip- on our website:
course? How did it help you in your
pines, and I also have a MSc. Interna- Click here
current role and career develop-
Page 10 of 12
SELECTING AN EDMS
E
DMS stands for Electronic One of the most recurrent questions Some need collaboration on docu-
Document Management when it comes to EDMS is What is ments across continents, others just
System. It is a generic the best EDMS ? . need a system that allows collabora-
term covering all software tion in a single local office.
As often in life, there is not one sin-
packages / programs used to store
gle answer to that. The reason for The list of specifics goes on. If you
and manage electronic documents.
that it is that the selection of an chose an EDMS without answering
EDMSs are day-to-day tools for Doc- EDMS is a project in itself and it must these questions first, the risk is to
ument Controllers. You usually either be done properly and methodically. have a system that no one will adopt
work with a secured area on the and use because it is perceived as
What is the best EDMS? The one
shared drive and an Excel spread- not adapted to their way of working.
that is adapted to the requirements
sheet to register documents, or with and specific needs of the Company. To be successful, the process of se-
an EDMS which, in most cases, re- lecting an EDMS and implementing it
Not all companies need the same
places both the shared drive and the has to be a gated process.
thing when it comes to document
Excel DC spreadsheet.
management: some of them focus on An online course (see Module 4) has
More and more companies choose to collaboration, while other require a been designed to help with the
implement an EDMS, as it makes it focus on control. EDMS selection and implementation
easier to manage electronic docu- project. It explains all the steps re-
Some company need to have a
ments and there is usually an imme- quired to a successful implementa-
shared system for all subsidiaries
diately visible added value to imple- tion.
and interfaces, while other compa-
menting it.
nies make a different choice.
Page 11 of 12
PREPARE FOR YOUR END OF THE YEAR TRAININGS

Give your career the best chances and join the larg-
est community of Document Control professionals
in the world.
Join our training programme and ensure that your com-

petences and skills compare with those of your peers.
Give your career the best

chances and join our courses!
Register now for the last 2016 sessions:

Singapore - September / October 2016
London - November 2016
Houston - December 2016
Register on one of
our courses
Stay tuned for 2017 dates in London, Aberdeen,

Amsterdam, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Houston, Perth,
Brisbane, Dubai, Muscat! The 2017 catalogue will be
out soon!
The Document Control Tribune

Issue no. 9 - June 2016
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THE

Crisis in the Oil and Mining Industries:

Consepsys Limited Consepsys Limited

Inside this issue: Editorial

After inaugurating the new design of the

In this issue, we explore the impacts of the

Building credibility is also an essential key to

We also address a few common issues for

Finally, D.Ceecee, the fun comics strip char-

And as always, dont hesitate to share it with

Portrait of a Document Controller Page 10

CRISIS IN THE OIL & MINING INDUSTRIES:

The crisis also forces us to think about what can

HOW TO STAND OUT IN A TOUGH

Hanging in there with D. Ceecee - the Document Controller by Tuffmee

Scenario & Design: Tuffmee & Nwash

EMAIL MANAGEMENT: CHALLENGES & SOLUTIONS

PORTRAIT OF A DOCUMENT CONTROLLER

Nicole attended the Certified Document

PREPARE FOR YOUR END OF THE YEAR TRAININGS

Join our training programme and ensure that your com-

Give your career the best

Register now for the last 2016 sessions:

Stay tuned for 2017 dates in London, Aberdeen,

The Document Control Tribune

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