CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
14 February 2005
Implementation Investments
Open Text's Livelink Moves Transport Research Laboratory's Paper Mountain
Open TextT Corporation has revolutionized the UK-based Transport Research Laboratory's (TRL) information environment by converting 40 years of paper records to electronic files in just four months.
TRL - an internationally recognized organization that provides land transport research, advice and solutions to clients worldwide, adopted an Electronic Document Records Management System (EDRMS) to rationalize documentation that was taking up 30 kilometers of shelf space.
A massive 125 tons of paper and 15 tons of confidential material were shredded and recycled, while the remaining 300,000 archived documents were successfully migrated to Open Text Livelink over three consecutive weekends.
TRL staff members now have access to all TRL research and project documents. These documents have been indexed and made text-searchable within Livelink to ensure that researchers have instant access to relevant information. This means they are no longer reliant on personal collections held in filing cabinets.
"The scale of this project should not be underestimated," said Kevin Miles, Head of Knowledge Management at TRL. "Thanks to Open Text's Livelink, some 450 staff now view an average of four documents each per day. That equates to 15,000 documents being accessed with a total of 26,000 document views per month - a massive improvement in efficiency."
He added: "We faced an enormous challenge. Virtually all our business processes were paper dependent and the storage of documents was both localized and poorly structured. The problem was compounded by our moving to a new location where there was insufficient storage space."
"We had to weed out 40 years of paper while capturing business critical documents and transfer those to EDRMS without interrupting normal business activities or our building move schedule. The archive and record clearance took up the bulk of the work, but we could not have met our targets without relying on document filing and retrieval from Livelink."
Cost savings achieved include the reduction of floor space, project completion efficiencies, reduced expenditure on academic journals, storage furniture and files, and streamlined work processes. TRL also anticipates savings through Extranet access, which reduces communications and transport costs particularly with overseas customers and partners.
John Kirkham, Vice President of International Sales at Open Text, said: "The TRL project clearly demonstrates how Livelink provides tightly integrated services that deliver dynamic collaboration and knowledge sharing between individuals, teams, and organizations. It has enabled TRL to be far more effective and innovative and has built the foundation for their future business success."
TRL (Transport Research Laboratory) is an internationally recognized center of excellence providing world-class research, advice and solutions for all issues relating to land transport. We generate sustainable solutions and create new opportunities across a wide range of transport-related issues for our clients throughout the world. TRL Limited is part of the Transport Research Foundation group of companies.
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