CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

6 March 2009

Implementation Investments

CONTACT Wins Major Federal Ministry of Transport Tender

CONTACT Software GmbH has been awarded a tender worth millions for software and services by the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSV). The contract was awarded to supplement CONTACT’s PLM application of a Digital Technical Document Handling (WSV project DVtU) solution already installed across some 30% of the administration’s sites nationwide. This will enable all branches of the administration, spread across the country, to access and modify hundreds of thousands of documents necessary for the upkeep and new development of waterways in a consistent and economic manner. Responsible for the implementation and daily upkeep is the IT Service Centre of the Ministry for Transport, Building and Urban Development based in Ilmenau. Since all administration branches are linked to the central archive in Ilmenau, they can for the first time access cross-departmental waterways data. The Digital Technical Document Handling project currently hosting some 1200 user and more than 2700 upon completion, already counts as a major IT application within the waterways administration and will be presented at this year’s Federal Republic stand at CeBit in Hall 9, Stand B60, together with further model projects.

The Waterways and Shipping Administration WSV, a departmental subset of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs, is responsible for unobstructed shipping traffic within Germany. As such, it is responsible for the maintenance, extension and new development of Federal Waterways and their associated facilities like locks, weirs, ship-lifts etc. Both planning of new facilities and day-to-day maintenance demand a close coordination not only between different departments, but also with external WSV contractors and includes the comprehensive documentation of technical drawings, static calculations, surveyor reports, approval and release procedures and many more. Modelled on this job definition, the CIM DATABASE-reliant DVtU solution consists of a PLM system to handle the digital facility data (centralized archive) and a second system supporting the generation and modification of technical data within individual admin locations.

Before going on-line, the DVtU-system-database was fed with some 300.000 digitized blueprints, continuously augmented by further facility documents and by new or modified data from ongoing projects. The central hub in Ilmenau serves as a WSV-wide knowledgebase and digital long-term archive for the life-span of all facility data and documentation. Via the admin-exclusive intranet, authorized staff can access and evaluate up-to-date documents. Interfaces with further key WSV databases, such as the Waterways Database or the digital Federal Waterways Map, further aid cross-departmental research on specific issues of individual facilities.

The location-specific software component enables the efficient handling and filing of current project and maintenance data. Thanks to CIM DATABASE’s integration with MicroStation and MS-Office applications, CAD and Office documents may easily be generated and utilized within individual workspaces. Furthermore, workflows and prescribed administration compliance procedures safeguard the adherence to public authority stipulations concerning authorization, assessment and approval procedures.

In the context of the construction of the new Nord-Ostsee canal lock chambers, the Waterways and Shipping Administration Brunsbüttel has further planned a pilot project, integrating external contractors. In conjunction with building operations, third-party data submission and evaluation is to be executed within the local DVtU unit, whereby CIM DATABASE’s rights management ensures that non-authorized data remains protected.

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