OnlineDocuments: Storage, access and retrieval of documentation relating to a building is a costly, time-consuming and error-strewn business that many in the property industry despise.
An Irish software company, however, has developed what it calls a "digital facilities guide" (DFG) that it claims takes a lot of the pain and cost from storing and accessing the mountain of documentation associated with buildings today.
Zutec, which is based in the Guinness Enterprise Centre in Dublin's Liberties, is involved in applying DFG to all building documentation at Loughborough University in England.
"This is a significant deal for Zutec," says Brian McGuire, managing director of Zutec. "Loughborough University is an impressive campus. It boasts more than 3,000 staff, 12,000 students and 200 buildings. The amount of building-related documentation to be stored on DFG is vast. However, so too are the savings when using DFG."
DFG is an internet-enabled solution that manages all hand-over building documentation - basically, documents are scanned and entered on an online system. Hand-over documents include maintenance manuals and record drawings required over the lifecycle of a building.
The system gives ready access to all information components - mechanical, electrical, civil, building, and health and safety - necessary to operate modern building and engineering projects.
Those involved in collating, checking or using the information can see at-a-glance where the various different disciplines impact on each other.
For example, contractors maintaining a building's plumbing and wiring can access where the relevant services are located - online. The system is also programmed to give periodic alerts as to when certain facilities in a building requiring servicing.
There are many companies in the marketplace that offer document scanning services. Zutec, however, was set up by a group of people with a background in civil engineering and an interest in technology. Thus, the company's edge comes from offering an insider's view of the building industry and how technology can be adapted to meet its needs.
"We began discussions with Zutec at the end of 2002," said a spokesman for Loughborough Estates, which manages the Loughborough University campus. "At that time we had inherited a problem in managing the paper mountain created by the growing campus. We needed a special solution that made this vast amount of data easily available, simple to maintain and also fast and accurate to update as required.
"We also wanted to improve the quality of the hand-over information passed on by the contractors at the end of projects."
After three weeks of trials with DFG at the Dan Maskell Lawn Tennis Centre on campus, the university decided to roll-out the project all over the campus. DFG is used for legacy and new build projects, including the National Cricket Academy and High Performance Athletics Centre.
"Ease of use is another important factor," said the Loughborough spokesman. "Bringing in a new solution initially worried staff but they took very quickly to the DFG and mastered its operations in a very short time."
