In This Issue of Information Bridges — September 2009
// A View from the Bridge // Alan Kiraly – CEO, Enterprise Informatics
Introducing eB Insight
// Product Profile // Records Management — Simply an outcome of Information Management Best Practices
The new view is that records management is not just about long-term storage, but rather end-to-end management of information.
// Industry Profile // Meeting the challenges of information management in the EPC industry
Volumes of information, in a wide variety of formats, are generated throughout the life cycle of projects, often spanning years of effort with thousands of information assets.
// Customer Profile // Network Rail invites Enterprise Informatics to submit entry for Information Technology Award
Case study submitted is one of five finalists for award.
// Partner Update // Enterprise Informatics partners with EXCEL Services
Partnership promises to deliver a comprehensive service solution for the global nuclear industry at a critical time.
// Support Update // eB Support is on Twitter!
Keeping customers up to date through social media.
// Featured Resource // Integrated Performance Improvement Methods: a white paper excerpt
Today it is possible to implement a fully integrated performance improvement process that meets and exceeds INPO's Performance Improvement Model (INPO® 05-005©) guidelines.
// In The News //
Enterprise Informatics signs new customers!
// Industry events where we will be exhibiting //
Visit Enterprise Informatics at these upcoming events.
A View from the Bridge
The product team here at Enterprise Informatics is buzzing as we prepare for the launch of the most significant release of eB since the original eB.NET: “eB Insight.” eB Insight introduces new and unique information modeling concepts as well as many feature enhancements inspired by our customers. We are calling this release series Insight because of the capability sets in the areas of impact and context, audit history and reporting services. We have already started an early-preview program for our customers and will soon be announcing dates and venues for eB Insight Product Briefings that will be starting in the fall.We’ll be providing the details on eB Insight through our briefings and other communication channels but I wanted to highlight a few new capabilities that we see as unique and compelling in the area of information management.
Information Reach
With eB Insight a new feature set called scope provides the means to create a hierarchical information reach model that determines what information is available based on a user’s current activated roles. The driving use cases for this feature set came from customers that deal with many projects, clients or facilities. Some information is global, some is client specific and some may be project specific. Access to information is defined for roles within scopes and users are assigned one or more roles. Scope can control what information assets are available to a user — as well as what attribute value and classification information can be used to identify it. Users can choose how many roles are activated at any time, and can use this context definition to limit their searches, filter what supporting information and definitions are available, and as the basis to identify packages of data for client handover or even archiving. Coupled with eB’s information templates and permission model this feature set enables organizations to define information policies at the level they need to be set.
We use this feature internally to manage the on-going development of eB. I use it to see all requirements identified and accepted in our eB system, but then want to limit the reach of my context to a particular project.
Information Context and Trust
One of the stand-out capabilities of eB is the ability to relate disparate information assets together — providing context, relevance, and control. With eB Insight we significantly expanded the relationship modeling options. eB data administrators can extend the out-of-the-box relationships with their own relationships, defining use and behavior; including what can be related and the impact the relationship has on the related information. Customers driving these use cases are defining more robust information models that provide more control and, therefore, deliver higher levels of integrity to the information being managed by eB.
Ease of Deployment
I know these new capabilities may sound complex, but these tools are required to manage complex interdependent information sets. The good news is that you can begin to take advantage of these new capabilities at your own pace. With eB you can expand your information model as you go. You don’t need to make your information model 100% complete before you start using it. And as you define, refine, and re-define your information model, the controlled information grows with it. This is also the case for existing customers as eB Insight is a standard upgrade to eB. Customers who upgrade can immediately start utilizing the new feature sets without impacting their current implementation.
Learn More
There is a lot more in eB Insight, from reporting to document creation to new and powerful identification rules to detailed audit tracking to new integration/extension capabilities. I hope you are able to take part in one of our eB Insight Briefings to learn more — either in person or on the web.
Sincerely,
Alan Kiraly
CEO, Enterprise Informatics
Top of pageProduct Profile
Records Management 2.0 — Simply an outcome of Information Management best practices
By Rick Berzle, Corporate Marketing, Enterprise Informatics
In today’s highly regulated corporate environment records management is not a nice-to-have, it is a must have. Records provide the evidence for business transactions (contracts), compliance audits (corrective actions), legal discovery and more. In fact, more and more things are being considered records – who would’ve thought email conversations would be considered a record?
Records Management was often defined as the management of records which were no longer in everyday use but still needed to be kept — often stored in basements or offsite. The new view is that records management is not just about long-term storage, but rather end-to-end management of information from creation, operational usage, storage and final disposition.
Our approach to records management is an outcome of information management best practices, not driven by a document end of life transactional event where someone declares it a “record.” Critical records are operational and need to be accessed by the various departments that have separate and distinct responsibilities with specific roles that require independent views of a transaction and resulting record.
With eB, information that must be managed as a record is described within the enterprise information model. As the information is created and managed though the life cycle of change, eB automatically creates secure, auditable records based on this model. The disposition capabilities of eB are exposed via a file plan that defines the policies and rules for storage and disposition. Records are part of the information management process, not an afterthought.
Beyond identifying existing content as records, eB can generate records based on metadata and relationship information within the system. This provides the means to produce records that provide evidence and an audit trail of information created using the information management system. This can include audit information as well as configuration and relationship information. The capability provides major efficiency, accuracy and productivity improvements over traditional manual methods.
Finally, records management based on information management best practices provides a superior approach to compile information required for compliance audits or litigation purposes over forensic search-based methods. For information not explicitly managed in the information management system, eB can be used to identify, organize and relate information mined with forensic tools. eB’s unique capability to model, relate and manage information through change ensures that you have information and associated records that you can trust which can lower or completely eliminate the high cost of discovery and forensic analysis.
I would like to recommend an article that was published in the December 2008 issue of the AIIM Infonomics Magazine entitled “Benefits and Implementation of Business-Process Driven Records Management.” This independent article, written by records management practitioners, does an excellent job describing the role of records management from an operational business perspective. Accessing the file requires registration, but not membership, with AIIM.
To learn more about how Enterprise Informatics’ customers are using eB to meet the demand for next generation records management, visit us at ARMA’s 54th Annual Conference and Expo from Oct 15-18, 2009, in Orlando, Florida.
Industry Profile
Meeting the challenges of information management in the EPC industry
The design, engineering and construction of large facilities typically involves multiple companies who form a partnership to provide different aspects of the project including architectural design, design engineering, finances, procurement, and construction. Volumes of information, in a wide variety of formats, are generated throughout the life cycle of the project, often spanning years of effort with millions of information assets.How this information is managed and shared proves to be the key to the efficiency of these projects.
Typical challenges that occur during the development of a facility of this size are commonly caused by poor quality of information, lack of access to information, lack of communications when changes occur and restricted visibility to information. Any or all of these issues can contribute to cost overruns, missed schedule milestones, and regulatory non-compliance. Efficiency requires that critical information be shared amongst the partnership when users need it, and that the information be relevant, accurate and secure.
eB is built on the best practices of enterprise information management principles to ensure that information is properly identified and classified, managed through change, has clearly identified status (approved, superseded, obsolete, etc.), and can be audited to prove regulatory compliance.
eB’s enterprise information management solution enables:
- Efficient access to accurate information, in context, to any user with the authority to view it
- Visibility to information relationships across the partnership, independent of where it was created
- Automated processes that ensure that information is governed, secured, controlled and trustworthy
Enterprise information management creates an ecosystem in which information can be trusted, providing numerous business advantages:
- Efficient decision making across all levels of the enterprise
- Minimized business risk
- Increased competitive advantage
For more information about enterprise information management for EPC projects, register to download our 20 minute podcast or visit our website.
Customer Profile
Enterprise Informatics named as finalist for Network Rail award
Network Rail runs, maintains and develop Britain’s tracks, signalling system, rail bridges, tunnels, level crossings, viaducts and 18 key rail stations. Network Rail uses eB as its Configuration Management and Record System for these assets. This year they sponsored the Network Rail Partnership Awards to reward and recognize excellence and best practice among organizations that have worked with them and helped them to achieve their aims and objectives over the past year.Enterprise Informatics was invited by Network Rail to submit an entry for the Information Technology Award. This award recognizes internal organizations that have used information technology to mitigate or solve a problem that Network Rail faces or those that have used information technology to streamline processes. Judges looked for measurable results and business benefits.
The following case study detailing the advanced records management system put in place for the National Records Group (NRG) was submitted and was one of five finalists for the award.
Advanced Records Management: Going beyond visibility to increase operational efficiency
Background
Prior to the NRG consolidation and relocation to York, most customers had to go to the 11 regional record centers to browse the hard copy of the various records collections. Requests were completed by hand or submitted by email and then finally processed by NRG staff. From the first customer liaison meetings held by the NRG Consolidation Project team in November of 2007, it became clear that ‘online browsing’ of the signalling records collection was a fundamental requirement for the NRG Consolidation Project to be deemed successful and for customers to feel that they had not ‘lost’ the ability to browse for records whenever they needed.
Solution
eB (enterprise Bridge) from Enterprise Informatics was key to the successful creation of the National Records Group. eB Records Management was deployed in early 2008, and records were migrated into the system between March and September, during which there no drop in service. By the end of September the Records Centre was fully centralized. The functionality provided by eB fulfilled NRG requirements to offer electronic browsing, thus removing the need and cost of customers traveling to the new Records Centre in York.
Although online browsing was the primary requirement of eB for NRG, additional benefits were achieved:
- eB enabled NRG to offer a greater level of self service functionality to its customers by providing the capability for requests to be completed online and submitted in real time to the NRG staff.
- Customers now have the facility to print their own watermarked copies of records they may need from eB without having to submit requests to NRG and then having to wait until the paper copies are physically received, thus reducing the turnaround time.
- Project Managers can now monitor the progress of their project requests online and manage any conflicts, ensuring projects needing priority of signalling records is coordinated more effectively.
Measurable results
eB has played a significant role in the success of the NRG Consolidation Project resulting in a highly regarded Records Management team.
- Since the relocation of NRG to York, NRG have now rolled out eB to 250 external customers (non Network Rail personnel) at 50 different sites, enabling the first phase of NRG’s vision of providing a solution that will enable contractors to be able to self serve their requests for as-built records.
- Following the consolidation and the functionality provided by eB, the Service Level Agreement for signalling requests has now been reduced from 42 days to 28 days, although most requests are processed much quicker.
- The number of print requests that would have previously been processed by NRG staff has also been reduced by an average of 30%, as the NRG customers can now print records directly from eB in a controlled manner, as and when needed.
For more information about Network Rail’s use of eB, register to download the Network Rail case study . Partner Update
Excel Services and Enterprise Informatics partner to provide a superior solution for the Nuclear Industry
The new partnership between Enterprise Informatics and EXCEL Services Corporation promises to deliver a comprehensive service solution for the global nuclear industry at a critical time. Nuclear power stands ready to be summoned as one of the main tools to confront a changing landscape of energy production, not only in the United States but around the world. Many countries are expanding into the nuclear field for the first time. They need U.S. experience and guidance to help them provide a safe, reliable, and cost-effective answer to their energy concerns.EXCEL Services Corporation has established leading business practices for numerous regulatory and engineering services, including ITS Conversions, Security Assessment and Management, File Protection, Construction Oversight, Early Site Permitting, Probability Risk Assessment and Management, Decommissioning, and Nuclear Knowledge Management Consulting. These and all the other services offered by EXCEL stand to be enhanced by Enterprise Informatics’ eB for Nuclear software solution suite.
Enterprise Informatics will provide the software platform based on its industry leading suite. EXCEL Services Corporation will provide on-the-ground expertise, as well as consulting, training, implementation, and operation services. This combined software and service offering is the first of its kind for the nuclear industry.
Donald Hoffman, President of EXCEL Services Corporation, is “very proud of the partnership we have established with Enterprise Informatics. When you combine strengths of the top performers in software and services you will get a fantastic product.”
Wayne Viener, CIO of EXCEL Services Corporation, is similarly enthusiastic. “I have spent my career in software and software development, and I can genuinely say that I am excited to be able to deliver a top-tier product to our customers,” said Viener. “Enterprise Informatics’ software platform is a winner, and EXCEL’s regulatory and engineering services will be strengthened by it.”
We’re looking for new answers and opportunities in an uncertain world, which seems to be a recurring theme in human history. We stand ready to discovery them through mutual cooperation.
For more information about EXCEL Services, visit their website. Support Update
eB Support is on Twitter!
Why is Enterprise Informatics’ Support team using Twitter when our name takes up 22 of those valuable 140 characters? So we can keep eB users up to date – those following are not just customers but partners, project managers and staff working at remote offices.By using Twitter we can keep everyone up to date with support issues and fixes as they become available. When a call is opened with support we email related customers when a fix is published. But what if you have the problem and haven’t yet opened a call with support, or perhaps you haven’t experienced the problem yet? Seeing the fix reported from another customer’s support call may save you troubleshooting time. For issues deemed critical to production systems we will continue to use email and call our customers in addition to sending a message on Twitter. Twitter is just another communication channel, and its concise format allows for less urgent communications without flooding email inboxes. Because Twitter is an RSS feed, you pull the information to your client when you want – again, avoiding additional emails when your inbox is already overflowing. If you prefer email we have a monthly digest of issued hotfixes available, just let us know you want to subscribe.
Follow EISup on Twitter for information on new releases, hot fixes and general support topics.
Integrated Performance Improvement Methods: a white paper excerpt
U.S. nuclear plants have continued steady performance improvement over the last decade and in 2007, according to industry data, have achieved a record-low production cost of 1.68 cents/kilowatt hour as well as a record high level of electricity production. This is due in part to many high-performing nuclear fleets that have evolved during deregulation since 1997. Nuclear electricity generation is also looked upon to help significantly offset increased carbon dioxide emissions and long-term concerns about climate change.One key factor in maintaining and improving industry results has been the performance improvement (PI) process itself. This consists of the corrective action process and is augmented by self-assessment, trending, human performance and management observations processes in conjunction with participation in the industry Operating Experience (OE) network.
Today it is possible to implement a fully integrated process that meets and exceeds INPO’s Performance Improvement Model (INPO® 05-005©) guidelines.
In 2005, the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) published INPO 05-005, Guidelines for Performance Improvement at Nuclear Power Stations. This document was designed to present performance improvement as an integrated process. Although Performance Improvement (PI) is not an exact science, the document made a strong case for the benefits of overall integration driven by leadership and culture. It depicted the PI process as continuous and included performance monitoring, analyzing, identifying and planning solutions as well as implementing solutions.At about the same time, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) added Safety Culture performance attributes to the ROP regulatory framework. This change in regulatory process came about as part of the response to the Davis-Besse nuclear plant event that identified severe reactor head corrosion that was not promptly diagnosed by the licensee. This regulatory change also added significant complexity to the NRC’s oversight process... To read more of this white paper, please register for a link to the PDF download.
About the author: Vince Gilbert
Vince Gilbert has over 30 years experience in the nuclear industry including the U.S. Navy, Bechtel, PECO Nuclear and The Nuclear Energy Institute. He has a B.S. from the U.S. Naval Academy and an MBA from Eastern University and was also a Licensed Senior Reactor Operator. While at NEI he was project manager for industry-wide benchmarking projects in Self-Assessment, Trending Activities, Corrective Action and Human Performance. He is currently assigned as a Subject Matter Expert in Knowledge Management by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In The News
Enterprise Informatics signs new customers
One of the federal government’s leading technology providers has selected Enterprise Informatics’ eB for Nuclear as their engineering drawing management and engineering document management solution for a nuclear waste cleanup project. The customer will replace their internally developed engineering drawing and document systems with the eB enterprise information management (EIM) solution. The Enterprise Informatics eB information modeling product was selected over a number of traditional content management competitors based on the ability to rapidly configure and deploy nuclear specific applications and integrate with AutoCAD and existing content management systems.The initial deployment of eB for Nuclear will support engineering drawing and document management, configuration management, workflow, search and reporting, with an interface to publish controlled documents and records into other corporate information systems.
eB has also been selected by a nuclear research facility where experimental and engineering nuclear reactors, hot cells, electron beam accelerators, and gamma irradiation facilities are located. The facility will use eB for Nuclear to improve upon their Human Performance and Corrective Action processes, in addition to document control and configuration management.
eB has been selected by the Electronic Systems Group (ESG) at Detica, a consulting and technical services company headquartered in Guildford, Surrey, UK with offices in Arlington, VA and Columbia, MD, and operations across Europe and Australasia. Detica are specialists in collecting, managing and exploiting information to reveal actionable intelligence, and help national governments, their agencies and other organizations in the public and private sector to protect our way of life in today's rapidly changing world. They specialize in the areas of crime, homeland security and defence. ESG will be using eB to meet their specific Parts Entry requirements, and are integrating eB to their ERP platform (Vantage), CRM platform (SupportWorks), and ORCAD, their PCB design tool.
Industry Events
Visit the Enterprise Informatics booth at upcoming events
October 15-18, 2009, Orlando, FL
ARMA International
ARMA will host its 54th Annual Conference and Expo featuring business solutions, best practices, technology tools and innovative ideas for records managers. Visit Enterprise Informatics in Booth #831. more 
October 26-27, 2009, Washington, D.C.
Nuclear Contruction Summit
This executive summit focuses on how to identify, control & mitigate risk factors for time and cost effective projects in U.S. nuclear construction. more 
