I am the EPDM admin for a small company (9 licenses). We love it and use it for workflow and file management. Our parent company wants to purchase EPDM but needs help justifying it. Our respective VAR's have provided plenty of cost justification materials but it's hard to know if any of it is real or just wishful estimating. I've prepared a list of EPDM Advantages that we have seen and sent them out to my users for feedback. I thought I would make the same request here to get more data points. Can you please spend a few moments to think about how life was before EPDM compared to how it is now and give me your best guess of how much time per week it has saved you in the following areas? I know this may be difficult so just give a guess and I will work up an average based upon the responses. If you have another way that it saves you time or money, please add it to the list of advantages of using PDM.
- Our process is defined (time saved by doing things the same way every time)
- Our process is followed (time saved by eliminating mistakes and missed steps in the process)
- Our process is documented (time saved by knowing exactly who did what and when without having to dig for it)
- Our process status is visible (time saved by not needing to ask someone the status of a document)
- Fewer interruptions during the day (time saved due to automated email notification of work steps rather than face-to-face handoffs)
- Clear definition of work (time saved by knowing what to do without having to ask)
- Fewer printed drawings (how many fewer documents have been printed per week because they are now more easily viewed via PDM?)
- Old versions saved (time saved by not needing to manage copies of design iterations)
- Design reuse (time saved by more efficiently starting a new design with a similar one)
- Search (time saved by having instant and more extensive search capabilities)
- Access control (time saved managing which users can see which files via simple workflow state changes rather than file folder placement or other Server access control tools)
- Automated processes (time saved by having document control functions including PDF generation be automated and self service)
I will report back on our internal survey as I get feedback to add to the discussion.
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