Document Control

Synopsis

• Business Challenge: Standardize controlled document management across seven manufacturing sites while ensuring reliable access to current, approved documentation.
• Solution: Power Platform document management solution with conditional approvals, revision control, SharePoint storage, workflow automation, and enterprise document discovery. The platform was later enhanced with AI-assisted search using the OpenAI API.
• Business Impact: Centralized document control for 700+ users with improved governance, visibility, consistency, and access to information.
• My Contribution: Led discovery, architecture, UX, development, workflow automation, integration, deployment, and ongoing enhancement.

Business Challenge

Controlled documents are a critical part of manufacturing operations, ensuring employees have access to current procedures, work instructions, forms, and quality documentation. Effective document control is a cornerstone of modern manufacturing operations. Maintaining revision control, routing approvals, publishing updates, and ensuring employees always have access to the latest approved versions can quickly become difficult when processes rely on manual coordination or disconnected systems.

The organization needed a centralized document control solution that standardized document lifecycle management across multiple manufacturing sites while supporting compliance, governance, and efficient access to information for hundreds of users.

Solution

A web-based document control application was developed using Microsoft Power Platform to manage the complete lifecycle of controlled documents. The solution supported document submission, review, multi-step approvals, revision, and archival.

The application provided an intuitive, modern user experience for employees across seven manufacturing sites and integrated with SharePoint for secure document storage. Email notifications and workflow automation reduced manual coordination while ensuring documents progressed efficiently through the approval process.

The platform was later enhanced with an AI-assisted search capability developed using the OpenAI API, allowing employees to locate relevant information using natural language rather than relying solely on document titles or exact keyword matches. This enhancement complemented the underlying document management platform by improving enterprise document discovery.

Business Impact

Document Control established a centralized, standardized process for managing controlled documentation across seven manufacturing sites and more than 700 users. The system improved visibility into document status, strengthened revision control, and made current approved documentation easier to find and access across the organization.

By replacing disconnected legacy processes with a consistent digital workflow, the solution also improved governance, reduced manual coordination, and created a more scalable foundation for document management. AI-assisted search further improved document discovery by allowing employees to locate relevant information using natural language rather than relying only on exact titles or keywords.

My Contribution

I led the design and development of the core document management platform from concept through deployment, partnering closely with Quality, Manufacturing, and business stakeholders to understand document management requirements and translate them into a scalable enterprise application. I was responsible for solution architecture, application development, user experience, workflow automation, SharePoint integration, deployment, and ongoing enhancements. The platform was later expanded through collaboration with my Digital Operations partner, who developed the OpenAI-powered document search capability that extended the application's document discovery experience.