Document management guidelines for distributed project networks

This paper provides the project engineer with guidelines or a checklist on tasks that must be considered, defined and documented before the project can successfully implement a document management system in geographically distributed project environment. Topics ranging from configuration management, approval process, document types, user administration and document naming are covered. The underlying cases of the paper are that of CERN (European Laboratory for Particle Physics) and its latest accelerator project, together with the Nordisk Industrifond -funded Connecting Distributed Competencies (NI#: 98082) project, with a focus on distributed shipbuilding processes. Keywords: distributed project management, product data management, networking, document management, virtual workspaces