Document management in SAP …

… with SAP Engineering Control Center – SAP ECTR

Every product manufacturer knows the problem – piles of documents in different versions and change statuses, and all of them in need of practical and efficient management. How can you get this? With the integrated document management solution for SAP systems.

Microsoft Office integration as a standard feature

SAP Engineering Control Center | SAP ECTR comes with a seamless MS Office integration. This way, all common MS Office formats can be processed in SAP ECTR. Additionally, SAP attributes can be used directly in MS Office documents and update automatically upon change. This enables the reuse of content and is a great way to save costs, time and to prevent errors. Furthermore, templates can be stored in SAP and used when creating a new document. This allows for a greater consistency of all company-wide documents. For finding documents, SAP ECTR offers highly developed search and filter functions, including a full text search.

Preliminary step to a holistic document management

Documents are versioned via SAP ECTR and are passed through status networks that help to manage release processes easily, transparently and efficiently. It is possible to automatically send e-mails to the next release instance once a document status change has been made. Versioning prevents redundant data management and the change history allows to track changes made by the individual users.

Structured document management

SAP Engineering Control Center | SAP ECTR can be used to securely structure and manage documents from engineering, technical documentation, marketing, and other company departments in the SAP system. These documents can also be classified and logically linked – whether with each other or with other SAP objects such as material, equipment, functional location, or routing. In this way, particular tasks such as the derivation of BOMs or production portfolios can be automated. Using the integrated 2D/3D viewer, models and drawings can be visualized easily and quickly without a CAD system. So, all in all, these are the the best prerequisites for providing the right information and intelligent process support.

Transparent release and change processes

SAP ECTR makes document management as simple as possible. A cockpit with configurable windows provides all necessary information at a glance – including status, version, and validity of the corresponding information. Documents can be organized individually in folders and workbooks: for a maximum of transparency. Furthermore, users benefit from transparent release and change processes, including automatic notification of status changes or editing. This not only saves labor, time and expense, but also increases security. Searches via classification characteristics or full text make it extremely easy to find selected documents.