Document ONE used in Asia and Europe

Fonterra logo Fonterra is a global dairy company with operations spread throughout the world.

When its regional IS team in Singapore needed a document management system to support users in Asia and some parts of Europe, Document ONE proved to have the robustness, security and functionality to fit the bill.

Dave Wicks, Fonterra's Global Infrastructure Services Manager for Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East, explains that since the days of the New Zealand Dairy Board, the organisation has been a user of Lotus Notes. A variety of business groups, including Sales and Marketing, IS and Internal Audit, had a wealth of information held in Lotus Notes databases throughout the region.

Functionality without Complexity

The business groups wanted a repository that would work with Notes to allow them to hold and edit information. They wanted greater functionality than a shared drive would provide, but needed a system that would not be too complex or expensive to set up or use.

Initially, Fonterra looked at the Lotus solution, Domino Document Manager. However, Wicks explains this was too big, powerful and complex, and did not really fit the users' needs. Document ONE was then examined as an alternative, and eventually chosen because it supported key features the users required, was easy to set up and was economical to implement.

Four Major Applications, Many Countries

"We found the features we needed to be easily workable and understandable in Document ONE, and the low cost of the system made it easy to sell to the business."

Currently, the Document ONE system efficiently supports four major applications, for four different business groups in different countries.

These applications are an IS documentation library for the Singapore IS team; a Sales and Marketing library for Hong Kong; an ISO Documentation application for Germany; and an Internal Audit application used by the Audit team throughout Asia and some other countries.

"These four major applications have a common theme to them, and they all required some key features," says Wicks. "We found the features we needed to be easily workable and understandable in Document ONE, and the low cost of the system made it easy to sell to the business."

Security, Remote Access Key

The major features required by all the users included robust, reliable version control; and flexible security that could give tight control over viewing and editing at multiple levels.

Document ONE's support for remote users was also a key feature for Internal Audit staff. Members of Fonterra's Internal Audit team travel throughout the region to do their work, and need to be able to securely access the system from a laptop on the road.

Document ONE features the ability to secure documents on a folder or document basis, and to assign read or edit rights to specific users. This control allows Fonterra to have a single document library that has security control at the micro and macro level without having to create separate databases – as would be necessary if Lotus Notes alone was being used.

"One of the databases in Germany is required for ISO documentation, so it was vital that the security mechanism was shown to be tight and controlled, for the ISO and also for the Internal Audit team," says Wicks.

"In Singapore, all our documentation is in one library. Although there are many readers, the system also supports confidential folders that hold budget information that only two people can edit, and perhaps only the financial managers can read."

"Editing in-situ was a major selling point for all document users and editors, because it vastly reduces the chances of errors arising from documents having to be detached, edited and then re-attached to emails."

The ability to edit documents within the Document ONE system, without having to detach and re-attach, was another plus, as well as being able to hold multiple objects, such as keeping a budget spreadsheet and a Word budget commentary in one entry.

"Editing in-situ was a major selling point for all document users and editors, because it vastly reduces the chances of errors arising from documents having to be detached, edited and then re-attached to emails," says Wicks.

Reliance Accommodates User Needs

The support of Reliance Software has been an important factor in Fonterra's successful implementation of Document ONE, says Wicks.

"Reliance has been very accommodating in adding features that we have requested as a result of user feedback. That's something that was almost impossible when we were initially looking at Domino Document Manager.

"This level of support from Reliance is invaluable. We find Document ONE so good because it has a lot of depth, but without being complicated."