Document Mgmt

A cross-cutting document spine — every contract, drawing, BOQ, work order, WIR, certificate, bill, and warranty captured with versioning, search, and audit trail.

What it is

DMS is not a stage in the chain — it is a service layer the entire chain reads from and writes to. Every artefact in every module has its lineage, versions, and access log on DMS. The same way the data spine sits below the chain as the four golden records, DMS sits across the chain as the artefact spine. Integrates with ACC for drawings and SAP for financial documents; everything else lives natively.

Inputs

Triggers

·Document generated by any chain module
·External party submits a document
·Document version superseded
·Access request from a employee or external party
·Retention policy review cycle
·Audit query from Legal or Compliance

Data reads

·Employee record (EMS) for identity and RBAC of the requesting user
·Project record for project-level access scope
·Vendor record for external party identity verification
·Source module metadata for document classification

Artefacts consumed

·Raw document files in any format (PDF, DWG, XLSX, native ACC, SAP-generated)
·Document metadata supplied by source module
·Classification taxonomy from Document Policy

Tools & Techniques

Methods

·Auto-classification by document type using content and metadata signals
·Lineage graph linking versions, sources, and downstream citations
·Full-text search with metadata filters (project, module, date, type, vendor)
·OCR for scanned documents and legacy archives
·Retention policy automation by document class

Policies

·Document Policy for classification and retention
·IT security policy for access scope and audit logging
·Legal policy for hold orders and evidentiary preservation
·Vendor contract policy for external-party access

Decision rules

·Document class auto-detected; ambiguous cases flagged for manual review
·Access scope inherits from source module and project; explicit overrides logged
·Version supersession requires source-module confirmation
·Retention exemptions require Legal sign-off

Outputs

Artefacts produced

·Versioned document records with lineage
·Search index for retrieval across the entire chain
·Audit trail per document access and edit
·Retention schedule and disposal queue
·Compliance evidence packs on demand

Data writes

·Document lineage graph updated on every version and citation
·Access logs written on every read and edit
·Retention timers updated on policy refresh

Downstream triggers

·Document availability notifies subscribing modules and users
·Audit query auto-compiles a project-wide evidence pack
·Retention expiry triggers disposal workflow with Legal hold check

Stakeholders

Legal · ComplianceSets retention policy, access policy, audit requirements
ITOwns infrastructure, integration, search indexing
Every functionProducer and consumer of documents through their modules
External partiesReceive documents (contracts, WOs, notices); submit artefacts for review
AuditorsAccess lineage and audit logs on demand

The flow

01Document received or generated by a module (any module)
02Auto-classification by document type — contract, drawing, BOQ, certificate, bill, etc.
03Lineage captured — which module produced it, which project it belongs to, which version it supersedes
04Access policy applied — who can read, who can edit, who is notified
05Search index updated for full-text and metadata retrieval
06Retention timer started per policy class
07Audit log entry created for every access and edit

State change

Before

Documents scatter across email attachments, shared drives, Bandhoo, ACC, SAP, and personal folders. Finding the latest version requires asking three people.

After

Every document is one object with a versioned history. Search returns the right version. Access is logged. Retention is automatic.

Real-world example

Worli MEP-07 calculation v3 — produced by M08 Calculation, signed off 14 May. DMS records: source module M08, project Worli, version 3 (supersedes v2 from 09 May), accessed by 11 users to date, retention policy "engineering — 7 years post-handover," integrated into BIM model in ACC, cited by BOQ v4 in M10. Whole lineage available on one screen.

Artefacts

·Document master record per artefact
·Version history with diff capability
·Access policy and audit log
·Retention schedule by policy class
·Search index across full-text and metadata

Pain today

Latest drawing version is whatever was last emailed. Compliance audits take weeks to compile evidence. Legal disputes hinge on whether a particular memo can be retrieved with timestamp. Search across project documents is impossible.

Integrations

Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) — drawings and BIMSAP — financial documents (invoices, WOs, payment records)Bandhoo — vendor documents and contractsEvery other module (universal producer and consumer)