The Time Has Come to Replace Documentum Webtop

The Time Has Come to Replace Documentum Webtop

by | Sep 19, 2023 | Digital Transformation, Documentum, ECM, OpenText

 poaIn the world of Enterprise Content Management (ECM), OpenText Documentum has been a popular choice for organizations seeking a robust and scalable solution. Webtop has been the primary interface to leverage the power and flexibility of Documentum, and for many years it has served this purpose very well. However, technology advances and user expectations evolve. Just like our phones, it’s critical to reevaluate the tools we rely on to maintain productivity and efficiency. In this blog post, we will delve into the reasons why it’s time to replace OpenText Documentum Webtop and to explore alternative options that can better meet the needs of modern businesses.

Outdated user interface (UI)

Webtop was originally designed more than a decade ago, and its interface is highly reminiscent of that era. The design came from a “more-is-better” time, trying to incorporate every possible functionality into the UI, overloading the client with options that are not relevant for the majority of end users. The flow, usability and reactiveness of the client UI are outdated, not intuitive and “fun” to work with, and do not meet today’s expectations, making it difficult for users to effectively interact with the application. In an age where user experience is paramount, it’s crucial to take advantage of well planned, modern, and user-friendly interfaces that are targeted to support efficiency in the daily work.

Lack of mobile compatibility

In today’s mobile-first world, employees increasingly rely on smartphones and tablets to access information and collaborate on the go. Unfortunately, OpenText Documentum Webtop does not offer a seamless mobile experience. Its interface is not optimized for smaller screens, making it veritably unusable for mobile colleagues. By replacing Webtop with a mobile-friendly solution, organizations can provide device and location flexibility required by today’s environments and empower their workforce to access and contribute to their content from anywhere, at any time.

Limited collaboration capabilities

While one of the flagship capabilities of OpenText Documentum Webtop is locking documents to ensure sequential editing without overwriting previous versions, this approach limits the potential for real-time collaboration. As we all know, collaboration lies at the heart of efficient and effective content management. In today’s business world, it is common to share documents across teams and work in parallel to contribute, review and approve. This is extremely challenging using Webtop’s technology. Interfacing seamlessly with MS Office 365, allowing collaborative work in parallel and even simultaneously, is expected nowadays. Modern ECM clients offer these advanced collaboration features enabling seamless teamwork and boosting productivity.

Documentum Webtop’s integration challenges

As businesses grow and diversify their technology stack, integration becomes crucial for seamless workflows. OpenText Documentum Webtop’s integration capabilities are often complex and time-consuming. It lacks – nowadays common – out-of-the-box integrations with popular tools, making it difficult, and therefore expensive, to connect with other critical business applications. By upgrading to solutions empowered with modern integration capability, organizations can benefit from predefined, seamless integrations with various systems, streamlining processes and increasing efficiency.

Limited scalability and maintainability

In today’s dynamic business landscape, scalability and easy maintenance are essential. OpenText Documentum Webtop’s architecture and design create several issues:

  • It is challenging to scale up or down to meet changing business needs.
  • Documentum Webtop’s implementation model only allows for a small level of configurations; the majority of application adjustments are made through customizations and code changes.
  • Implementing new releases or additional requirements can be a time consuming and expensive task.

According to OpenText, Documentum Webtop has reached an application stage where no further product enhancements are being provided – the focus is now merely on keeping the application framework running with modern, more secure, Java and browser versions. As organizations expand, through organic growth or acquisitions, or undergo digital transformations, they require a proven business application platform that can easily adapt and grow alongside them, and that can be easily maintained. This capability is required to ensure scalability and future-proof their content management strategy.

Next steps: Going beyond Documentum Webtop

As the leading solution for many, many years, we should thank OpenText Documentum Webtop for the long and fruitful journey! It has certainly served us well, but it’s time to acknowledge that the time has come to get the advantages of upgraded alternatives. Today’s solutions provide a modern user interface, mobile compatibility, advanced collaboration capabilities, seamless integrations, and high scalability and maintainability. With these features, businesses can unlock new possibilities for content management, boost productivity and efficiency, and stay ahead in today’s fast-paced digital world. It’s time to bid farewell to Webtop and embrace the journey to a new era of content management excellence.

To learn more about what options are available beyond Webtop to increase the accessibility and value of your content contact our fme team. As long-time Documentum partners, we have over 1,200 combined person-years experience with the full range of OpenText solutions. We’d love to help you get the most from your existing content library, and prepare your business to get the advantages in technology’s exciting future.

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Update: Critical dates for OpenText Documentum solutions entering maintenance mode

Update: Critical dates for OpenText Documentum solutions entering maintenance mode

by | Sep 11, 2023 | Documentum, OpenText, Technology Services

On September 1st, OpenText made an important announcement regarding the product versions that will transition into “sustaining maintenance” as of September 1, 2024. (Read January 2023 list here.) Given that many organizations are now gearing up for their 2024 Budget & Planning phase, this presents an excellent opportunity to align your strategic initiatives and future plans with the changing landscape of OpenText products. It’s time to assess your options: do you stick with your current systems and opt for an upgrade, or do you take this moment to break free from inertia and explore ways to streamline and modernize your infrastructure, aiming for increased agility, performance, and return on investment (ROI) from your IT spending?

Solutions entering maintenance mode 

Here is a selection of important dates, as well as OpenText’s upgrade recommendations.

Selected previously announced items expiring December 2023

OpenText Documentum D2 16.5 → CE 22.4
OpenText Documentum D2 Advanced Publishing Services 16.5 → CE 22.4
OpenText Documentum for Capital Projects 16.4 → CE 22.4
OpenText Documentum D2 +Pack 16.5 → CE 22.4

Expiring May 2024

OpenText™ Documentum™ eTMF Solution 16.6 -> CE 22.3
OpenText™ Documentum™ Quality and Manufacturing Solution 16.6 -> CE 22.3
OpenText™ Documentum™ Research and Development 16.6 -> CE 22.3
OpenText™ Documentum™ Submission Store and View 16.6 -> CE 22.3

Expiring September 2024

OpenText™ Documentum™ Administrator 16.7 -> CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Branch Office Caching Services 16.7 -> CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Composer 16.7 -> CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Content Storage Services 16.7 -> CE 21.3
OpenText™ Documentum™ Foundation Classes 16.7 -> CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Foundation Services 16.7 -> CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ High-Volume Server 16.7 -> CE 21.3
OpenText™ Documentum™ Reports 16.7 -> CE 22.4
OpenText™ Documentum™ REST Services 16.7 -> CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Server 16.7 -> CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Trusted Content Services 16.7 -> CE 21.3

Newly announced items expiring December 2024

OpenText™ Documentum™ Administrator 16.7 → CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Branch Office Caching Services 16.7 → CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Composer 16.7 → CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Content Storage Services 16.7 → CE 21.3
OpenText™ Documentum™ Foundation Classes 16.7 → CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Foundation Services 16.7 → CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ High-Volume Server 16.7 → CE 21.3
OpenText™ Documentum™ Reports 16.7 → CE 22.4
OpenText™ Documentum™ REST Services 16.7 → CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Server 16.7 → CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Trusted Content Services 16.7 → CE 21.3
OpenText™ Extended ECM for SAP® Solutions 16.2.10 → CE 22.4
OpenText™ Extended ECM for SAP® SuccessFactors® 16.2.10 → CE 22.4
OpenText™ Extended ECM Platform 16.2.10 → CE 22.4

Opportunity for improvement 

Use these expiration dates as a way to encourage new decisions and actions to improve, augment, or upgrade existing solutions. This is a good time to review current infrastructure and identify opportunities for effective streamlining and modernization to achieve new agility, performance, and ROI from IT spending. 

Commonly addressed frustrations reported by fme clients include: 

  • Upgrading to latest system versions to take advantage of fixes, improvements and enhancements; 
  • Replacing underlying OS or database versions (for example exchanging Oracle with PostGres or similar); 
  • Migration to/system consolidation on the latest/cloud-based version of a current platform; 
  • Implementing new and modern desktop and mobile user interfaces that will truly engage end users working on-site and in remote locations; 
  • Strategic content archiving designed to free up capacity, reduce costs and boost system performance of core, critical business systems; 
  • Retiring legacy systems altogether and starting over with a new application. 

Here’s a practical plan

First step: Understand your current state 

Begin by gaining a comprehensive understanding of your current systems, including which solutions will be affected by these changes, their interconnections, and their significance to your business processes and workflows. We recommend conducting a thorough review and analysis of your existing technology ecosystem to define and prioritize your environment, identify potential risks, and explore various solution options. As a trusted partner in OpenText and Documentum implementation, fme offers specialized workshops that can guide you through this process and provide a range of options for your next steps. Armed with this knowledge, you can evaluate emerging opportunities and unmet technological or business needs.

Next: Plan for the future 

An in-depth analysis is crucial – perform a comprehensive IT health check before committing significant resources to your initiatives. Some companies delay IT investments for as long as possible, often at the risk of higher long-term costs, increased potential for risks, and greater internal resource consumption for ongoing maintenance. Many find that a strategic investment now can prevent future issues and ensure their systems meet future requirements. Others may opt for a larger initiative to reap the benefits of new solutions ahead of their competition. Regardless of your chosen path, keep in mind that implementing the new setup and migrating designated content may take several months. Hence, early awareness and informed decision-making are essential for a smooth transition.

Now: Engage the experts 

fme is uniquely positioned to assist companies in evaluating and navigating the forthcoming OpenText Documentum upgrades. We have a longstanding partnership with these companies and possess expertise across all associated platforms. Our credentials include:

  • Over 100 experienced Documentum consultants 
  • Over 1,200 person-years of Documentum project experience 
  • Multiple Industry awards: Documentum Partner of the Year, EMC Top Service Partner, OpenText Technology Partner, OpenText ECD Silver Partner, OpenText Partner of the Year Finalist, DELL/EMC Partner Innovation Award, Rising Star Award Finalist, and more. 

Moreover, fme is a pioneer in the industry with our proprietary platform solution, migration-center. This solution is designed for highly automated, large-volume migrations, ensuring minimal downtime during complex migration scenarios. It empowers our customers to reduce costs, mitigate risks, enhance productivity, and expedite the go-live of enterprise content management (ECM) applications.

We offer comprehensive solutions 

We offer a full suite of end-to-end services to solve your current and future challenges. With our talented and experienced team of experts we can: 

  • Execute discovery and roadmap workshops  
  • Analyze existing IT estate and identify improvement opportunities 
  • Implement or update systems and solutions  
  • Integrate data silos across systems 
  • Migrate complex data and content
  • Provide ongoing support, whether on-premises or in the cloud

For more details about our approach to ensuring your success, please visit:

No matter the scope of your OpenText Documentum-related projects, consider letting us assist you by lightening the load and ensuring a successful transition. Your journey to a more agile and efficient IT environment begins here.

Complete the contact form below and we’ll schedule a time to discuss how we can help you eliminate your challenges, increase your IT ROI, and decrease your system TCO. 

Contact us
A Strategic Documentum Upgrade to Increase Efficiency and Stability

A Strategic Documentum Upgrade to Increase Efficiency and Stability

by | Jun 8, 2023 | Documentum, OpenText, Technology Services

As a regional power company, it’s important to deliver electricity reliably, economically, and as environmentally responsible as possible. Having an up-to-date technology platform is a critical component to deliver on those goals.

In early 2022, our client was experiencing challenges that were causing reliability and stability issues in their system, and making it difficult to fulfill their mission.

  • They had multiple OpenTextTM solutions that were out of date and were no longer supported.
  • Their internal resource with knowledge of the Documentum systems had left the company, leaving them without in-depth historical knowledge of the system.
  • Lack of system experience created challenges maintaining the system and preparing for an upgrade.

They also did not have a development environment to work with, making any servicing or changes even more challenging. It was impossible to test if newer solutions would be able to interface with their older products.

It had come time to address these challenges that were hindering their business initiatives and impacting their company mission.

Working together for the solution

The first step for the fme and our client’s IT team was to collaborate in a series of comprehensive interviews with users and managers to understand and clearly define the challenges of the current system. It was vital to have a detailed understanding of the current state as well as current issues and future requirements in order to create a project plan.

From there, fme was able to work with our client’s team to upgrade their systems, and build a new environment that delivered immediate improvements across multiple solutions including:

  • Documentum Content Server
  • Documentum xPlore
  • Documentum Webtop
  • Documentum Administrator
  • Microsoft SQL Server
  • OpenAnnotate/OpenContent
  • OpenMigrate

fme also provided a complete development system that allows testing of new customizations as well as a basic System Administration training course tailored to specific company support topics.

Download the full case study

Throughout the project, fme worked with the client’s internal IT team to provide practical experience working with the updated system. To learn all the details, including the unique challenges and solutions implemented, download the full case study now.

Download Case Study

In each project we take on, fme strives to provide the most effective process and technology solutions to solve our client’s critical business challenges. Our mission is to be your partner for digital transformation to help you stay competitive, and our vision is for fme to be the company you love to work with. Contact us to discuss your current needs.

Update: Critical dates for OpenText Documentum solutions entering maintenance mode

Critical dates for OpenText Documentum solutions entering maintenance mode

by | Jan 19, 2023 | Documentum, OpenText, Technology Services

OpenText has announced critical dates for OpenText Documentum solutions for 2023, but instead of a problem you should consider this as an opportunity. Now could be a great time to make a more strategic move to a more intuitive user interface, to a cloud-based platform, or to wider system consolidation involving archiving of inactive content. A timely review will reveal your best options and roadmap. 

Solutions entering maintenance mode 

There’s nothing like a new year to usher in change. For IT teams and business tech decision-makers, January 2023 signals a countdown to a whole raft of OpenText™ Documentum™ products entering maintenance mode, halting functionality updates to make way for new and updated product versions.  

This April will mark the lifecycle end for several products in the Documentum stack including: 

  • OpenText Documentum Archive Services for SAP® Solutions 16.4 
  • OpenText Documentum  Content Services for SAP Solutions 16.4 – upgrade to 22.2 
  • OpenText Documentum D2 16.4 – upgrade to 22.2 
  • OpenText Documentum D2 +Pack 16.4 – upgrade to 22.2 
  • OpenText Documentum D2 Advanced Publishing Services 16.4 – upgrade to 22.2 
  • OpenText InfoArchive 16.4 – upgrade to 22.4 

With more to follow by December 2023: 

  • OpenText Documentum D2 16.5 – upgrade to CE 22.4 
  • OpenText Documentum D2 Advanced Publishing Services 16.5 – upgrade to CE 22.4 
  • OpenText Documentum for Capital Projects 16.4 – upgrade to CE 22.4 
  • OpenText Documentum D2 +Pack 16.5 – upgrade to CE 22.4 

This phasing out of current versions of critical content management applications (a full list can be found here, or contact us to get full details) means that performance and features will no longer be enhanced or improved. From the beginning of December 2023, there will be no more hot fixes, new releases, Java versions, or browser updates without significant extra fees. 

Opportunity for improvement 

While possibly frustrating, reaching a crossroads like this can be quite useful, encouraging new decisions and actions to improve, augment, or upgrade existing solutions.  

Most companies don’t gain value in absorbing extended support arrangement fees, continuing costs of maintaining aging on-premise environments, or additional costs for performance that steadily deteriorates. Nor do they benefit from legacy applications that tie users to old databases and inefficient versions of operating systems. 

Commonly addressed frustrations reported by fme clients include: 

  • Upgrading to latest system versions to take advantage of fixes, improvements and enhancements; 
  • Replacing underlying OS or database versions (for example exchanging Oracle with PostGres or similar); 
  • Migration to/system consolidation on the latest/cloud-based version of a current platform; 
  • Implementing new and modern desktop and mobile user interfaces that will truly engage end users working on-site and in remote locations; 
  • Strategic content archiving designed to free up capacity, reduce costs and boost system performance of core, critical business systems; 
  • Retiring legacy systems altogether and starting over with a new application. 

Rather than persist in a state of inertia, this is a good time to review current infrastructure and identify opportunities for effective streamlining and modernization to achieve new agility, performance, and ROI from IT spending. 

There are also many opportunities to improve user acceptance, motivation, and system adoption by implementing a modern, efficient interface.  

Here’s a practical plan

First step: Understand what you have 

It’s vital to first understand where your current systems are, which solutions will be impacted by the changes, how they are interconnected, and how important each of those solutions are to your business processes and workflows. We recommend conducting a comprehensive review and analysis of your current technology estate to define and prioritize your environment, risks, and solution options. As an OpenText and Documentum implementation partner, fme has developed and refined a series of specific workshops that can walk you through this process and provide a list of options on how to proceed. 

With a clear understanding of your current state, you will be able to consider current and emerging opportunities, as well as requirements on the technology or business side that are currently unfulfilled. Emerging opportunities might include a previously talked-about move away from local systems and inhouse application management to a cloud-first set-up as part of an IT modernization or digital transformation initiative. Or maybe just a version upgrade is all that is needed to be future-proof.  

Next: Look to the future 

An in-depth analysis process is an excellent way to have a comprehensive IT health-check before committing substantial resources, and will allow you to create an informed cost-benefit analysis.  

Some companies delay IT investment for as long as possible, even if limping by with a patched system could cost more in the long run, increase the potential of risk, and absorb more internal resources in ongoing maintenance. For many, a smaller, strategic investment now can minimize or even eliminate future issues, and ensure systems will meet their requirements for the coming years. Others choose to start a large initiative now and realize the benefits of new solutions before their competition.  

Regardless of the chosen scenario, implementing the new set-up and migrating the designated content could take several months, so the sooner teams are aware of their current state and can make an informed decision, the better the chances of a smooth transition. 

Now: Engage the experts 

fme is perfectly positioned to help companies evaluate and navigate the forthcoming OpenText Documentum upgrades, thanks to the long-standing partnership between our companies and our expertise across all of the linked platforms. Our pedigree includes:  

  • Over 100 experienced Documentum consultants 
  • Over 1,200 person-years of Documentum project experience 
  • Multiple Industry awards: Documentum Partner of the Year, EMC Top Service Partner, OpenText Technology Partner, OpenText ECD Silver Partner, OpenText Partner of the Year Finalist, DELL/EMC Partner Innovation Award, Rising Star Award Finalist, and more. 

Additionally, fme has led the industry by developing our proprietary platform solution migration-center, specifically designed to provide highly automated, large-volume migrations without system downtime for complex migration scenarios. This allows our customers to reduce costs, manage risks, increase productivity, and speed up the go-live of enterprise content management (ECM) applications. 

End-to-end solutions 

We offer a full suite of end-to-end services to solve your current and future challenges. With our talented and experienced team of experts we can: 

  • Execute discovery and roadmap workshops  
  • Analyze existing IT estate and identify improvement opportunities 
  • Implement or update systems and solutions  
  • Integrate disparate data silos across systems 
  • Migrate complex data and content
  • Run, maintain, and support the applications on-prem or in the cloud  

    Please find more details about our approach for your success here: 

    Whatever the scope of your OpenText Documentum-related projects in 2023, why not let us help lighten the load? 

    Contact us today 

    For more information, please complete this contact form and we’ll schedule a time to discuss how we can help you eliminate your challenges, increase your IT ROI, and decrease your system TCO. 

    Updates from the OpenText Enterprise World Conference in Toronto

    Updates from the OpenText Enterprise World Conference in Toronto

    by | Aug 7, 2019 | Documentum, ECM, Life Sciences, OpenText

    On top of that, there are additional challenges as a result of mergers and acquisitions. Once they come together, companies are forced to consolidate documents and data from different systems and sources. Further, there is high pressure to reduce the on-premise footprints of enterprise applications – and with that, maintenance and personnel costs.

    So, it’s always good to keep on top of these trends and get the latest solutions available to respond to these changing dynamics. We were happy to join the OpenText Enterprise World Conference in Toronto earlier in July to hear the latest news.

    We were out in force with our product, services and sales teams meeting clients at our booth and with our technical staff joining the variety of sessions and labs as much as they could manage. Overall, the conference provided a good overview of the status and roadmaps of the components of the OpenText and Documentum product suite.

    In case you missed the meeting or were looking for the latest updates, here are some of the highlights from this year’s conference:

    • For the Documentum platform, it is good to see that there are improvements and enhancements happening across the platform. Cloud is of course one of the big drivers, and all components are on the path to support containerization to allow for easier deployment and management in cloud environments.
    • Documentum Cloud Edition is the next generation from OpenText and will be available in April 2020. It can run anywhere – off or on cloud – and there will be no need to worry about upgrades again.
    • On the InfoArchive side, the latest version offers connectivity to Azure Blob storage to store archive storage (unstructured content and more) for lowest cost of ownership, and the next versions will continue to support more cloud storages like Google Cloud storage, NetApp Storage Grid, and AWS Storage.

     

    Working primarily on front-end topics I was especially interested in the following:Working primarily on front-end topics I was especially interested in the following:

    • Good news – Webtop will not disappear just yet. Though it will just be maintained, there is no end-of-life announced at this point. While it is not the client of future, this will at least buy a bit more time for clients to decide which direction to go for their future user interface. Main clients for Documentum remain as before – D2 for content-centric applications and xCP for process-centric applications. An integration or merge is not planned at this point.
    • In addition, the D2 SmartUI has come into play. The goal is to come up with a (close-to) unified user interface across the OpenText applications – Content Server and Documentum. It should simplify the access to the stored documents as well as provide easy access to integrated systems. For D2, it uses a big part of the D2 Configurations. It also will be the base for the mobile app to provide access from devices.

    Another big topic at the meeting was the extension of some of the advanced OpenText features to the Documentum platform. One of them is the SAP integration with the Extended ECM Adaptor for SAP. Also, this integration can be exposed for end users through the Smart UI.

    Working heavily with customers in the life sciences industry, I was of course eager to find out what is planned there as well.

    • On the Documentum front-end side, the Documentum for Life Sciences suite will remain the major front end. The cloud-based Life Sciences Express client uses the same D2 configurations and is planned to replace the Classic UI more and more in future, additional features are still being added there to turn it into a full-feature client. The goal is to provide an easy-to-use but feature-rich client that will run as a regular web application but will also allow mobile device users to efficiently work with the application.So far, the application is focused on read-only use cases but there is a plan to extend it with the required document management capabilities. Some glimpse of that could be caught during the Innovation Lab – and it looked very promising.The classic Documentum Life Sciences suite will still be extended and enhanced, but pure user interface and usability improvements are being targeted for the LS Express client only moving forward. Further business-process-specific cloud applications are planned to enhance the client portfolio. The Quality CAPA application had been published before and was enhanced some more, and a new Regulatory Planning application is in the queue now and is targeted to be developed in close interaction with interested customers.

    Finally, on the innovation front, the other big topic was – of course – the use of artificial intelligence (AI). During the keynote sessions, it was noted that all companies should now consider themselves “information companies,” making it important to find ways to put information into business context. Whether to comply with regulations or to create efficiencies to accelerate time-to-market, AI technologies can be leveraged.

     

    All in all, the conference provided several opportunities for clients to connect and exchange experiences. Thanks a lot for the interesting conference (and for the “Paws for the Break” – such cute puppies) and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone next year in Vegas!

    Checklist for a Successful OpenText Documentum D2 Implementation

    Checklist for a Successful OpenText Documentum D2 Implementation

    by | Jun 7, 2019 | Documentum, ECM, Life Sciences, OpenText

    After all, the sheer volume of content can be overwhelming and the potential to change business processes that developed over time can be a contentious point in any organization. This planning checklist can assist in making the transition as painless as possible and put your organization one step ahead in planning and implementation.

    1. Know your workflow processes, but be adaptable
    While Competent Authorities have specific requirements around the development, manufacture, and maintenance of drug products, drug substances, and medical devices, the specific business processes to meet those requirements are not explicitly defined by the Authorities.Companies generally develop processes to comply with the requirements and still provide an efficient flow to ensure the product/device can be supplied to the market. While your business processes may have been developed specifically for your company, certain efficiencies can be gained by broadening requirements and adopting the best-practice solution provided by OpenText. By adopting a future state business workflow that aligns with the best-practice models supplied, you can take a smarter and faster approach to your implementation, allowing your implementation partner to focus on other, higher-value customizations that will benefit your business.

    2. Familiarize yourself with the DIA reference model
    The Quality & Manufacturing solution has been developed with the DIA reference model as its backbone. This industry-supported model outlines an organizational structure for documentation. OpenText Documentum for Life Sciences Quality & Manufacturing module leverages this model to provide an out-of-the-box solution that can manage 95 percent of your documentation. You can derive maximum value from this model by identifying artifacts that closely align with current documentation and by adopting the DIA terminology. If necessary, additional artifacts can be added in the Quality & Manufacturing solution with consideration for validation and documentation effects.

    3. Define templates
    Content creation is the function of your authors. Using templates for the content ensures uniformity across the solution and makes your review team more efficient, allowing them to focus on continuity of content, rather than on formatting. OpenText Documentum for Life Sciences Quality & Manufacturing module provides the ability to associate templates with each artifact name, if desired. Templates that are imported into the system must be approved before use in content creation, allowing control over the formatting and structure of content authored in the system.

    4. Know your users’ roles and functions
    OpenText Documentum for Life Sciences Quality & Manufacturing module provides a site-based, role-based security model to save time and effort in determining how to set up security. The combination of membership in site and role allows the business to limit access to content, as needed while permitting appropriate individuals to perform certain business functions. Roles provided by the solution include author, reviewer, approver, quality organization approver, coordinator, and administrator. By identifying the users who fit these business roles early on in implementation, you can accelerate the system set up and provide very focused communication and process training to the impacted roles.

    5. Identify your system champions
    Implementing OpenText Documentum for Life Sciences is a significant change, whether moving from a paper process, a previous Documentum system, other software system, or even a previous version of the solution. The best approach to building positive momentum is to identify a small group of users who will learn the system first and act as change-makers and champions of the new system. This will go a long way to support the overall user adoption. Of course, user training is paramount to system adoption and a positive impression of the system’s capabilities. Beyond that, a core group of champions for the software can initiate a wave of excitement for the new system. Change in any large organization can be challenging, but change combined with a learning curve presents two significant hurdles. By anticipating the challenges and preparing your processes and people in advance, organizations can positively promote change and work through many of the challenges presented by those learning curves.