A utility company´s experience on electronic filing system for engineering applications

Power companies, just like other large corporations, face pressures on office space usage and document despatch within and between companies induced by rapid growth in the volume of paper documentation handled. This motivates the development of technologies for converting paper to a more compact form for storage and despatch. This paper begins by highlighting the benefits when a power company adopts an electronic filing system which involves the digitisation of paper documents to electronic image files. The paper further discusses issues on system requirements, design strategy and setup of an electronic filing system for engineering applications (EFS) at the Hongkong Electric Co. Ltd. (HEC). It also includes the implementation strategy and details of the system. Implementation involves the setting up of hardware and software, building up of the database and images, and unification of document identifications. Finally, the paper studies possible future developments on EFS for improving project work flow and plant maintenance related to power generation, transmission and distribution. In addition, possible enhancements for EFS are also discussed