Case studies · Steel · 2006
A Java quality management system for a steel company
A steel company replaced its Lotus Notes platform with a custom quality management system in Java, built over more than 10,000 hours, with 12 core document types and an org chart synchronized with SAP.
- development hours
- 10,000+
- core document types
- 12
- synchronized org chart
- SAP
The challenge
In a steel plant, the quality management system keeps day-to-day operations running: procedures, work instructions, forms, and records that every area must use in their current version, plus proof that each person is trained for the job they hold. Between 2004 and 2006, this steel company managed all of that in Lotus Notes, a platform that was getting harder to adapt to its rules and to connect with its other systems.
The symptoms were those of any document system that grew piece by piece:
Each document type followed its own drafting, review, and approval path, with different rules and little traceability of who changed what.
Training by job position was tracked in separate lists, making it hard to show an auditor who was supposed to know each procedure.
The official org chart lived in the ERP, but the quality system kept its own copy, which fell out of date with every job change.
The company needed a system of its own, maintainable and connected to SAP, that would put its documents and training under the same rules.
The solution
AVILA® designed and built a custom quality management system in Java to replace Lotus Notes. The project took more than 10,000 hours and was organized around three components:
Processes for 12 core document types. Each document type has its own drafting, review, approval, and publishing workflow, so every area works from the current version and the change history is preserved.
Training control by job position. The system shows which training each position requires and who has completed it, information that previously had to be pulled together by hand.
Org chart synchronized with SAP. The position structure comes from the ERP, so responsibilities and approvals follow the official org chart without entering it twice.
Java provided an open, mature foundation for a system of this scale, with business rules of its own and the SAP integration the previous platform couldn't deliver. The goal was a system the company could maintain and grow, instead of a platform it had to force into shape.
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