Use Case: How a Construction Firm Transformed Workflow with Custom Metadata
A mid-sized construction company was facing challenges in managing an extensive volume of project-related documents across multiple departments. The sheer variety of documents—ranging from contracts, blueprints, and invoices to inspection reports and safety documents—made it difficult for the team to quickly locate the right files when needed. Often, they wasted time searching through numerous folders or contacting colleagues for the latest versions.
Step 1: Identifying Metadata Needs
The company realized they needed to improve their document retrieval process to boost productivity. They decided to use infoRouter’s custom document properties collections to tag and categorize documents by key details relevant to their projects. Some of the metadata fields they chose included:
- Project Name
- Contract Type (e.g., client contract, subcontractor agreement)
- Approval Status (approved, pending, rejected)
- Document Owner
- Date of Last Revision
Step 2: Custom Property Setup
The firm’s document management team then created property collections in infoRouter that matched these categories. By grouping documents under these specific metadata sets, they made it easier to filter and search for any given file across the entire document library. Additionally, these custom properties could be inherited at the folder level, so any new document added to a project folder would automatically receive the correct metadata.
Step 3: Applying Custom Metadata and Automating Processes
With these properties in place, the firm configured their document workflows in infoRouter to prompt users to fill in required metadata as soon as a document was uploaded. For example, when a new contract was added to a project folder, infoRouter would request the contract type, project name, and approval status before it could be saved. This enforced standardization and ensured all documents were consistently tagged.
Step 4: Improved Document Retrieval and Workflow Efficiency
As a result, users could now perform advanced searches across metadata fields, dramatically speeding up the retrieval of specific documents. If an engineer needed to find all approved blueprints for a particular project, they could simply filter by Project Name and Approval Status within seconds. This also allowed for quick access to pending approvals and simplified the document archiving process, as files could be grouped and categorized by custom properties for easy storage and later access.Being able to create a custom field or a collection of custom property fields at will greatly improved the felixibilty of the system and improved access to documents.
Step 5: Enhanced Compliance and Security
The company also leveraged infoRouter’s security settings to control access to sensitive files. Only authorized users could edit metadata, ensuring that all custom property data remained accurate and intact. Version control features allowed document authors to add comments about changes, which were stored in the document history for full traceability.
"Using infoRouter’s custom document properties has completely transformed our document management process. I can easily tag and categorize blueprints, contracts, and inspection reports with relevant metadata like project name and approval status. Finding documents used to be a hassle, but now it only takes a few seconds to locate exactly what I need. The automatic metadata prompts ensure consistency across our projects, and our workflow is so much smoother. It's saved us countless hours and helped us stay on top of our compliance needs."
Results
By implementing these custom properties and metadata strategies, the construction firm reduced document retrieval times by over 70%, minimized errors from misplaced files, and improved overall project management workflows. Compliance with industry standards was easier to maintain, and the team had more confidence in their ability to manage and access project documentation.