Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) is an international group of companies and one of the world's leading companies in the field of mining and processing of mineral resources, with integrated mining, processing, energy, and logistics facilities.
The Group includes 66 companies.
Prior to the implementation of WSS Docs, several different versions of ECM (Electronic Content Management) systems, based on Lotus Notes, were used in some companies within the ERG Group, while in other companies, document workflow was organized through emails. Previous systems weren’t flexible enough and did not allow the customer to make changes to their business processes on their own. This led to fragmented business processes and problematic communication within individual companies and between enterprises in the Group. There were also other factors that contributed to the implementation of a unified system:
Main goal of the project was to automate document workflow across 66 holdings of the Group, located both in Kazakhstan and abroad. To achieve this goal, following objectives were set:
To implement the project, at one point our client considered the option of replicating one of the systems they used previously across all the enterprises of the Group. However, most of the tasks could not have been implemented due to the platform's lack of necessary functionality.
As a result of studying competing systems from eight different vendors, the customer chose WSS Docs Platform as the perfect solution.
Project started with the automation of contracts, powers of attorney, and additional agreements processes across several enterprises of the Group. Barcode scanning was also implemented for quick retrieval of the documents, along with event logging in WSS Docs and subsequent upload of those logs to the SIEM system. Several enhancements were also made to ensure information security in accordance with company standards.
The project implementation proceeded through nine stages, including the “pilot” phase, technical support, and system development.
As part of the “Document Control Center Replication” stage, the processes related to working with contractual documents were tailored to the customer's needs and unified according to a consistent logic.
System supports the signing of documents using a qualified electronic signature. This is achieved through the integration of WSS Docs with the cryptographic protection software “TUMAR-CSP,” which is certified in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
ERG employees prepare and approve a significant number of documents related to the procurement of various goods and services on a daily basis. For the Group, this process has been fully automated, starting with the creation of technical specifications and justification of the need, and ending with the approval of contracts with the suppliers.
For the exchange of the documents between the enterprises of the Group, the integration of incoming and outgoing correspondence was implemented for the WSS Docs Platform. With this module, during the registration of an outgoing letter, the registrator can select the companies and employees to whom the letter should be sent. As a result, incoming documents are created on the receiving side, and the registrator receives a notification.
Since ERG has its offices and enterprises worldwide, implementing multilingual support was one of the customer's top priorities. The Multilingual Module translates all elements of the user interface and the content of reference fields. Each user can switch the language from the system interface.
To ensure the ability to work with large volumes of documents, an additional module called “WSS Docs Storage” was implemented. It allows to store over 5000TB of documents.
WSS Docs Collegial Management Board is a separate module of the system designed to optimize the meeting process. It was important for ERG enterprise leaders to automate this process to conduct meetings remotely. Within this module, the entire cycle of the process, from preparing meeting agendas to monitoring the execution of tasks, resulting from meetings, was automated. WSS Docs users can track the meeting schedule, view and approve agenda items, vote, attach materials to meetings, generate protocols, assign tasks, monitor their completion, and more. In addition to automating this process, a separate mobile application was developed to conduct remote meetings alongside with the web version of the system.
Frequent business trips of the company executives necessitated the need of tools for the remote work with the system to expedite the document approval process. To fulfill this purpose, WSS Docs Mobile Client was developed, and equipped with essential functionality.
In the mobile app, employees can view documents and file attachments, create and view tasks.
For application security, an AppCenter Administration Panel was developed, allowing administrators to make decisions regarding employee access to the application. This ensures data protection from unauthorized individuals and from ERG employees, who are restricted from accessing certain client functionalities. Additionally, in the event of an employee losing their mobile device, the administrator can send a service push notification that will delete all application data from the phone, preventing the leakage of corporate information.
It is also worth noting that during the pandemic, the mobile application became one of the key tools to minimize the risks, associated with transitioning to the remote work mode.
As a result of the completed work, all set goals were achieved. According to the customer, since the implementation of WSS Docs, employees from all enterprises of the Group have been trained to work in the system and have easily adapted to the new ECM without difficulties.
“Thanks to WSS Docs ECM Platform, we were able to automate the correspondence between the Group's enterprises, which allowed us to reduce the time for agreeing and reviewing documents by 40%. Introduction of the new system saves us $50,000 a year by reducing the time of requests processing,” commented Shukhrat Latypaev, Business Systems Development Director at ERG.
