Management of technical documentation for a future integrated offshore electricity network

As part of the Princess Elisabeth offshore wind farm mega-project off the Belgian coast, Elia engineers called on Exquando’s expertise in document control to ensure document tracking and control.

Elia is the transmission system operator (TSO) for medium and high voltage electricity in Belgium. In 2023, the company officially launched its most ambitious project: the construction of an artificial island 45 km off the coast, designed to generate 3.5 GW of renewable electricity. A first at the European level, this involves the construction of concrete caissons that will support high-voltage equipment collecting and transporting renewable electricity to the mainland.

Objectives

As part of this mega project, numerous people (both internal and external) are required to produce all the documentation necessary for the project’s completion. Elia therefore needed assistance to ensure document management and control for the project. Their requirements were as follows:

the provision of several experienced document controllers
expertise on the Aconex document platform
training and support for the engineering team in all aspects of document management and control.

Solutions

Exquando was able to provide Elia with a team of experienced document controllers to ensure the project’s documents are managed effectively.

The outsourced activities include

configuration of the EDMS (Electronic Document Management System), its deployment and training in its proper use
drafting of the project’s procedures and document management plan
non-technical document checks and comparison with previous revisions
document registration and uploading to Aconex, as well as the availability of files for review and essential project documents on SharePoint
creation (WF templates) and management (trackers) of review and approval workflows, and comment follow-up
control and management of the Master Document Register (MDR) and communication/distribution matrices
definition and monitoring of KPIs to ensure high-quality documentation
development of dashboards to monitor the progress and health of the project’s documentation
support for engineers on any questions related to document management or Aconex
technical expertise from consultants (proposals, recommendations, advice…)
monitoring of communications between Elia and its contractors.

Systems used

Aconex
SharePoint
PowerBI

Benefits

The involvement of our document controller teams dedicated to this project made it possible to:

provide project teams with up-to-date, high-quality documentation
minimise problems related to poor communication between the various parties involved
relieve engineers of document management tasks.

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