While EPOCH DM was designed around the 859 Data Management Standard to manage Contract Deliverables, that deliverables process is dependent upon tasks being completed by various departments within the company, or perhaps by Sub-contractors via deliverables.

The timeliness and quality of Contract Deliverables involves managing an entire process both inside and outside the company.

We call this Task Management and EPOCH DM functionality has been extended to create, schedule and manage the tasks necessary for the Data Manager to complete the final deliverable.

For example, our Case Study for Fleetway, Inc in Halifax, Nova Scotia discusses how the DM Manager creates a CDRL along with dependent tasks that must be completed by Engineering in order to complete and submit the CDRL.

Those Engineering tasks (or Sub-contractor tasks as the case may be) are created, scheduled and automatically delivered to Engineering.

Using the BPM module within EPOCH, the tasks are tracked and the assignee reminded ahead of time of an approaching due date. Once Engineering has completed and signed off on the task, DM is notified and the final construction of the CDRL is completed and ready for Submittal.

EPOCH manages the entire Submittal/Receipt process which includes items that are returned for additional work, resubmitted, returned again, etc. until final approval is achieved. This work may require changes from other departments in which case, Tasks are assigned for the work to be completed. Responsible individuals are automatically reminded of the tasks that are assigned to them as they come due.

In this manner, the Tasks, as well as the CDRL/SDRL submittals are tracked for Metrics performance. If CDRLs/SDRLs are being returned for re-submission, Managers need to know the reason, e.g. Missing data, Erroneous data, Customer requirement changed, etc. The Manager also needs to be able to track the timeliness and quality of the Tasks being assigned internally or to Sub-contractors.

EPOCH provides the Metrics for tracking internal (tasks), as well as external (CDRL/SDRL) performance.

The Contract Deliverables Management process goes well beyond the DM department. A Manager must be able to measure the entire process in order to properly manage it. Users require visibility of tasks, requirements and schedules in order to respond appropriately. EPOCH provides the tools to increase performance and efficiency.