Case Study: Finning Technical Library Application

Client

Finning (Canada) is a division of Finning International, a corporation with operations in Western Canada, the United Kingdom, and Chile. Finning (Canada) sells, finances, and provides customer service for Caterpillar and complementary equipment throughout Western Canada. Shawn Ross’ technical library department is responsible for cataloging and distributing technical literature for the complete line of equipment to the 65 Finning branches in Western Canada.

Challenge

With so many branches and a huge range of equipment, providing up-to-date documentation was a major challenge. All technical literature was distributed in hard copy form, which was both time consuming and expensive. The client was keen to solve this problem with new technology and create an on-line technical library.

Solution

JDQ was not new to Finning. Having successfully completed a problem tracking database system for the technical support department, and three successful implementations of ISO9002 at Finning, JDQ is a trusted source for business process improvement solutions. For this project, JDQ specified, designed, and implemented:

• a technical library database,
• a process for publishing individual documents to the corporate intranet,
• a process for cross-checking and verifying individual documents against the library database,
• an automated e-mail system for notifying recipients of new and relevant documents that become available on the corporate intranet.

Results

As a result, Finning was able to improve distribution of technical information even as the company reorganized.

Shawn Ross commented: “The new intranet-based approach allows us to ensure that the technical information being used at each branch is always up-to-date.”