Employee authorization management

Paper permits vs E-permits

Are paper permits better than E-permits?

A thorough analysis of the process and the impact that the use of paper work permits has on an average working day allows one to imagine what progress can look like. Technology-assisted tools are already available that completely transform this process.

A comparison of costs – profits and losses – is the only way to break free from the shackles of bureaucracy. Year after year, many repetitive processes that can already be automated still remain in their original form. They shape the working day of many engineers and specialists in industry. The introduction of progress is often perceived in terms of costs. The return on such an investment should occur in a short time.

A lot also depends on the policy itself and the mechanisms for introducing changes in an enterprise.

Organizational inertia and the vicious circle of excess tasks generated by bureaucracy itself must be taken into account. Maintaining the paper permit process as well as many other processes is so deeply connected with work culture that it is hard to imagine performing it without them. Interrupting work on projects is a normal thing. One phone call from subcontractors is enough and you have to shift your priorities and deal with printing paper, filling it out, interrupting work on projects for other people involved in the process. All this to deliver a document to the place where work is being carried out, which in a few hours will have to be disposed of by someone.

If we were to analyze the real value that paper forms bring to the workplace where work is being carried out, by an external company or maintenance employees, we could even conclude that it is negative.

Paper is often very dirty, crumpled, and soaked with oil. Signatures and initials left by employees, on various surfaces, on tables, machines, or on their knee, would be difficult to identify by a graphologist. The need to identify hazards and risks associated with work at a specific location is analyzed more deeply only in particularly dangerous places. Nevertheless, permits cover all work – even those that will take less time in total than the entire process of organizing permits for their execution.

Communication in the process also leaves much to be desired.

Moving around the plant, you can meet many colleagues and acquaintances from work. The more time the process of moving takes us, the more time we spend on short conversations with people we pass. The worst aspect currently is answering dozens of phone calls during a working day. Most of these calls in an industrial environment concern communication with people located at a distance of a few (sic!) to several dozen meters from us. We interrupt ourselves by putting a hot need first, which is important now. The strength of this need is quite understandable – if I wait for a permit, I will not complete the commissioned work on time. Without a permit, no one can perform any work. The process of issuing work permits therefore has a very high priority. It occurs from a few to several dozen times during a working day at a typical industrial plant, e.g., in the Automotive or Energy industry.

InnerWeb is progress in a completely different direction. It allows us to take a step back and completely remodel our approach and the course of our working day. Quick implementation of E-permits gives savings and benefits from information that was previously inaccessible.