TEAM IM Assists Midstream Energy Provider with Enterprise Records Management on M-Files
Consolidating two legacy systems into one compliant records platform across eight departments
Highlights
- Designed an enterprise data model to organize the customer's physical and electronic content and records
- Configured AutoRecords for M-Files to apply retention schedules across the entire records estate
- Migrated hundreds of thousands of electronic files and physical records from legacy FileTrail and Laserfiche systems into M-Files
- Ran solution design sessions with eight separate business departments to capture requirements
- Integrated the vault with the customer's land management, asset management, and pipeline data systems
- Enabled the customer's records team to self-manage the solution after go-live
- Continued support post-launch, including migrating a further legacy system acquired through an acquisition
Customer Background
The customer is a privately held midstream natural gas and crude oil services provider operating across Alaska and the lower 48 states. They run gathering, storage, transportation, treatment, and terminal assets, with operations spread across several states.
Because the resources they handle and the services they provide carry real safety and regulatory weight, compliance and records integrity are priorities across the business — for their workforce of several hundred and for the partners they choose to work with.
The customer needed to stand up its own records management capability independent of an affiliated company, moving off shared legacy systems and into a platform it controlled directly. After evaluating the options, they selected M-Files with AutoRecords for records management. M-Files introduced TEAM IM to deliver the implementation, based on TEAM IM's M-Files and records management experience and its work as the developer of the AutoRecords add-on.
Project Details
The Problem To Be Solved
The customer was running records management on two separate legacy systems, FileTrail and Laserfiche, that were shared with an affiliated company. They needed to separate from those systems and stand up records management they owned and controlled, consolidating everything into a single platform without disrupting day-to-day operations. The estate included physical and electronic records, plus documents that had arrived through acquisitions.
Why Solving The Problem Was Important
Records management sits close to the core of how a midstream operator runs. Tracking physical and electronic records — including documents tied to acquired assets — supports both operational continuity and regulatory compliance. Spreading that work across two legacy systems and inconsistent departmental practices created duplicated effort and compliance risk the customer wanted to retire.
How TEAM IM Got Involved
M-Files recommended TEAM IM as one of its premier partners, citing TEAM IM's combination of M-Files expertise, records management depth, and specialized knowledge of the AutoRecords add-on, which TEAM IM developed and resells through M-Files. The goal set for the engagement was to configure M-Files and AutoRecords as a full replacement for FileTrail and Laserfiche.
The Method
TEAM IM worked with the customer's project team to run solution design sessions for each department — Operations, Risk, Integrity, EHS, Legal, Finance and Accounting, Land, and Tax. Those sessions fed a Solution Design Document and included demonstrations of how users would interact with the vault and how it would connect to other enterprise systems.
From there the work ran across several fronts:
Vault and records design. TEAM IM designed and built the M-Files vault for document and records management, configuring AutoRecords retention policies and schedules and integrating the vault with Azure AD.
Integrations. The vault was connected to the customer's Quorum land management system, Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) system, and Pipeline Open Data Standard (PODS) database, letting the customer tie records to the correct company assets for compliance purposes.
Migration. TEAM IM documented the migration procedures and ran a proof of concept using M-Files Importer. After configuring and verifying the vaults and the AutoRecords module, TEAM IM handled initial testing and guided the customer through User Acceptance Testing. The team then executed the content migration from FileTrail into M-Files and assisted with moving additional content out of Laserfiche. The project ran over several months; the FileTrail cutover itself took several days.
Handover. TEAM IM worked with the customer's records managers so they could manage the solution themselves after go-live, with the customer's team taking on much of the change management with TEAM IM's support.
The End Result
The customer moved off both legacy systems onto a single M-Files vault with AutoRecords applying retention across all physical and electronic records, integrated with their land, asset, and pipeline systems. The migration completed with minimal disruption to operations. After go-live, TEAM IM continued under an Enhanced Development Support arrangement, providing ongoing configuration help for M-Files and AutoRecords and migrating a further legacy system that the customer had picked up through an acquisition.
This implementation really helped transform records management for this customer into a strategic advantage. They had different records management systems and different ways of handling records across the enterprise which created a lot of unnecessary effort and risk. The new consolidated enterprise-wide solution automates their processes, eliminates errors, and really positions them well for future growth.
Value Added
- A robust, user-friendly records management system covering physical and electronic records
- Consolidation of two legacy systems into a single platform the customer owns and controls
- Records management governance with retention applied consistently across the estate
- Improved accessibility through centralized storage and M-Files search
- A records team able to self-manage the solution after go-live
- Tighter control over access, permissions, and audit trails
- A vault built to take on additional content and systems as the business grows
Software and Cloud Services Involved
- M-Files
- AutoRecords for M-Files
- M-Files Ground Link
- Microsoft Azure AD (identity integration)
- Enhanced Development Support
- FileTrail (legacy records system, migrated from)
- Laserfiche (legacy document management system, migrated from)
- Quorum (land management system, integrated)
- PODS — Pipeline Open Data Standard (integrated)
- EAM — Enterprise Asset Management (integrated)