Katia Montironi
Information Repository Manager at ESO (European Southern Observatory) in Germany
Can you tell us a bit about you?
My name is Katia Montironi, I am a 46-year old Italian, born in France and raised in Canada and Italy. I have lived in many different countries and have now settled in Munich (Germany). I am happily married and we have a wonderful 4-year old son. In my spare time, I enjoy sports, reading, cooking and travelling to new places.
What is your current role?
I am the Information Repository Manager at ESO (European Southern Observatory) – a scientific research organisation with headquarters in Germany and telescope facilities in Chile.
I am responsible for the administration of our PDM (Product and Document Management) system and for its implementation across the whole organisation. I am in charge of defining our documentation management processes, establishing workflows, providing guidelines and enforcing document control procedures.
My responsibilities also include liaising with the software vendor, finding ways to automate our processes and training end users, both on the tool and on our document control processes.
Can you describe your professional experience?
I started working at ESO for the ELT Programme (ELT will be the world’s largest ground-based telescope) and was archiving documents, but quickly introduced quality checks to ensure consistency across all project documents - I was doing DC without knowing it!
Soon afterwards, our archive was migrated into our new document management system. At the same time, the ELT Programme got green light for construction. That was the starting point of my document controller adventure. It was very exciting to structure our system and to see it grow, but at the same time it was very tiring to convince users to adopt the new tool and to comply with the stricter procedures that went along with it – that’s probably why people refer to me as their “PDM Guru”.
As the ESO Information Repository Manager, I am moving away from project documentation and discovering new areas of our organisation with specific documentation requirements. My main task (and challenge) is to implement a document repository for these new units.
Which Consepsys course did you attend and when?
I attended all Consepsys Courses in Amsterdam and hope there will be new courses in the future. I attended the Certified DC Course in 2018 and the Lead DC Course in 2019, and got the certification for both. I also attended the Advanced DC Course in 2018 which was extremely fun and motivating and the Transitioning to a Manager Position course in 2020!
What did you think about the Consepsys course? How did it help you in your current role and career development?
Consepsys courses are very informative and have a good balance between theory and practice.
They helped me consolidate the knowledge gathered throughout my professional experience, deepened my understanding of DC fundamentals, and provided many useful tools that I have integrated in my daily work.
During and after the courses, it was very motivating to share experiences and exchange ideas with other like-minded individuals from around the globe who understand the importance of document control and who take pride in their work.
After each Consepsys course, I come back to my desk with many new ideas and ever more enthusiasm for my job!
