In this scenario, object numbers are managed in the maintenance management system but there are no documents linked to the objects in the system. Although related documents exist, they are unmanaged and reside outside the system in a network file system or other shared location.

The main challenge is to match the documents with the maintenance management system objects. One possible approach is:

1. Create a staging vault in Meridian Enterprise that contains proxy objects made from the maintenance management system database as described in When the documents are linked in the maintenance management system. The vault will not yet contain any related documents.
2. Review the title blocks of CAD drawings and the file properties of other documents and configure the Meridian Enterprise application links to map the fields to Meridian Enterprise properties.
3. Import the unmanaged documents into the staging vault using the Database Import Wizard with the Import title block data option enabled. This will initialize the Meridian Enterprise properties with the title block data and file properties as the documents are imported.
4. Build relationships between the imported document property values and the proxy object numbers imported from the maintenance management system. This will probably require Visual Basic or .NET programming to build a custom tool that operates on the Meridian Enterprise vault.

When the system is in production, numbers for new objects (equipment, locations, and so on) can be generated by the engineering department with automation provided by Meridian Enterprise. If the maintenance management system is Maximo, the Maximo SDK can be used to create corresponding new assets in Maximo. Alternatively, a procedure can be defined to let the engineer create the new objects manually in the maintenance management system.