How your document management system can grow with your company

Three Case Studies Show the Effective Growth of Datacap's Flexible Total Capture Systems

INTRODUCTION

There are three good reasons to invest in a flexible document management system: Lower costs, improve operational efficiency, or deliver better customer service.

Too often, company managers who think they'll achieve some or all of these goals find themselves sorely disappointed a year later. Why? Not only have the gains been piecemeal, but often the costs were just as much as-if not more than-expected.

Datacap's effective total document capture solves this vexing problem. First and foremost, the document capture system must be highly flexible. The ability to adapt to changing requirements is the best way to ensure that the initial investment will be able to support the business as it evolves. This flexibility needs to extend to specific industries and various production environments, each of which has unique requirements for document types, paper size, and the document sources (faxed or scanned). In addition, the document capture system should accommodate individual work styles Every organization or workgroup has its own way of processing documents and images, and while a new application may provide an opportunity for change, it shouldn't mandate it.

Flexible solutions manage more than just paper; they streamline a range of business processes from customer service and shipping, to manufacturing and quality assurance. Developing a capable, flexible indexing system will make the differences between efficient and functional retrieval, particularly as the system becomes bigger and more complex.

IKON Uses Imaging to Speed Payment for Outdoor Products Company

By Allan Davis, CDIA Director of Digital Solutions, IKON Office Solutions

IKON Office Systems, an integrator located in Wichita, Kansas, was approached by a large outdoor equipment manufacturer three years after the company invested in an enterprise imaging solution to provide rapid access to health and safety data sheets for its manufacturing workers.

The customer realized that many of its core business systems could be improved with a document imaging and data capture system, particularly the accounts payable and receivable departments which were struggling with aging microfilm equipment and delays in retrieving billing documents.

IKON's challenge: Because outstanding accounts required paper-based documents for reconciliation, almost everyone marked their requests for fresh microfilm printouts-some 100 each day-as `urgent.' This steady flow of interruptions made it almost impossible for film operators to catch up. So the staff in both AP and AR created unofficial archival systems, undermining the benefits of a central system.

BUILDING IN SCALABILITY FOR FUTURE GROWTH

IKON worked with the customer's in-house imaging systems analyst to design a new system. The system had to be able to integrate with the company's imaging system, be easy to use and handle any future growth.

As one of the world's largest manufacturers of outdoor equipment, this customer processes more than 1.7 million documents yearly, including orders, invoices and customer correspondence. A high-volume, high-end scanning input system was needed to handle multiple paper types and data capture with an extremely high level of accuracy.

THE SOLUTION

The documents are separated into batches by type and scanned using two Fujitsu scanners. Datacap Task Master automates how the batches are routed. A bar code label that has the 10-digit shipper information on the right-hand corner of each shipper-record details the critical information needed by accounts receivable such as what was bought and its weight. Datacap Paper Keyboard automatically rotates the scanned images to a portrait orientation by seeking the company's logo on the page, and then recognizing the bar code. Using the bar code as the initial data point lets the customer accommodate widely differing document formats-from oversized, lightweight sheets to small slips of paper.

Datacap Paper Keyboard provides the data capture, recognition and indexing. Datacap Task Master streamlines the captured information into batches and automates the subsequent workflow. The software-driven solution offers flexibility in handling the company's diverse data and document image capture needs.

The indexed document images are then automatically routed to the Optika FilePower imaging system and written to optical disks for easy retrieval by users. The system's architecture includes two Compaq Proliant 1000 servers that run Netware 4.1, two HP Pentium workstations for scanning and indexing and two Plasmon Jukeboxes for data storage.

NEXT STEP: MIGRATING TO NT

With high-speed automated data capture and accuracy at nearly 100 percent, retrieving data and documents is exponentially faster-eliminating the need for ad-hoc departmental archives. The ability to regularly and reliably access AP and AR records and expedite payment will remain a key engine for growth. Being able to promptly ensure a smooth flow of cash to an from vendors helps the customer focus on what it's known for: making quality outdoor equipment.

As a next step, the customer plans to migrate to Windows 95 and NT, which Datacap's software supports. Other departments have also expressed interest in tapping this ability to capture information; the next target is information from customer questionnaires. The plan is to scan the responses directly into the customer's imaging system database.

Carlson Marketing Automates Forms Processing

By Kay Anderson, Business Systems Manager, Carlson Marketing Group

The Carlson Marketing Group operates behind the scenes. Our mission is to help some of the world's largest consumer-focused companies respond more effectively to their customers' requests for new products and services.

Carlson Marketing Group (CMG) is a global leader in designing and managing marketing programs. In doing that, CMG designs and delivers client-focused marketing solutions for target corporations worldwide. These integrated solutions, focused on employees, channels and/ or consumers, improve and accelerate clients' sales and profits by 1) maximizing individual relationships, 2) leveraging the most effective technologies, and 3) establishing measures and tracking performance. CMG will continuously improve its value to clients with world-class people, ideas, processes and execution.

USING SPEED AND ACCURACY TO REDEFINE THE MARKET

Speed and accuracy of information are paramount. As one of the industry's leaders in managing direct response marketing, CMG is redefining how quickly these companies get access to the vital information that's contained on a variety of response forms.

CMG's goal, in this very competitive market, is to deliver 24- to 48-hour turnaround on information-a 50 percent time savings over traditional `heads-down' data entry. Highvolume scanning, the flexibility to interpret hundreds of different types of forms, and extremely accurate recognition engines are critical elements for our success. A strong indexing capability is vital as well, for speeding analysis of the response data.

Carlson's marketing group, based in Minneapolis, manages many of the world's largest loyalty management programs, like frequent flier awards and other customer incentive programs. It serves the airline, hotel, retail, telecommunications and financial services industries. These programs help businesses develop and maintain relationships with consumers, and clients' needs to understand what their most valued customers are thinking. Providing rapid and reliable access to this information helps our customers stay ahead of their competition. CMG offers pricing that competes favorably with old-fashioned `heads-down' data entry, letting our clients take advantage of new technologies and analysis tools.

Datacap Paper Keyboard 97 captures typed and hand-printed information from large quantities of enrollment and survey information. Datacap Task Master software streamlines how the data is processed based on the type of information the forms contain, automatically routing it to individual employees or departments.

Since prototyping Datacap's software in 1995, CMG has used Datacap's software in several large-scale marketing programs, including:

Scanning 750,000 two-sided forms for a telecommunications company researching which products its retail customers want. The forms were printed in multiple languages. By reading a bar code on the top of each form, Task Master identified the language and routed the form to the appropriate service representative. Savings were estimated at 35 percent.

Integrating data from some 350,000 customer surveys and adding 1,000 frequent flier miles to each respondent's account. This project is underway.

Automating new member enrollment for a retail company by using Datacap's software to capture and interpret hand-printed information on the forms. By replacing their traditional data entry, the client recognized substantial savings while increasing processing time and accuracy.

KEY CRITERIA: FLEXIBILITY TO ACCOMMODATE CUSTOMERS' FORMS

To manage this large-scale IT initiative, CMG brought in AMI Imaging Systems, Inc., a Minneapolis reseller.

"We had two key criteria: The software needed to support Carlson's customers' current forms and the software had to support the technical infrastructure," said Ron Olson, vice-president and co-owner of AMI.

Adding to the challenge was the need to flexibly serve customers: Asking customers to dramatically change the design or format of the forms they used was not an option. CMG has nine Bell+Howell scanners deployed throughout the organization. For electronic data capture, we purchased Bell+Howell's 8125D model because of the speed and the flexibility of the three drop out color features.

Now the marketing group, which licenses 15 edit stations and three recognition serves, is aggressively promoting how data capture and recognition software can be used for other clients. CMG continues to use a variety of external data entry vendors. By expanding the use of Datacap Paper Keyboard, CMG can achieve the economy of scale and rapid turnaround of information, while keeping the work in-house. In many cases, CMG is now able to show customers how they can use technology to get better access to information. That's a role CMG likes to have.

Lighthouse Capital Management Automates Monthly Reconciliation of Clients' Investment Accounts

Builds Business Base by Delivering Accurate, Prompt Financial Information

By Christine M. Cobb, Chief Financial Officer, Lighthouse Capital Management

The financial services industry is highly competitive-just ask anyone who has considered moving their mutual fund to a company delivering a higher rate of return. Customer service can be an important factor; for most clients, this includes rapid access to monthly reports about their portfolios.

Lighthouse Capital Management manages approximately 300 individual and institutional portfolios consisting of approximately 600 accounts, valued at about $380 million. These customers require 100 percent accuracy in reporting, as well as timely reporting of investment performance. At Lighthouse, we understand what it takes to deliver superior performance because part of our compensation is based on out-performing the Lipper Analytical Service index that measures mutual fund performance of the 30 largest growth funds. Data capture and recognition seemed like a tool with tremendous potential to help us reach this goal.

GROWING THE BUSINESS WITH RAPID TURNAROUND

It is vitally important for our internal portfolio management system to be accurate. We ensure this accuracy by reconciling with the clients' brokerage statements. In the past, our paper-based reconciliation process was cumbersome and took about two weeks. Each month we receive copies of all of our clients' monthly institutional statements. Our job is to reconcile both the bash and investment balances by manually comparing our internal report with the client's statement. Using data and image capture, we have trimmed this to just four days. In addition to offering greater accuracy, our clients can now receive their reports on a more timely basis.

Because of SEC requirements, each client's records must be retained every year in order to publish rate of return numbers that reflect a composite of the accounts under management. Success threatened to overwhelm our filing cabinets, making retrieval of specific clients' records much more of a challenge.

Document capture technology had the potential to solve these challenges. We needed a system that would excel at complex forms recognition, support our internal client database for reporting, streamline error correction and ensure a high level of accuracy. It also needed to be capable of expansion, as we plan to grow.

Advantage Concepts Inc., of Houston, designed and installed the application, using Datacap Paper Keyboard to scan, recognize and index clients' individual monthly brokerage statements. Paper Keyboard recognizes the forms, identifies the balances present and then processes the information accordingly. We also use Datacap Task Master to automatically route forms needing additional verification to the right department.

Every client record is compared with an internal client database and any documents in question are automatically posted to a printed report, for manual reconciliation.

It's worth noting that improved accuracy has substantially reduced the number of manual reconciliation exceptions by more than 90 percent, to less than 50 documents monthly. Datacap's software automatically integrates the human intervention we need.

Allan Davis, CDIA

Director of Digital Solutions

IKON Office Solutions

Kay Anderson

Business Systems Manager

Carlson Marketing Group

Christine M. Cobb

Chief Financial Officer

Lighthouse Capital Management

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Allan Davis is the CDIA Director of Digital Solutions for IKON Office Solutions located in Wichita, Kansas. Mr. Davis is responsible for an IKON systems integration group that specializes in PC LAN based Document Management Solutions. He can be reached at (316) 262-6204.

Kay Anderson is a Business Systems Manager for Carlson Marketing Group located in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her role is to support the division in their imaging applications as well as other work process improvement initiatives. She can be reached at (612) 540-5027.

Christine Cobb is the Chief Financial Officer for Lighthouse Capital Management located in Houston, TX. She has been a CPA for 21 years, ran a successful accounting practice for 11 years and joined Lighthouse Capital Management in 1994. She can be reached at (713) 6886881.

Copyright Association for Work Process Improvement Jun 1998
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