Reprinted from MCShowcase Online, published by MC Press Online, LP; http://www.mcpressonline.com
Electronic Document Management Solutions: A Foundation for Today, A Structure for Tomorrow
Electronic documents are a critical component of a larger Document/Content management (ECM) picture. It is a paradox of modern business that the paperwork involved in processing and collecting a bill can cost more than the amount of the bill itself. And that is just one example of the way paper processes impact corporate growth and profitability. Paper forms impede workflow, swell personnel ranks, and admit error wherever they are used throughout the organization. The larger the enterprise, the larger the problem.Some back-office pain factors are easily identifiable: paper and printing costs, wasted postage costs, personnel costs, administrative costs. Others can be somewhat opaque, such as the prorated cost of equipment, maintenance, file space and management, wasted stock, and cumulative inefficiency as documents make their way haphazardly through internal and external mail systems.
The good news is that there is an easy and affordable way to solve these problems that also improves back-office economy, information capture and disposition, and overall workflow.
iSeries Solutions
Progressive companies confront the problem by using electronic document systems that dispense with preprinted paper forms and their associated costs and headaches. These systems enable their users to create and store electronic form templates that merge with data to create complete, formatted electronic files that can be laser printed on plain paper, distributed electronically via automated email and fax, and even stored in electronic archives.
Bypassing the paper stage allows companies to eliminate printing and postage costs, to lower personnel requirements, and to make oversight more convenient. There is less equipment involved, and that which is required costs less to buy and maintain. Automated fax and email, for both internal and external distribution, mean less postage and fewer, if any, distribution bottlenecks. Companies can eliminate file cabinets and clerks through a simple electronic archive system.
It isn't hard to understand why so many companies are going in this direction.
For the iSeries community, there are a number of solutions available that together should dispel the idea that converting to an electronic back-office environment is too expensive, too complex, or too hard to understand or manage. In fact, it is easy to get started with an electronic document management program, since the various solution providers offer systems in an interesting range of pricing and performance, as well as professional services for template design, training, and continuing education.
Creating Electronic Documents
There are two ways to create electronic document templates. The traditional way, which a diminishing number of IT professionals continue to use, is to lay out the document template on an iSeries green screen, positioning the form elements using XY coordinates.
The contemporary way is to use PC-based WYSIWYG design tools that are bidirectional and graphical, allowing the designer to create a form from scratch, dragging and dropping elements around the screen until the most pleasing and effective layout is achieved.
Bi-directionality is a must, and for a very substantial reason: electronic forms are infinitely reusable, but forms change frequently along with business requirements. In the paper-form world, modifications mean either using up outdated printed stock (not an option for image-conscious enterprises) or discarding it altogether (which is the same as discarding money).
Bi-directional design tools allow templates to be exchanged seamlessly between the iSeries and the PC, allowing changes to be made in minutes, with no cost other than the technician's time. Growing companies that consistently add branch offices can modify their forms to serve the new locations, getting them into production faster, with less expense. One fast-growing Florida equipment sales and service company equipped a new branch office with a full set of company-standard business forms in only a couple of hours. This allowed the company to quickly and easily reflect a consistent corporate identity across the enterprise, while at the same time establishing and confirming the local presence.
Power and Possibilities
Beyond the basic forms engine, an electronic document solution offers an abundance of ways to expedite processes and enhance efficiency in the back office.
A major convenience stemming from the use of electronic forms is that IT departments can be unburdened of the forms production process.
Boxes of printed forms are stored in inventory (with some, such as checks, requiring tight security). Individual departments then request a batch printing, and IT runs these requests on its own schedule and arranges for transport of the forms to the departments.
Electronic forms require no preprinted inventory. Plain paper suffices for the completed document, since the template already contains all of the information that would appear on the preprinted form. The files merged by the e-document solution can be spooled directly to the department where they are needed (over the company network) for printing on laser printers that are situated on-site, or can be distributed electronically.
Examples include bills of materials for the production floor, desk registration forms for hotels, invoices for printing and distribution by accounting, and, of course, checks printed and issued by payroll and accounts payable. Template-generated forms can be used externally to communicate with vendors (purchase orders) and customers (invoices, shipping notices), with fast and inexpensive distribution by automated email or fax directly from the iSeries platform.
Archiving, and Then Some
Virtually all filing can be eliminated by using archiving modules that can be associated with an electronic forms engine. Electronic archiving enables companies to dispense with paper copies (which are most often remembered by file clerks for causing split fingers and paper cuts, by operations and accounting personnel for the delays involved in file cabinet searches, and by administrators for the cost of space and storage units).
One example of electronic archiving allows document files to be stored natively on the iSeries, using the IFS filing system, or on any network drive. Documents can be retrieved using a PDF viewer and viewed on-screen, transmitted by fax or email, or even laser printed if a hard copy is needed. Such solutions use a search and retrieval engine that makes finding and viewing individual archived documents fast and simple.
Naming archived documents is flexible, enabling users to search for a variety of fields. An invoice, for example, can be located by number, date, customer number, recipient name, amount, and so on. The process begins with the creation of electronic documents and ends with the unprecedented convenience of having the documents appear instantaneously on the desktop screen, rather than having to wait until they are retrieved from a paper repository. Think of the problem-solving value to customer service representatives, purchasing agents, or accounting clerks who can answer queries using on-screen information during a phone call.
Because of an archive module's ability to store completed documents and make them available for viewing or delivery on demand, either electronically or as printed copies, one manufacturing company was able to replace conventional, paper-based purchase requisitions with a unique electronic process for dealing with requisitions and approvals, accomplishing the entire cycle online.
Using the archive module of the electronic forms solution, employees requesting a purchase order simply generate a requisition document at their workstations, archive it, and alert the individuals in their approval cycle that it is available for viewing on the company network. When approved, the appropriate buyer receives an alert, and he in turn sends it on to the respective supplier, often by automated fax or email, right from the computer.
This manufacturing company achieved a rapid payback on the archive module through savings on form stock, postage, and labor costs.
Dramatic ROI
The ROI that can be achieved by converting all or part of a company's office documents can be dramatic. One published model sets the total annual cost of generating 100,000 copies of seven commonly used documents using conventional paper forms processes at more than $60,000, including personnel, production, and preprinted form costs. By eliminating labor, commercial printing, and post-processing costs, the model suggests that costs decline to about only $2,400.00 annually. Positing the cost of an electronic forms solution at $15,000, the system pays for itself in just over three months.
As for checks, they also require business forms, albeit more specialized ones. The following example assumes a volume of 1,600 AP checks and 3,000 payroll checks per month, produced on a production printer, using preprinted check stock:
Printer maintenance and consumables $ 613.00
Preprinted forms ($170/1,000) $ 9,384.00
Labor (eight hours/week @ $15/hour) $ 6,240.00
Post-processing equipment, maintenance, labor $ 3,120.00
Total operating costs--annual $20,057.00
--month $ 1,671.00
Compare these figures with those for the same number of checks laser printed on blank safety check stock, using stored electronic check templates: maintenance and consumables accrue to $2,054.00; specialized security check stock ($30.00/1,000), to $1,601.00; and labor (one hour/week @ $15/hour), to $780. The total for the year is only $4,435, or $370.00 per month.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Electronic documents are not just a solution for today. They are expected to play a critical part in the overall reengineering of business operations as a component or complement of Document/Content management (ECM) solutions.
As the name implies, ECM is concerned with workflow--specifically the capture, storage, management, processing, integration, and delivery of data. Obviously, data comes from various sources, but most resides in documents of one kind or another, and an indexing system is fundamental to the execution of the various ECM functions.
An advanced e-document solution enables users to automatically index a batch of documents or checks for capture by the ECM system, eliminating the need to manually "key" in the index fields for each document.
The automatic indexing capability that is incorporated or optional with most recommended electronic document management solutions is an ideal front end to virtually any ECM solution. Residing seamlessly, securely, and transparently in the iSeries environment, electronic documents are fed from the e-document engine and can carry the host of fields that are required by the sorting and dispositional features of the ECM system; for example, vendor names, dates, document numbers, document types, fields, and their positions.
Archive indexing commands are built into the e-document template when it's designed, and they automatically populate their respective fields when the batch is run. Compatibility between the systems at all levels is, of course, fundamental to the concept.
While electronic document solutions have been available for 15 years or more, there has been steady growth in power and flexibility. Developers and their customers continue to find ever more innovative ways to apply the technology, which stimulates further advances in the depth and breadth of its application. It is safe to say that e-document solutions are part of a great movement that is sweeping businesses to new heights of productivity and profitability.
James R. Scott is vice president and general manager of the iSeries Division of ACOM Solutions, Inc. He joined the corporation in 1997 as vice president of sales and marketing with responsibility for developing and implementing direct sales and marketing strategies and programs for the North American market.
