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Air France US Headquarters Replaces
Bottomline Solution with ACOM’s EZCheck Solution
and Breaks the Check-Printing Communications Barrier
THE BACKGROUND
When Air France went live in Paris with a new SAP
enterprise software solution last year, the international
carrier’s U.S. headquarters office in New York ran squarely
into the Law of Unintended Consequences. The new
enterprise software in France would not talk properly to the
accounts payable software in the United States.
One of the world’s leading airlines, Air France is third
worldwide in international passenger transport and fourth in
international air freight. The company operates more than
1,700 daily flights to some 200 destinations in 85 countries,
utilizing a fleet of more than 250 aircraft. Its employee force
exceeds 49,000, with more than 800 of them located in the
United States.
THE PROBLEM
Air France’s New York office is networked “live” with the new
enterprise software but that didn’t help Isabel Monteiro,
accounts payable and accounts receivable manager. The
SAP software housed the accounting data and it was not
compatible with PayBase 16, the Bottomline Technologies
payment processing solution that had been in place in New
York for several years. Moreover, PayBase 16 was being
discontinued and would no be longer supported.
Even upgrading to PayBase 32, Bottomline’s successor
program, would have involved writing additional software to
make the Bottomline solution compatible with SAP. Further,
neither the old nor the new Bottomline solutions could print
directly from the accounting application since, among other
things, it did not accommodate signature separations for
check amount levels. Air France policy calls for automated
signatures for amounts from $0.00 to $4,999.00, one manual
signature for amounts from $5,000.00 to $10,000.00, and
two manual signatures plus supporting documentation for
amounts over $10,000.00. To Monteiro, the combination of
an expensive software upgrade and the cost of further
customization was prohibitive.
THE SOLUTION
As the SAP solution neared the cut-over date in summer
2001, Monteiro called her Xerox representative, Colleen
Tripp, to discuss obtaining a new MICR laser printer. Tripp
introduced her to the 21 page-per-minute Xerox DocuPrint
2125 MICR-enhanced laser printer solution from ACOM and
then, learning of Air France’s broader check-printing
problem, she suggested that Monteiro explore the extended
payment solutions available from ACOM Solutions, Inc.
ACOM is a Xerox XTRA Partner and the company chosen
by Xerox to MICR-engineer its line of network printers.
“We looked at ACOM’s EZCheck solution and several other
solutions,” Monteiro said. “Besides basic check printing, we
wanted automated signature capability, positive security,
sorting by dollar amount, and the ability to generate reports
for each amount category independently. Most of the
solutions we looked at were lacking one thing or another, but
Bottomline and ACOM had all of the features we needed.
The final decision was based on three things: EZChecks’
out-of-the box compatibility with SAP, its comprehensive
security, and the important fact that it was far easier to
understand and to use. Personnel costs are very high in
New York and EZCheck’s operational simplicity allows us to
assign less advanced computer skill employees to the
payment process.”
EZCheck is a 32-bit MICR laser payment solution that
streamlines check disbursements. Running on a Microsoft
Windows NT server, EZCheck merges payment data from
business management software (such as SAP) with secure
electronic check forms, and spools the data file to a MICR
laser printer situated anywhere on the company network
(even in remote locations). Blank security-check stock is
loaded into the MICR laser printer, and complete formatted
checks are generated in a single pass through the MICR
laser printer.
ACOM’s turnkey solution comes with:
- MICR check-printing software
- A Xerox Network Laser Printer, MICR-enhanced by
ACOM
- A substantial starter supply of MICR toner and
blank security-check stock
It also comes with double guarantees: a unique, industryleading
no-risk total satisfaction guarantee, and another
which guarantees that its MICR quality and performance
meet or exceed ABA and ANSI standards.
THE IMPLEMENTATION
Monteiro provided ACOM with the text file of a form
generated by Paris headquarters for use with the SAP
software there. Using that file, ACOM Implementation
Specialist Veronica Montoya set up the single accounts
payable bank account from which the New York office
pays its 2,500-3,000 bills each month, along with the
interface between EZCheck and SAP.
“The process was very easy and uncomplicated,”
Monteiro says. “No on-site visit was necessary.
Everything was handled very well over the telephone.
Although ACOM is on the west coast and we are on the
east coast, communications were excellent. If we had
questions outside ACOM’s business hours, we simply left
message and were contacted very quickly.”
Once the implemented software was received, she says,
Montoya spent about an hour on the telephone confirming
that everything worked properly, then another two or three
hours training the staff.
“That illustrates how easy it is to use,” Monteiro says.
For check fraud intervention, Air France uses a match-file
program developed internally prior to obtaining EZCheck.
EZCheck continues to play a role in the process, but it’s a
reverse role. Where usually the “match-file” would be sent
directly to the bank from the ACOM software, in the Air
France application, EZCheck relays the file to Excel as a
text file, which then goes to SAP, where it is formatted to
bank specifications and transmitted.
“Positive pay software is important to us,” Monteiro says. “We have experienced some check fraud attempts.”
SUCCESS
Monteiro wouldn’t change a thing, she says. The checks
print fast and there are almost no jams during the printing
process. There are plenty of reports available and once
the file has been transferred to EZCheck, the entire job --
checks and reports – is completed in about 15 minutes.
And, of course, nothing is lost in translation.
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