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Randy Shepard & Associates, Inc., (RS&A) specializes in warranty claims processing for new car dealerships nationwide. They handle warranty claims processing by reviewing every claim for manufacturer compliance, applying proper codes, entering the data and ensuring the appropriate documentation is submitted to the manufacturer with each claim. They also handle correcting rejected claims and resubmitting them and provide their customers with claim payment confirmations. However, managing these claims was time consuming especially if a document needed to be verified from a previous day or week. As their business grew, RS&A wanted to expedite their business process associated with processing paper documents, and make it faster and easier to locate any claim electronically.

Toshiba Business Solutions, a network of wholly owned office equipment dealers throughout the United States, was looking to streamline its sales order processes, from order inception to payment. The company wanted to implement a document management solution that would simplify information access by multiple departments, speed up the time it takes to process an order, and integrate with their Oracle ERP system and Salesforce CRM system. The company also wanted to create a full audit trail and standardize procedures between different locations. The tasks included streamlining workflow, simplifying information access, and speeding up order processing time to improve Days Sales Outstanding.

SRC Recruitment, a staffing agency based in Singapore, was facing several challenges due to its paper-based document management system. The company had to manually sort and store incoming documents in registers at two different locations. This led to high printing costs and difficulties in controlling the archived paper documents. It was challenging for the employees to quickly determine how long documents had been stored or when they were last updated. Moreover, the paper archive was taking up a significant amount of space, which was a major issue considering the high square footage price in Singapore. The company needed a solution that would allow them to completely digitalize their document handling and storage process.

QSAC, a nonprofit organization supporting children and adults with autism, was facing challenges in monitoring its complex accounting processes, grants, and donor funds. With over 1,500 employees and a budget of $55 million, it was crucial to have a robust system in place. The organization had previously invested in a document management system, but it lacked the sophisticated features they needed. QSAC wanted a solution that could integrate with FundEZ, their existing financial and accounting software, to improve document security, create custom complex approval workflows, and enhance functional skills.

Mercury Air Group’s MercFuel, a Los Angeles-based division that provides jet fuel, air cargo services, transportation and support services, was facing challenges with its accounting processes. The company purchases and resells over 400 million gallons of jet fuel annually for planes and airport gas stations. With a network of over 1,000 third-party fuel suppliers, the organization processes upwards of 12,000 invoices per month. The decision to move to a digital system stemmed from the need for more streamlined core business processes. Accounting transactions can become very complex - for example, one fuel ticket can generate multiple payable and receivable invoices between multiple vendors. MercFuel may have to wait to get invoices from all its vendors before it can invoice its own customers.

WeberHaus, a German manufacturer of prefabricated homes, creates custom houses for its customers. This process generates hundreds of documents for each construction project, which were previously archived in paper form and saved digitally on a network drive. With approximately 750 new construction projects every year, this resulted in at least around 2000 binders that needed to be passed from one department to another. The administrative effort and time that went into storing an increasing number of e-mail in the Windows drive and the complicated search for documents within the Windows file system were significant challenges. The goal was to develop a consistent storage system for any employee tied into the process, which would give them tamper-free storage of all project-related documents with the least amount of time and effort.

Smart Choice® was overwhelmed with the task of inputting commission statements from each carrier into their accounting system to produce the commission checks, as well as the reports and statements showing the commission split for each of the many carriers and agents. This paper intensive process required a team of four to five data entry employees, who were also required to fold and stuff statements into envelopes for approximately one week in order to meet their contractual deadline of issuing these statements and checks by the fifteenth of each month. The company knew they needed to automate this workflow – especially as their company continued to grow.

The Woodland Trust, a UK woodland conservation charity, was facing a challenge of managing and storing their legal documents in a format that was legally accepted by the courts. They were also looking for a solution that could integrate with their CRM and accounting systems, and provide home-based employees with easy access to important information. The organization was planning to move to a new, more modern building where they anticipated having less storage space, which prompted them to start evaluating document management solutions. The tasks included reducing storage space, creating a “legally admissible” electronic document archive, sharing information with home-based employees, and integrating a document management system with the organization's CRM and Accounting system.

The Civil Engineering Office in Stuttgart was tasked with the mammoth task of overseeing the Rosenstein tunnel construction project. The project, which started in 2013 and is expected to be completed by 2020, involves the construction of a tunnel under Rosenstein Park and parts of the Wilhelma zoological botanical garden. The project also involves the deconstruction of existing traffic areas, which will be replaced by green areas to facilitate residents' access to the banks of the Neckar River. The challenge was to create a digital archive that would allow the civil engineering office and the engineering offices involved to access all relevant documents on a daily basis. However, all parties involved had their own secure IT networks, which severely limited the exchange of data between them, making a local installation at one of the locations impractical.

Roberts Wesleyan College was facing a storage issue with admissions and registration records stored in file cabinets in the College's main office. Sharing information between departments in buildings across campus and determining whether you were working with the most current version of a document was difficult. The College's management team also wanted to more easily meet privacy requirements outlined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) by limiting information access automatically. Reducing printing and storage costs, as well as help increase enrollment by simplifying the admissions process were their other goals.

ADMIN Partners LLC, a third-party retirement plan administrator, was struggling with complex paper-based processes to route documents through their workflow. The company’s Director of Client Services, Maria SpeeneyJohnson, received hundreds of documents each day that she would need to manually log and physically deliver to her staff. This process was time-consuming and slowed down the entire Client Services team. Their workflow was further hampered by the need to keep the file room under lock and key to meet client security regulations. ADMIN Partners wanted to implement a solution that could manage all their document types including; faxes, mail, email and electronic data files. They needed a system that was customizable to meet their business processes and document types, could transform their paper-based process to a digital process with automated workflow functionality, and had robust security features that would help them securely store and electronically route information while tracking and limiting who had access to each type of document.

The Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, an independent ethics organization, was struggling with managing and storing a large amount of information accurately due to the large number of attorneys in the Commonwealth. The Board's largest division, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel (ODC), investigates 4,500 – 5,000 complaints annually against attorneys, and when appropriate also prosecutes, resulting in either private or public discipline. The Office of the Secretary to the Board is charged with, among other things, housing the official record of any case resulting in a hearing or discipline. The Attorney Registration Office collects attorney registration fees and maintains a copy of each attorney’s annual registration form. The Accounting and Human Resource Office handle basic business functions. After evaluating its business practices, the Board decided it needed to revise some of its processes in order to gain efficiencies, better manage its documents and create approval processes for the Accounting Office and ODC that could be easily reviewed and audited.

Banco Atlántida, a leading financial group in Honduras, was facing challenges with their document management system. Prior to implementing DocuWare, banking documents were transferred to the central office by correspondence bags and then microfilmed. The paper documents were then stored for 5 years in a bank-owned offsite warehouse, boxed by date, branch name, and document type. This process resulted in poor customer service due to the bank's inability to quickly access documents. They often had to deal with messy misfiled documents, poor quality microfilm and the need for constant maintenance of microfilm equipment. The bank’s COO saw the pressing need to move towards a paperless office as a means to resolve their current situation.

Swagelok Manchester, a leading provider of fluid systems solutions, was facing a significant challenge due to the growth in documents for all of its paper-based administrative and logistical processes. The workflows were becoming increasingly time and cost-intensive. Managing filing was costing 30 minutes per day, per employee. The company had to put in weekend hours to tackle the out-of-control paper archive every quarter. The management team realized that it was time to take action and decided to implement a digital solution to manage the growing volume of documents.

ROTEX Heating Systems, a manufacturer of heating systems, was facing challenges with its invoice authorization process. The company was receiving approximately 150 incoming A/P invoices per day, which required four eyes to verify each invoice. This process was pushing the previous way of distributing invoices and gathering signatures via internal mail system to its limits. When employees were out sick or on vacation, the invoices would stack up their mailboxes, resulting in weeks, not days, for certain workflow steps. At the same time, central administration often lost track of where everything was. As a result, the company was rarely able to take advantage of early discount payments. Additionally, a lot of time was wasted searching for proposals, order confirmations or contracts, and documents needed for everyone`s daily work.

Profusio Leipzig, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, is required to create comprehensive documentation and protocols regarding the production process and must retain them for at least 5 years after the expiration period of the drug has ended. This results in more than 450,000 pages of production, quality control, and release documents that have to be archived every year, adding 1,500 every day. The company needed a solution to better cope with this document volume and to be able to quickly find documents on demand. The company also wanted to save natural resources by completely going paperless. The documentation security was the key aspect in drug manufacturing.

Mengali Accountancy, a boutique CPA firm, was looking to streamline their work processes, improve fraud prevention, and transition to a paperless office. The firm was dealing with a high volume of incoming documents received via mail, which were then manually scanned, indexed, and routed through a predefined workflow. This process was time-consuming and involved mundane tasks of filing and refiling paper documents. The firm also wanted to divide their workload by task and client and match them to the skill set of each employee. They aimed to assign basic transactional processes to entry-level staff, thus freeing up senior accountants to address more complex tasks.

MANN Energie, a specialist for wood pellets and eco-electricity, was dealing with a significant amount of paper waste in their offices. This was not only consuming a lot of storage space and organizational effort but also contradicted the company's environmental philosophy. They were looking for a solution to restructure their business processes, save space, staff time, and make a choice for environmental sustainability. They needed a document management system (DMS) that could handle the types of documents and information generated daily by the company electronically. They aimed to significantly reduce processing times, especially for their paper-based workflows.

SCHERDELGroup, a leading supplier to the automobile industry, faced numerous organizational challenges due to its impressive growth. The company had been using a mechanical circulating filing system to store and administer business documents at their German headquarters. However, when paper files reached capacity in the late 90’s, the management team began to look seriously at document management. The increasing piles of paper and the increasingly global nature of their business necessitated a solution that could convert information on paper into centrally stored information that could be used by employees worldwide. They wanted a Document Management Solution (DMS) that was a secure investment that could keep pace with their company’s dynamic development. Modularity and flexibility were also top priorities – it was especially important to integrate with their existing diverse application environment which includes custom ERP, CRM and accounting software.

GOETTFERT, a leading manufacturer of rheological testing equipment for the plastics and rubber industry, was facing challenges with its document management. The company had to deal with a large number of documents such as email, paper documents, drawings, telephone notes, customer correspondence, orders, proposals, order confirmations, shipping slips, and invoices. These documents needed to be assembled, shared, and stored, which was a time-consuming process. The company was looking for a solution to reduce the time and effort spent on document management and improve efficiency.

The German Red Cross in Ulm, Germany, was facing a significant challenge with document management. The organization, which provides a broad spectrum of services including emergency rescue, home care, donor management, and accounting, was dealing with a high volume of documents. Each year, about 65,000 documents needed to be securely stored. The documents were collected in binders and placed on shelves in the offices of various employees. Older documents were stored in fireproof cabinets in the basement. However, space was becoming increasingly tight as the organization had nearly doubled its revenue in the past five years, leading to an increase in the number of records. Searching for older documents was particularly problematic, requiring employees to dig through the cellar and even climb up ladders to reach certain records. Additionally, the process for handling invoices was inefficient, with multiple copies of each invoice being printed and filed separately.

The State Tourist Office of Bad Brückenau Spa, a business owned by the state of Bavaria, was dealing with a large volume of documents every month, amounting to about 5,000 documents. These documents, which included contracts, regulation compliance forms, invoices, and documents for managing events and guest facilities, were all read, processed, and stored. Many had to be completed chronologically as part of a workflow, and several departments needed to have access to the documents. The records were all collected and placed in binders for retrieval near various workstations, before they were ultimately relegated to the Royal Kitchen in the Main Hall’s cellar. Long search times for older documents were especially tedious. New legal retention requirements meant that their paper archive was quickly at capacity and it wasn’t possible to add on.

The Town of Henrietta, located in Monroe County, New York, was facing a significant record-keeping problem. Paper documents were filling both on-site and off-site storage facilities at a costly pace. These documents included town meeting minutes, planning and zoning case files, registration forms, claims, and lawsuits, all of which needed to be permanently archived. Searching for important documents in filing cabinets and vaults had become a daunting task, and off-site document storage and retrieval was a growing expense. The town's IT Coordinator recognized that implementing a document management system would solve their paper file problems. The top priority was finding a solution that could seamlessly integrate with their existing software such as RPS (New York State Real Property Tax System), BAS’s Municipal Clerk Licensing System, and ABBYY.

Propel Schools, a federation of not-for-profit charter schools, was facing challenges with their invoice approval process. Each school in the federation ordered and received their own supplies, but approvals were handled by a central business office. Invoices, packing slips, and purchase orders were sent there for processing through inter-office mail. The Accounting Department matched the purchase orders and packing slips with each invoice and made a copy of invoices needing approval. Then the documentation went back into inter-office mail to be sent for approval. Many invoices needed multiple approvals, so the documents were often passed from desk to desk. This process was time-consuming and inefficient, leading to delays in invoice approval and payment.

Nobilis Group, a successful sales partner for exclusive fragrances around the world, was facing challenges due to its rapid growth and the increase in the amount of paper used for order processing. The majority of orders still arrived by fax and had to be sorted by hand, which was time-consuming. The processes involved in inter-departmental processing of paper-based incoming invoices were equally complex. The goal was to completely digitize both the order and the invoice documents. As a central electronic document pool, the DMS to be implemented was to securely archive and manage all types of incoming and outgoing documents, and at a later date – even personnel records and other confidential business documents, such as contracts.

UTi United States, Inc. is a family-owned firm that handles all aspects of international trade between the United States and Mexico. They coordinate and file the necessary documents with U.S. and Mexican customs agencies on behalf of their clients. Each import and export transaction is accompanied by a number of documents which may include: customs forms, invoices, certificates of origin, bills of lading and other papers which help clear the transaction. The documentation for each transaction must be saved to satisfy customs regulations as well as for responding to follow-up activities. With 200 active customers, it’s not unusual for UTi to receive questions regarding import/export transactions. Customer inquiries, and the completion of intra-office activities, require employees to look at one or more of the documents relating to a shipment. UTi understood that the electronic storage of documents, or document imaging, provided a host of benefits to companies where employees frequently referenced many different documents during business procedures.

Sigma Financial, a premier full-service financial broker dealer, was facing several challenges related to document management. Every morning, the mailroom staff had to open 100-150 overnight envelopes containing 220-250 sales forms that were 8-10 pages in length. The 'original' was sent to the Compliance department for approval, and once approved, the form went to the Sales Processing department who sent the 'original', via overnight mail, to the appropriate fund company. The 'copy' was sent to the Commissions department, where the information was manually input into Sigma’s commissions program, giving the rep credit for the sale. The 'copy' was then filed by rep’s name in Sigma’s dedicated file room. Most of the records stored there needed to be kept on file for seven years and a few document types needed to be stored indefinitely. Processing a sales form was at least a two-day process. Average document retrieval time was anywhere from 10-15 minutes per form and usually 20-30 forms were accessed daily. Retrieving, refiling and just keeping track of pulled files was made even more difficult because all of Sigma’s corporate employees had access to the file room. Furthermore, Sigma was running out of room and would need to add additional filing space and personnel.

Due to the company's growth, the central accounting office faced the daunting task of filing and storing mountains of paper, which was quickly becoming harder and harder to store. For example, incoming invoices are received at each of the six stores. Before the introduction of the DocuWare document management system, the invoices were copied and mailed to headquarters, where they were sorted alphabetically and by store. Unfortunately, from time to time some of these parcels got lost and most of the documents need to be stored for seven years. IKEA decided that a document management system would provide the solution they needed.

Sedus Stoll, a leading European manufacturer of office furniture, was facing challenges with its document management process. The process for purchasing production materials was complex and divided between several departments and locations. This decentralized process caused long delays in accessing information, resulting in numerous copies of documentation being sent to different offices. The internal mailing service was overloaded by the delivery of so much paper. Over the years, more and more working copies and local subdirectories of information were created; soon anyone looking for information was forced to also rely on the memory of coworkers. Too often, this information was exchanged by phone, making the transmission of figures especially error-prone. In addition to numerous private subfolders, the purchasing information was also available on microfilm. The Sales and Accounting departments had access to two microfilm readers in order to retrieve order confirmations and invoices. With so many working copies of information, finding needed documents became more tedious and difficult.

Langenscheidt Editorial Group, a renowned publishing house, was facing challenges in maintaining high-quality customer service due to the growing heaps of documents that noticeably slowed down the retrieval of important records. The first document management system the company used provided quick access to documents, improved the ability to answer questions and shortened work processes. However, the system could not keep up with Langenscheidt's increasing requirements. As a result, one of the first prerequisites for a new document management system was the migration of data from the existing system to the new system. Secure storage of records subject to retention requirements and audits was another important criterion for Langenscheidt. The new system was first implemented in the order processing department.