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UnitingCare, one of Australia’s largest non-profit health, aged care, disability, and community service providers, was facing a challenge of managing a massive amount of organizational data spread across various systems. With over 460 locations, the organization needed an enterprise-grade software system that would bring all their risk and assurance related data together so they could increase efficiency and leverage insights from Internal Audit while supporting Management to deliver targeted risk and assurance assessments in real-time. They needed to connect all of the major operating systems within the business—including SAP, AX9, AX12, D365, three timesheet systems, and three clinical governance systems— to aggregate all of their data in a single spot. Andrew Cooke, General Manager of Risk & Assurance at UnitingCare also wanted a way to manage the more than 400 complex child safety risk assessments across different lines of business. He wanted a way to track the status, the results, and how the risk profile changes over time.

Despite their track record of success in delivering end-to-end solutions for collecting, processing and understanding sensor data, a leading defense contractor had significant gaps in several key areas related to governance, risk and compliance (GRC). They had resorted to leveraging a manual spreadsheet process for risk assessments, which made it nearly impossible to scale coverage and to report on assessment results. The lack of automated reporting capability made it difficult for leadership to get a true picture of the status of risks being tracked, and the vulnerability management team had no mechanism to drive accountability and timely remediation of problems. They also had difficulty demonstrating how their GRC strategy incorporated into required policies, procedures and controls. Additionally, as a government contractor, they had a number of federal mandates and standards to meet—including NIST 800-171.

Néotoa, a real estate organization in Brittany, France, had embarked on a digital transformation process several years ago. They had a document management solution in place for archiving and centralizing documents. However, they wanted to extend the scope of the Electronic Document Management (EDM) to all of its document flows such as employee files, tax and litigation, asset management, and legal matters. They also wanted to include electronic signature and move towards a “zero paper” environment. The organization found its current tool to be too isolated from its ULIS ERP system, lacking flexibility, and the development costs required to extend its initial scope would be excessive.

Chichester College Group, a large educational institution in the UK, was facing challenges with its paper-heavy processes. The college was driven by a green initiative to go paperless, but the merger with another college in July 2017 highlighted the inefficiencies of their paper-based systems. The college was dealing with a rising flow of paper documents due to various acquisitions, and they needed to digitise quickly. They were looking for a single solution that could handle document and content capture, provide a robust document repository, enable quick information retrieval and storage, and track and control documents across all their campuses. The paper-based system was not only time-consuming but also negatively impacted the college's environmental commitments.

Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, a private university in Colombia, was seeking to consolidate its institutional archives and digitize a large portion of its documents, such as enrollment, admission and registration records, grades and transcripts, so that they could be accessed digitally. The university wanted to expand the use of the system to include both internal and external processes, enabling records to be tracked from initial registration at the single correspondence window. The university also aimed to integrate DocuWare with existing IT applications and an electronic signature system approved in Colombia.

Before the introduction of their document management system, ETC Holland, a logistics service provider, processed all their documents manually. Orders received by email were printed out and forwarded to the responsible clerks and archived together with other shipping documents. This was a very time-consuming process with a lot of administrative effort. They wanted to make sure all of their orders, incoming invoices and transport documents were quickly processed and automatically stored. Some records also needed to be visible to drivers and customers. And access to documents during audits and tax audits needed to be simplified.

Anker Logistica, an international logistics service provider, was facing a significant challenge in its pricing coordination department. The company's process of creating quotes for customers and price inquiries to freight forwarders was manual and time-consuming. Each request required data to be copied from a PDF file and pasted into an email, a process that was repeated up to 150 times per day. This resulted in a significant loss of time and created a bottleneck in the company's operations. Furthermore, if the transport request to Anker took too long, customer orders were automatically cancelled. The company evaluated several software products to make the process more efficient, but none seemed to be able to solve the problem.

EPG, a global company specializing in supply chain management, was facing challenges with its invoice verification process. With offices in different locations, the process had become time-consuming, especially due to some analog components still in use. The company was using SAP as its ERP software and DocuWare for process and document management. However, the existing system was not efficient enough, leading to delays in invoice approval that could take up to two weeks. The company needed a solution that could streamline the process and improve service to its suppliers.

Medicenter, a healthcare provider in Chile, was facing significant challenges with its document management. The company was dealing with a vast number of documents generated from every treatment, which were subsequently retrieved by various departments. The parallel use of paper-based and digital filing led to considerable problems in the day-to-day running of the clinic. For example, patients had to bring the documents relevant to their treatment to the individual wards themselves, which slowed down the flow of patients through to billing. At the same time, retrieving past reports was virtually impossible. This was because records were not stored centrally in the respective health center. Even with digital records, remote access failed because the local servers did not provide a suitable security structure for online access.

Carebase, a leading operator of retirement and nursing homes in the UK, faced challenges in its HR and quality assurance processes. The company's recruitment process was paper-based and involved a checklist of required documents for each new hire. However, as recruitment increased, the process became problematic with frequent scanning and printing of documents, difficulty in retrieval, and the risk of using incorrect or older versions. It was often unclear which documents were still needed to complete the process. In quality assurance, each home kitchen used a daily “kitchen sheet” to record food serving or refrigerator and freezer temperatures. Quality management had to manually compile and check data from these daily reports.

The Car Avenue group, a conglomerate of about 130 official dealers for the motor vehicle trade, was struggling with the complicated processing of incoming invoices in its Belgian branches. The approval process varied at each location due to the franchisees being separate legal entities. Some dealers approved invoices by mailing them to the accounting department, while others manually signed each invoice in a paper-based approval process. This resulted in significant delays in the workflow as the physical receipts had to arrive first. The company was also looking to digitize other company processes in addition to invoice approval.

Armonea, a healthcare company that manages 132 facilities and cares for over 15,000 seniors, was struggling with the administration of nonstandardized incoming invoices. These invoices, which did not originate from the main suppliers of the Armonea Group, required manual data entry and transfer to the accounting system Agresso (now Unit4 ERP). This process was time-consuming and inefficient, taking away valuable resources that could be used for other tasks.

Smile Train, a non-profit organization that provides support for children with cleft lips and palates, was facing challenges with its paper-based invoicing system. The manual process was slow and inefficient, making it difficult for the organization to ensure that invoices were paid on time. This was crucial for Smile Train as it works with a multitude of vendors to purchase everything from brochures and t-shirts to software and IT infrastructure support. The organization needed a solution that would improve communication, efficiency, and accuracy in its financial operations.

Owens Group, a renowned courier and transport service operating nationwide in the UK, was looking to digitally transform their ordering system and internal workflows for approving incoming invoices. They wanted to make common business processes easier and faster for employees, improve control and traceability, reduce dependence on paper documents, and improve the transparency of their processes. They also wanted to give employees easier access to documents and data, and needed to be able to see where orders were in the system at any given time, so that they could view, approve or cancel related documents digitally via laptops, phones and tablets. The goal was to increase efficiency in the procurement and finance departments.

KLEiN Umformtechnik, a leading sheet metal manufacturer in Europe, was facing challenges in managing its administrative processes. The company specializes in products with complex requirements that international competitors do not have the expertise to make. In addition to mass-produced components, KLEiN also supplies customers with highly specialized tools. About 75 percent of their business comes from the automotive industry. Renowned appliance manufacturers such as Miele and Vaillant are also part of their customer base. In 2018, the company's management team decided to modernize all of its administrative processes. An important goal for introducing the DMS was to support their distributed workforce at two locations 500 kilometers apart. The company needed a solution that could automate processes, reduce search times, and increase transparency.

Liftasud, a company specializing in the distribution and installation of heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems, embarked on a digital transformation journey in 2018. The company aimed to become completely paperless and digitize all documents across all departments, including sales, accounting, purchasing, administration, and distribution. The project involved digitizing various types of documents such as customer and supplier invoices, quotations, customer inquiries and orders, invoice-related documents, contracts, and applications for vehicle registrations. The challenge was to implement a solution that could handle the digitization process efficiently and integrate seamlessly with their existing Sage X3 ERP system.

Megatiendas, a Colombian supermarket chain, was initially using DocuWare for document archiving. However, the company was facing challenges with the high volume of receipts. Invoices were not transmitted on time or were lost along the way, leading to payment delays, cash discount losses, and supplier problems. The process lacked transparency. A new Columbian law made electronic invoices mandatory, prompting the company to evaluate various document management systems.

Tui Ora, the largest community-based health and social services provider in the Taranaki region of New Zealand, was struggling with inefficient paper-based processes and complex SharePoint workflows. The organization's services are all referral-based, with initial patient information coming from various sources. However, the existing system was complex, expensive to maintain, and lacked visibility, preventing continuous improvement. The organization was under pressure to make every dollar count and find new ways to save time and money. The ICT team identified that improving the way processes and paperwork passed through the organization would be one way to increase efficiencies.

Abingdon & Witney College in Oxfordshire faced the challenge of managing a wide range of part and full-time courses delivered to 14,000 students across three main campuses and six satellite sites. The college's operations were hindered by a disjointed environment that undermined efficiency and visibility. The college relied heavily on paper-based processes to fill the gaps between its various systems, leading to delays and inefficiencies. The lack of deep integration meant that paperwork often went missing, and processes had to be restarted. The college sought to emulate the seamless integration found in the commercial sector, but the lack of an integrated operating system that manages Finance, HR, and Payroll made this difficult.

Grant Thornton, a rapidly growing professional services firm in Ireland, was facing inefficiencies due to paper-based processes that relied on printed forms, Excel spreadsheets, and intermittent email correspondence. The company was experiencing bottlenecks and general inefficiencies, particularly highlighted in their Job Appraisal process. At the end of a client assignment, trainees would fill in a form, print it off, and hand it over to their manager who would rate them on each task, before passing it over to an administrator to manually enter into an Excel spreadsheet. The firm’s attempts to integrate add-on applications to improve workflow with Microsoft SharePoint had been unsatisfactory.

Aon, one of the world’s largest insurance brokers, was looking for a tool to customize workflows, quickly and easily, replacing legacy processes with automated processes that save time and money. Different business units had their own way of recording and sharing information, usually a combination of Excel spreadsheets and paperwork, increasingly at odds with the IT department’s digital transformation strategy. They wanted a single data repository, a central location supporting highly automated processes that were transparent and auditable, ticking boxes around compliance, which is front and center in what an insurance company does.

McKinley Irvin, one of the largest divorce and family law firms in the US Northwest, was facing challenges with its paper-intensive processes. The firm was growing rapidly and needed a more efficient and cost-effective way to manage its processes. The firm's existing processes were slow and hard to track, diverting employees from focusing on clients. The firm was looking for an automation platform that could support office-type processes and replace manual tasks.

TOUCH Community Services, a non-profit organization based in Singapore, was struggling with inefficient manual processes for HR and finance forms. The forms were a mix of word documents, spreadsheets, and paperwork, and the approval process was time-consuming and depended on local and centrally-based managers. The organization has 300 employees across multiple locations, making the logistics of getting anything done quickly a challenge. For example, a training request process was done manually in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, making it difficult to track and not always up to date.

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) is a globally operating institution that was awarded HEI status in 2013, which presented an opportunity to leverage the latest technologies and design its IT infrastructure from scratch. The decision was taken to become a cloud-first organization, building an environment on Microsoft cloud services, including Microsoft 365®, SharePoint Online®, Skype for Business® and Azure®. However, there was a need to introduce Digital Process Automation (DPA) solutions, replacing paper-based processes that were inefficient and made compliance a challenge. Several BPM products were trialled before LSTM came across FlowForma Process Automation. A successful workshop used real examples of existing workflow requirements, and convinced management and IT that they had found the missing piece.

Vestergaard, a global health company, was struggling with a complex contract lifecycle that spanned across multiple departments including finance, legal, compliance, and sales. The process was non-sequential and time-consuming, relying heavily on email communication. Documents were often duplicated and hard to locate, making it difficult to ensure all necessary actions were taken and all relevant parties were informed. This resulted in considerable delays and confusion in concluding contracts, and they were not always compliant with internal procedures.

Aberdeen Radiation Protection Services (ARPS) was facing challenges with its paper-based processes that were error-prone and inefficient. The company's 70 meters had to be recalibrated annually by a third-party to ensure they were compliant and fit for purpose. The process of tracking and bringing devices in for their yearly test was largely paper-based with a ring binder used for detailing what meter was on which rig. Scribbled notes were often added if a project was extended and it was easy to make mistakes. Worse still, meters that cost between £2,000 to £5,000 occasionally got lost. Excel® spreadsheets were shared by email with clients, but there was no central repository so up-to-date information was hard to find and access. This was becoming an issue and impacting on revenue. ARPS knew it needed to improve its processes and initially went looking for a document management system.

Eurofound, a Dublin-based European Union agency, was facing challenges with its internal HR review procedures due to significant EU changes to the way employers assess employees. The agency needed a Process Automation tool to support a HR team of six people and a workforce of 110. Compounding the need to meet new regulatory requirements were issues around the application Eurofound had been using for electronic forms. The InfoPath software was being discontinued, and its limited features struggled to deliver the workflow functionality that the agency was looking for. The agency was looking for a solution that could replace the ageing form-building application and meet the increasingly regulated HR procedures.

The customer is a large oil refinery in the UK, employing around 800 people and occupying nearly 1,900 acres. The size and complexity of the site presented many logistical challenges, especially for business processes around Health and Safety, HR and Finance. The company had been using Microsoft SharePoint® as a solution and had been migrating non-project documents into the repository for years. This brought to light hundreds of historic processes, particularly around Health and Safety and HR, that were very inefficient. They were almost always paper-based, depending on printed Microsoft Word® documents, spreadsheets and questionnaires. Typically, they would be handed around the site in face-to-face exchanges that could involve dozens of people. To improve and streamline workflows, they began looking for a business process tool that could supplement SharePoint, digitalize paper-based forms and bring new efficiencies to the business.

The client, a global pharmaceutical company, was facing significant challenges with their artwork management process. Artwork error was identified as the biggest reason for product recall in the pharmaceutical sector. Changes to artwork had to be approved by regulatory authorities within a finite amount of time, and the manufacturer was under pressure to meet different timescales in different countries. Prior to the implementation of FlowForma Process Automation, artwork was approved through numerous telephone calls and emails, typically involving up to 10 people across multiple countries. The process lacked clarity, timelines, alerts, and traceability, resulting in poor management and group oversight. With increasing industry spot checks and rigorous inspections, the client needed to gain control and visibility of the process.

Ergo, a four-time winner of Microsoft Partner of the Year Ireland, recognized the importance of building its own IP early on. In 2008, the company started building its own IP with a product called Fenergo. At that time, the company had a turnover of €20m and 140 staff. Today, Ergo is an IT Solution Provider with global reach, headquartered in Dublin with 400 employees and turning over €60m annually. It has been successful in spinning out two product companies, Fenergo and FlowForma. While working on a software development project in late 2012, Ergo recognized an opportunity to develop a new product from a solution it had created for a customer. Neil Young, Ergo’s Software Solutions Practice Lead at the time and now FlowForma Managing Director, approached the Ergo Board with a proposal to develop IP for a business process management tool that would work on the SharePoint platform.