German Red Cross - Ulm

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 German Red Cross, based in Ulm, Germany, is a well-known charitable organization that operates emergency medical services (including emergency rescue and medical/blood transport), first aid training and disaster protection along with ambulatory home care services, transportation for the disabled, a homeless shelter, food pantries and second-hand shops. The organization has over 200 employees working on site at its headquarters and is supported by 17,500 members through donations. The organization has a modern IT infrastructure, which includes Secure Office, a system solution for fire and rescue services, and accounting programs which support their different service areas. In 2012, they opted for a DocuWare document management system to help manage their high volume of documents.