National Parking Service Saves Time with Automated Document Management

They eliminated time-consuming tasks and gained efficiency in their processes with Fortra software. 

A national organization drives innovation in their professional parking and ground transportation services. But they had a problem. Their aging document management software (DMS) consumed employee time, created inefficiencies, and couldn’t keep up with changing technology (and business demands).

They needed document management software that could automate their processes—and create efficiency. They found it with Fortra.

Dated Software Left Them in the Dust

Staff used to spend their time scanning everything—from contracts in legal to invoices in accounts payable (AP). Lines regularly formed when it came time to use the scanner, and that wasted a lot of employee time.  And that was just when the scanner was working. It frequently broke down.

Once documents were scanned, they would be available in the DMS. But the company bought their previous DMS decades ago—and it hadn’t changed since. They had to use the scanner to get their documents into the DMS—even if the document was electronic to begin with. And if something went wrong, staff were on their own to fix it. The software had long been unsupported by the vendor.

On top of that…

• Human resources (HR) was still storing files on the internal network—and finding documents was hard.
• Searchable terms (e.g., vendor name on an invoice) needed to be entered manually.
• Lack of integration with IBM i (AS/400, iSeries) and business systems meant rekeying information (e.g., check number).
• Multiple HR requests arrived by email or fax—and had to be processed and fulfilled manually.

With Fortra, they found software that could simplify their processes and automate tedious tasks.

Automation Simplified Document Management

This national parking service started with Document Management (RJS) software. They now trust Webdocs for their document management needs and iForms for their AP processes (like check generation).

Files no longer need to be stored on network drives that are difficult to navigate. Instead, they’re stored in the document management system (DMS) where they can be retrieved in a quick keyword search.

Manual (and redundant) data entry is now a thing of the past. Instead of wasting time rekeying information (e.g., a vendor name on an invoice), Webdocs pulls it in automatically from IBM i and cloud-based systems like Salesforce. This automation is made possible by RESTful APIs in Webdocs, which connect Webdocs to other systems.

Plus, the Fortra services team helped them configure the software to meet their needs—including additional security that matches the security of their ERP.

Soon, they’ll add Automate software to fully automate their business processes across the company, starting with HR.

Whenever someone makes a request of HR (e.g., to change benefits), Automate will put the scanned documents or attachments into a queue on Webdocs for an HR employee to review. Automate will also handle data extraction from difficult-to-parse PDF files. For instance, if one document contains multiple requests, potentially for different members of the staff, Automate will create smaller files for each request before adding them to the queue.

Saving Time, Gaining Efficiency, and Finding ROI

This national parking service got four departments—legal, corporate accounting, tax, and accounts payable—up and running quickly.

The initial cost was low and the return-on-investment great. Instead of waiting for—and fighting over—the scanner, staff capture documents in an instant. No more waiting game—and no more paper.

For AP, this means clicking to the invoice in Webdocs—and sending it on to someone directly from the browser. This saves paper to print something to scan, as well as time spent scanning. Materials related to an invoice or check are instantly available for reference, too.

Plus, the DMS was easy for users to learn. With little training, everyone was able to get started capturing and managing documents in a browser.

This company expects that routing and manipulating incoming HR requests with Automate will not only save time for the HR staff, it will inspire other departments to take advantage of workflow automation as well.

There are already plans for the tax department to use Automate in their tax return processing workflow and for the treasury department to automatically generate PDF documents and upload them to a website.

World-class support is ready and waiting whenever they need it, too.