For industries that handle complex data, such as insurance, financial services, and utilities, it is not always smooth sailing. Whether you are an enterprise or a small/medium business, you must always look for ways that help you connect and integrate your data into the created documents. Automated Document Factory (ADF) with Quadient Inspire aids you tremendously in this work.
Still, many businesses are not using Automated Document Factory software. Is this a mistake? We invite you to find out by scrolling down to learn the challenges of manual data handling.
Major Challenges Faced by Businesses in Managing Data Manually
A client that produces high-volume invoices and statements needed a way to streamline their order entry and billing process. Too much time was devoted to writing work orders for daily jobs. The work orders were written before the data was processed, causing the client services team to go back to the MIS and re-input the numbers for each service manually. The manual process was causing errors, such as the numbers being transposed, or items not accounted for in the inventory system.
In addition to incorrect numbers, the process relied on someone being available to write work orders, which meant that files that came in overnight were on hold until a client services representative was available. Billing was also affected by the manual process as many jobs had counts that were not updated until the end of the billing cycle. The client had various disjointed systems running a host of processes. At BelWo, we understand such problems and are always ready to support our clients with an automated document factory design. In this case, we reviewed the company’s entire process and identified opportunities to automate it.
Our Process
First, BelWo performed a week-long analysis on-site to review the process steps of various jobs. During the discovery phase, the BelWo team noted that many jobs in different verticals had similar processes. The client was utilizing an automation tool to kick-start files for data processing but had no mechanism to auto-trigger a work order. The client had implemented Quadient’s Inspire tool but had no way to do auto-reprints for damaged pieces.
Further, Ironsides APT was utilized to monitor production and verify that all the records within the job were inserted. Any pieces that were not captured by the camera resulted in a reprint file by sequence number. The client would then use the report from APT to manually make a reprint file from Quadient. Reprints were delayed due to the manual process and sometimes were done incorrectly.
The Solution
The BelWo team created a document outlining current issues, as well as methodologies to improve the system through the creation of an Automated Document Factory(ADF). In phase one, BelWo addressed the challenge of kicking off a new work order automatically. The process began with identifying triggers to create a new work order. Then the team mapped service calculations to services. Next, work order templates were built for the test cases. The templates contained all the services necessary to complete the job. BelWo picked up the files from the FTP and sent an email to the client confirming receipt. The raw files were screened, and counts were determined. Next, the file went to processing. If there were any errors with the file, an email was generated, and the job was put on hold. The system dashboard displayed each file's status. After processing, the information was pushed into the SQL database to update the work order with the correct counts for the services performed.
After processing, most of the jobs needed to go to proof approval before the production release. BelWo developed an Online Client Proofing Portal to expedite the process. The end user received an email when the proof was available. Clients reviewed the proof online and marked them as Approved or Not Approved with a comment area to outline corrections. The client services and data processing teams received an email regarding the proof status and the MIS was updated to show proof approval.
Next, the files were released into production with a QC report noting randomly selected records, total page count, total image count, total envelope, and, finally, total inserts. The following step in the process was printing and inserting. The client was utilizing Ironsides APT to track jobs and reprints. The reprint file was dropped into a hot folder when the job was finished on the inserter. Through a connection with Quadient, the reprint files were earmarked and a new reprint file was created. Using this methodology, reprints could go out the same day along with the job. The reprints were scanned through the Ironsides APT, and the job was marked completed in the MIS and the Ironsides database.
After this system was put into place, the client’s productivity increased significantly, and work order errors went down. With the time savings from the automated document factory composition tickets, the client services team had more time to connect with customers, improving customer satisfaction. Additionally, the billing cycle was improved from closing on the 12th to having all invoices out by the 5th. Processing invoices in less than half the time increased cash flow, as well as improved customer relationships.
Tools Used in The Analysis by BelWo
.NET
Quadient (GMC)Inspire
Ironsides APT
Automated Document Factory for Document Integrity is indispensable. BelWo understands this and offers you complete support in managing it with Quadient Inspire. To understand more about this, you may contact the BelWo team.
