A Fortune 500 Manufacturer Picks DocFinity® COLD-ERM for its Overlay Capability, Cost Savings and Compatibility with Existing Systems

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Every day at the ID Systems Group of a nationally recognized Fortune 500 manufacturer of pressure-sensitive adhesives and materials, as well as consumer and converted products, 250 to 300 invoices are created as customers call to place orders.

"Our customer service representatives enter the corresponding invoices into our mainframe computer. The job of tracking all those invoices and making sure they are paid falls to the General Ledger Group," says the Company’s General Ledger System Specialist.

"Typically, when we call a customer to ask why a bill has not been paid, the customer responds with a question or says that it isn’t handy and requests another copy," explains the Specialist. "Then, our six collection representatives had to finger through drawers of hanging files, or search through thousands of microfiche to find the paperwork needed."

Speeds Up Collection

Today, the Manufacturer is reducing its paperwork and speeding up the collection process with the emerging technology of optical disk storage, paired with personal computer and powered by DocFinity COLD-ERM, Optical Image Technology, Inc.’s (OIT) Computer Output to Laser Disk-Enterprise Report Management (COLD-ERM) module.

The Manufacturer’s ID Systems Group makes tickets and labels for clothing as well as hardware and software for generating the tickets and labels. The General Ledger Group serves 20 plants.

"Every company uses paper," says Thomas M. Farley, President of the systems integrator which installed the new system for The Manufacturer. "But paper is not the best medium. Storage and retrieval are inefficient."

"Enterprise Report Management offers the opportunity to easily find and retrieve files," Farley continues. "They can then be shared or routed with the click of a key."

Key Benefits

According to Farley, the Fortune 500 Manufacturer selected DocFinity COLD-ERM due to the special feature that stores a format overlay. When invoice data is retrieved on the PC screen, or is printed or faxed to a customer, it looks exactly like the original invoice... company logo and all...without having to take up memory by graphically storing each entire invoice.

Next, the Manufacturer liked the fact the DocFinity COLD-ERM could be integrated into its existing computer system. The company had two mainframe computers on which the invoices and a series of monthly reports like the Aged Trial Balances or the Returns and Allowances Reports were generated and stored. It also had a Local Area Network (LAN) for 100 PCs around the office.

For DocFinity COLD-ERM, the Manufacturer added two optical disk drives. Fusion Systems installed the software, created the overlay and trained the Manufacturer’s staff.

The Manufacturer also liked the cost savings that came with DocFinity COLD-ERM. "We were spending $500 a month just to have the microfiche created. That doesn’t include the cost of paper copies and all the staff time that went into the management of those records," the Company’s General Ledger System Specialist recalls. "Our investment in the DocFinity COLD-ERM system totaled about $60,000, and we expect to recover that by cost savings in a little over two years."

Finally, the Manufacturer expects to reduce its outstanding receivable with the added efficiency of DocFinity COLD-ERM.

Mainframe magnetic disk storage is expensive and limited. At the end of every month, the Manufacturer’s files were being copied onto magnetic tape and sent to a microfiche supplier for processing. When the fiche was returned a week later, they had to check and file it.

"It was two weeks into the next month before we had the microfiche available to begin calling customers," The Specialist explains. "Now, we have those records available in just two days. We close on the first Tuesday of the month. On Wednesday, I run the archiving program that stores the data on optical disks. By Thursday, the information is ready to use.”

DocFinity COLD-ERM is designed for large and small companies that generate documents from mainframes or servers and then stores them with printed reports and microfiche.

"Company managers like DocFinity COLD-ERM," observes Scott Buchart, President of OIT. "It reduces costs and improves services. Workers like it because it makes their jobs easier!"

DocFinity COLD-ERM provides the highest level of data compression in the industry. The equivalent of more than 2 million pages of green bar computer paper can be stored on a single 5.25 inch optical disk, and nearly 20 million pages can be stored on a 12 inch disk!

"Depending on the complexity of the system and the degree of customization it requires, installation can usually be accomplished within several days," Buchart points out.

Since optical storage is permanent, it cannot be overwritten, altered or erased. This helps the Manufacturer fulfill their record retention requirements. Records are on-line, which means the days of pouring through drawers of microfiche are over.

DocFinity COLD-ERM is designed to optimize operator productivity. Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows XP and O/S 2 are supported. Records can be catalogued under multiple categories for easy retrieval. An operator can view several records simultaneously on the computer screen and then print or fax them directly to the customer.

Getting Started

The Manufacturer installed a PC in the receivable section and tied it in with six others on a network being used by managers and specialists for e-mail and other activities.

"Once our representatives have several invoices to generate, they go to the PC," the Company’s General Ledger System Specialist says. "They can call up the invoice directly to the company with just a few keystrokes. Our goal is to have an individual PC for each of our representatives."

"In fact," the Specialist points out, "I have become a user of DocFinity COLD-ERM myself. My job includes generating and updating reports for tracking our company’s performance and forecasting. I store all my reports with DocFinity COLD-ERM and when I need to access the data, it’s electronically available and easy to download."

The Manufacturer is also storing such internal reports as Aged Trial Balances, Returns and Allowances, Checks Processed, Billed and Shipped, Chargebacks and Dunning Register reports that have previously been stored on microfiche.

"The combination of an overlay feature that lets us retrieve complete invoices, the cost savings and the ability to begin working sooner on our outstanding receivables have all been important improvements for us," the Specialist declares.