OIT Software Keeps People Motoring

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Any meticulous owner of an automobile knows that keeping complete, detailed records of a vehicle is as important as it is time-consuming.

Throughout the year, a large number of documents can be generated from a single automobile. Repair bills, maintenance sheets, payment records, licensing and registration documents, just to name a few, are among the documentation that is produced.  Most of this information must be stored to insure a complete transaction history.

Now imagine managing and maintaining a fleet of approximately 2,000 automobiles, all producing even more documentation than the average vehicle because these vehicles need to be kept in tip-top condition year-round.

This gives you a pretty good idea of the challenge facing a UK-based automobile rental company. This unique firm is a fast growing provider of automobiles to customers who find themselves without transportation due to a non-fault accident.

This company, with centers in both Bath and Leeds in the United Kingdom, and its 600 professional staff members, keep an average of 3,000 motorists per month mobile after a non-fault accident.

For extremely fast and reliable service, the company has 14 branches throughout Great Britain, including branches in Southhampton, Abingdon, England; Edinburgh, Scotland; Mallusk, Northern Ireland and Leeds.

1 Million Pages Per Year

An operation this size produces 1,000,000 pages of documentation per year – all of which the company’s fleet department must manage. That figure includes incoming documents such as repair invoices, renewal notices, correspondence and completed forms, as well as outgoing documents, such as standard forms and correspondence. System-generated reports, including computer-generated reports, listings and standard letters, are also handled by the fleet department. This information must be, in some cases, kept on hand for seven years!

In order to better serve the needs of its customers, the auto rental company decided to implement an electronic document management system that would allow the company to continue to keep meticulous records about their fleet, but also decrease the amount of space and time that is required to index, store and retrieve these forms in the former paper-based system.

Solution

After reviewing several options, the company selected modules from Optical Image Technology, Inc., (OIT). The system was installed by OITUK, a subsidiary of Graphic Data, OIT’s European distributor and business partner. Products from OIT’s DocFinity® Suite of Document Management software selected for this solution included: DocFinity Imaging, DocFinity COLD-ERM, DocFinity Workflow, DocFinity Hierarchical Storage Manager (HSM), and DocFinity AutoARCHIVE®. This Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) would provide the company with solutions to each of its current needs – scanning, indexing and retrieving documents, managing computer-generated data and creating electronic workflow.

Document Center

The Phase 1 implementation focused on the Document Imaging application. This initial EDMS implementation phase was centered at the Peterborough location.  The company’s LEGIS system is in use at the Peterborough base. Documents are scanned and processed at Peterborough. OIT’s DocFinity HSM module - software that allows organizations to logically store and manage files - then migrates document images from the local server at Peterborough to the central facility in Bath. The company installed a central system server located at Bath. The server is a Compaq Proliant with 4 Pentium processors, 2 Gb RAM, 16 x 18.2 Gb RAID Array and 8 DLT Tape assembly for backup. Plans are to have a Microsoft SQL Server database that will also reside on this platform. Currently, a Mitsubishi System server that has the Microsoft SQL Server database and also supports a C-Tree database used by LEGIS application will be utilized. There will be another Mitsubishi server at Peterborough site used as a central file server.

Phase 2 will add the ability to process computer-generated reports using DocFinity COLD-ERM and a Phase 3 will include Workflow. DocFinity Workflow can route documents and files electronically according to a company’s present workflow process.

Future

In the future, the company may look for further customization of this pioneering EDMS system. These solutions could include other OIT modules such as DocFinity Print/Fax Server, which has the ability to automatically print and fax reports. Web-enabling the system is another possibility. DocFinity IntraVIEWER® can help create a corporate portal on the Internet for the company. OIT’s E-Mail Manager could also be utilized to store important corporate e-mails for long-term storage.