CASE STUDY FACTS:
CLIENT: Australian Quarter Horse Association
DIGITECH SYSTEMS RESELLER: Inland Technology
PROBLEM: Paper applications and records were multiplying, slowing efficiency. The association was losing time and money.
SOLUTION: PaperFlow™, PaperVision Capture, PaperVision Enterprise, PaperVision® Enterprise WorkFlow
RECOGNIZED BENEFIT:
AQHA processes paperwork in one day instead of six months! Freed 70% of storage space for other uses. |
For the Australian Quarter Horse Association (AQHA), processing paper documents and electronic files used to be a "nightmare!" With inefficient processes and too much paper, AQHA knew it was time for a change.
To help better manage incoming mail, paper documents and electronic files, AQHA turned to PaperVision® Capture and PaperVision® Enterprise. Today, jobs are processed more quickly, and business runs more smoothly.
The Situation
Application process time has improved by 183% as they are finished in just one day, instead of six months.
Documents and payments to the AQHA are no longer lost in baskets and on desks. Employees reduced lost documents to 0%.
By reallocating employees who were previously dedicated to sorting through documents and files, AQHA saves $60,000 annually. Plus, the association can respond to pending requests that if forgotten, could have cost them $480,000!
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Formed in 1963 and incorporated in 1972, the Australian Quarter Horse Association is a horse breeding group, comprised of about 6,000 members. Horses are bred for either selling or showing in various areas of Australia and the United States. With more than 159,000 horses registered and 7,000 new registrations each year, there is a large amount of paperwork involved. AQHA's General Manager Carol Ricketts described the arduous process. Incoming mail was sorted into baskets by type, which included membership, registration, transfers, breeding, etc. The requests then sat in the baskets until physically removed and manually entered into the system. Processing one application could take anywhere from three to six months. Once an order moved its way through the process, it went to its permanent home in an on-site storage shed. Paper files that were stored in the shed took about three hours to find. The whole process was time-consuming and stressful. With so many existing applications and with up to 100 new requests coming in each day, employees could not keep up. "If documents were still in baskets waiting to be filed, that was a nightmare," Ricketts said.
The manpower at AQHA was simply not enough to handle the incoming load. And a long application process frustrated members and staff.
 "If paperwork was required to compete, we'd search through many baskets to find this one registration so they could compete in a show," Ricketts explained. Plus, with breeding records going back for generations, the physical storage of information was becoming an issue, not to mention the lost paperwork and payments. AQHA needed to automate the internal processing of applications, improve document management systems and secure the storage of their registry.
The Solution
AQHA made the decision to incorporate ECM and lighten their document management load. The main goal, Ricketts explained, was to streamline the intake. Employees dreamt of a work environment free of baskets stuffed with paper and messy desks with documents being shuffled around. In 2007, the association worked with Inland Technology and installed PaperFlow to begin scanning their paper documents, PaperVision Enterprise to manage the records and PaperVision Enterprise WorkFlow to move applications and requests through the registration process more efficiently. AQHA upgraded to PaperVision Capture in 2009. Implementation was staged in two parts, with one or two staff members trained in each product initially. After the system was designed and deployed and those few staff members felt confident, they extended use to 12 more staff members. Training took less than four hours! Today, the entire staff accesses PaperVision Enterprise and PaperVision Enterprise WorkFlow to process 80 different types of documents. "User adoption was a breeze," Ricketts noted. "The system was in full production straight away after the initial training."
Just a couple months after implementation, there was a noticeable psychological change. The most significant benefit was how much more efficiently employees now process the paperwork, almost 200% faster. Plus, when Ricketts, came on board with AQHA in 2008, the association had 4,780 pending requests that needed to be processed.
"There is nothing worse than coming to work each day and seeing six baskets on your desk overflowing with paperwork," Ricketts said. "You never get anywhere." Today, with PaperVision Enterprise and WorkFlow, employees process applications in just one day, except in peak times, 183% faster by eliminating paper documents! Ricketts also plans to eliminate trips to the storage shed, forever. AQHA scans all new, incoming paper work into PaperVision Capture and is also working to capture all historic files.
"I just can't imagine any office, big or small, operating without PaperVision® products. It's a tool we wouldn't want to be without. It has virtually become our database. It holds so much information on every member and every registration they've ever done. It's going to create more income for us, up to $480,000!"
- Carol Ricketts, General Manager, AQHA |
Before turning to ECM, applications and payments would occasionally get lost in the shuffle. This only frustrated staff and members. Today, all applications are in control and safely stored in PaperVision Enterprise. Lost items are no longer a concern.
AQHA also is realizing money savings every day! Without the need to dig through baskets and boxes of files, the association reallocated two staff members, saving $60,000 annually! And, with the capabilities of PaperVision Enterprise, pending requests no longer sit for months and months, eventually getting forgotten. Pending requests represent unpaid balances or money owed to AQHA. The association tailored PaperVision Enterprise to alert them after one month to deal with a pending request, creating more income. Those 4,780 pending requests meant the AQHA could potentially be losing $480,000. Needless to say, AQHA's reputation has also improved with members. "Now, they just love us," Ricketts said.
About Inland Technology, Inc.
A Digitech Systems reseller since 2007, Inland Technology, Inc. delivers a full suite of office technologies including managed print services, IT infrastructure management and document and workflow management solutions. Their approach is to make technology easy, make technology work and make technology accountable. Contact Inland Technology at 1300INLAND or www.inlandtechnology.com.au.
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