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The News Group
By installing a basic DocuWare system, The News Group Central Division is experiencing dramatic results as they are now able to handle their increasing growth rate without adding additional personnel.
Country: USA
Industry: Distribution
Application: Accounting, Controlling, Customer Services, Logistics, Records Management
As a partner in the second largest magazine and book wholesaler in North America, The News Group Central Division (TNG) distributes and merchandises books, magazines and other periodicals. Each year, over 500 million copies of these publications must be received, processed, delivered and tracked for their customer list which includes all major discount chains and supermarkets in their region between western Florida and New Mexico.
Solution Requirements
Documents
The News Group’s San Antonio, Grand Prairie and Houston business processing locations produce daily invoices for their approximately 30 warehouse locations. These invoices are their key documents for delivering and invoicing goods. First, the warehouse uses these invoices as packing slips to prepare the shipment for delivery. At the time of delivery, the invoices are signed by the receiver at the discount chain and supermarket as a proof of delivery.
Since TNG’s key document regarding revenue is on paper, they are subject to normal paper-based problems such as documents being misplaced or lost during any step of the process. Certain customers require a copy of the signed invoice as proof of delivery for payment. Another problem was that invoices are generated at the warehouse, therefore a backup copy needed to be created to allow access by the accounting office and operations employees.
Documentation for returns where also difficult to keep track of and was sometimes lost or misplaced. When the driver picked up unsold merchandise, they would generate a return documentation invoice. This invoice accompanied the product back to the warehouse so that a credit memo can be produced.
Solution Requirements
A centralized filing system was needed to streamline their accounts receivable procedures, reduce the number of lost documents and allow access to files by multiple departments. Another requirement was that the system must be able to utilize their documents from an older accounting system no longer in use.
Solution
Authorized DocuWare Partner, Toshiba Business Solutions, TX/NM (TBS), put together a simple solution that offered a huge payback. The San Antonio, Grand Prairie and Houston locations still produce the invoices; however, now each contains a barcode which allows for easy storage in DocuWare when scanned after delivery. Every morning the driver turns in the previous day’s invoices to accounting and they are scanned. This scan accomplishes two things: first, the scanned barcode validates the invoice as being delivered. Based on this date, their collection process can begin. Second, the scan captures the signature which is now the proof of delivery should a customer’s question arise.
Invoices and financial reports from their outdated accounting system have since been converted and imported into DocuWare. Having an electronic centralized filing system allows every employee access to the documents needed to complete their daily activities, right from their desk, regardless of when the invoice was generated.
The Benefits in Detail
User Benefits
TNG’s office staff of 30+ was excited about eliminating offsite box searches. With minimal training, they found that DocuWare is very user friendly. Having the information right at their fingertips has enabled them to improve customer service and be more efficient.
Departmental Benefits
Now that invoices have a validation date, management can better track their aging invoices and improve collection rates. With electronic proof of deliveries at their fingertips, accounting inquires can quickly and easily be resolved.
“If we have an unpaid invoice, we can immediately access the DocuWare system to locate a copy of the signed proof of delivery and begin the collection process,” commented Gary Korn, The News Group Central Division
Controller. “With DocuWare in place, even if the paper invoice gets misplaced, we can still invoice the customer based on the originally produced invoice. This has increased the annual sales revenue!”
Corporate Benefits
Aside from the ability to invoice more sales, the elimination of third party storage and a staff of filing clerks has saved them enough money to recognize a return on their investment within the first year.
DocuWare has now been expanded into several other departments, including Human Resources, to help them maintain compliance requirements for personnel documents.
Having a disaster recovery plan hadn’t been part of TNG’s initial plans but having electronic copies of their files makes it easy for them to back up their documents to an offsite server. With DocuWare, they now have an official disaster recovery plan in place.