Executive Editor, Green Sheet MEDIA

20
IMechE engineer an improved document
management process
IMechE is the United Kingdom’s qualifying body for Chartered and Incorporated mechanical
engineers and has been the home of mechanical engineers for over 150 years; over 80,000
engineers worldwide are members.
A decision to implement a document
management solution to handle
membership records within IMechE arose
following an evaluation of their filing
systems. A complex system existed, with
documents being stored in various places:
1. As a membership organisation, IMechE
use a specialist membership solution
from APT called Stratum. Many
member related documents, such as
letters, comments and records of
telephone calls, are created and stored
in this solution. However, documents
were only retrievable based on the
member and it was not possible to fully
search this document store.
2. Any incoming paper documents were
stored in filing cabinets across a
number of office locations around the
country.
3. The majority of incoming and outgoing
paper documents, including the original
membership application forms, were
stored as microfiche documents in an
office in Bury St Edmunds. This meant a
lot of duplication; outgoing paper
documents would be stored
electronically in Stratum and also on
microfiche.
Each member’s documents could
therefore be spread across various hard
copy office stores, held as microfiche and
stored electronically in Stratum. This led to
delays in processing member applications
and member enquiries, as locating the
correct document could be very time
consuming.
The situation was further impeded as the
three distinct groups of users which need
frequent access to the member
documents, were spread across the
country in different locations. As well as
CASE STUDY
the central London office, the membership
application processing is outsourced to a
team elsewhere in London and the
membership renewals process is
outsourced to a team in Telford. This made
quick accessibility of documents an
almost impossible task.
On top of this, a reorganisation meant that
the office in Bury St Edmunds, that housed
the microfiche records, was being closed.
IMechE was reluctant to move these
records to their main office, as this is
based in a central London location where
such space is highly expensive. The
obvious alternative was to find an
electronic solution to storing these
records.
Choosing a document management
solution
When selecting a vendor, IMechE spoke to
APT who supplied their membership
solution. APT have a partnership with
Documation, a document management
company. This relationship has led to a
seamless integration between APT’s
Stratum solution and Documation’s Enable
solution. This made Documation an
obvious choice for IMechE, as Nigel
Southwood, Director of Membership and
Information Services, elaborates: “The
integration between Documation Enable
and APT Stratum is extremely slick and
well designed, which gave us real flexibility
when implementing our solution.
Documation also established a thorough
understanding of our requirements, which
was key in our final vendor selection.”
The solution in practice
Three quarters of a million existing
documents, including the microfiche
records and the documents created in
Stratum, were imported into Enable
initially. The solution was then used to
manage the ongoing creation of approximately
10,000 new documents per month.
All electronic documents are now imported
into Enable from Stratum. Documents are
automatically saved as the relevant
document type, i.e. letter or comment, and
indexes are entered to allow full searching
capabilities. This is ideal when searching
for a specific document, within a specific
time period, for a specific member.
All paper documents, such as application
forms, receipts, payment slips, etc, are
scanned, indexed and stored in the Enable
system. When a member’s name is
entered during indexing, the system
automatically obtains their membership
number from Stratum and populates this
field in the Enable indexes. Not only does
this minimise data entry, but it ensures that
each document is linked to the correct
member’s record.
Any emails that are sent to members can
also be filed in Enable via a button on the
Microsoft Outlook toolbar. The user
indexed the emails as with scanned
documents, so they are retrieved with the
rest of that member’s documents.
Documents can be retrieved from Enable
but also directly from within the Stratum
system due to the tight integration. This
means users don’t need to exit Stratum to
search for and retrieve a document, saving
time and reducing training requirements.
This is particularly useful when a member
phones with a query, the users can
respond immediately without having to call
the member back as the documents are
instantly retrievable.
As well as eliminating the need to store
paper documents and subsequently
freeing up expensive office space, the
solution offers an opportunity for disaster
recovery. Previously a fire at the Bury St
Edmund office would have entirely
destroyed the archive, but now all member
documents are fully backed up and
disaster recovery processes can be
applied to ensure full recoverability in the
event of a incident.
Not only does the solution meet IMechE’s
needs from a functional perspective, but
the relationship with Documation has
made the process of implementing and
managing the solution an easy one, as
Richard Jackson, Systems Analyst at
IMechE explains: “The original specification
for the Documation solution was
bullet-proof, which led to a very smooth
implementation. Since we have gone live,
the technical support has been excellent
and the team displays a real commitment
to our needs.”
IMechE are now investigating other paper
intensive processes across their organisation
where it could be possible to extend
the functionality of their Enable solution.
Documation is a software developer and
system integrator of document
management and workflow solutions.
Using over 15 years experience in the
document management business they
develop tailored solutions fitted to the
requirements of each individual business
from their headquarters in Eastleigh. ■
Visit www.documation.co.uk
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