Christian Health Care Center (CHCC) was struggling with redundant data entry, slow insurance invoicing time, and poor internal information sharing. The Center manages a variety of documents from different departments, with a focus on digitally managing the documents in the Admissions and Education Departments. Each of the Center's programs has its own admission process and set of documents, all of which require an application, signed consent forms, billing information, a copy of the insurance card, and insurance verification documentation. This information was manually entered into the Center's system, and other necessary documents were added to the patient's record. The Education Department needed to store staff certifications and sign-in sheets for clinical and non-clinical programs, as well as other documents such as tests and course outlines. The Center was looking for a powerful, modular, document imaging system that could provide not only a departmental solution, but one that could grow into a workflow system throughout the organization.

Bromwall Ltd., a rapidly growing insurance broker, was facing the challenge of managing a flood of paperwork on a daily basis. The documents, ranging from policies and claims to client presentations and new business, were coming in from various sources. The paper-based system was inefficient and time-consuming, often requiring employees to return phone calls after first identifying the case and matching the pertaining records. The company needed an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system to manage the influx of documents and free up time for personnel to handle other tasks. The solution also needed to integrate with 'Act! by Sage' and 'Paperport' by Nuance, two other standard software systems used by Bromwall.

The healthcare system has reached an impasse with vanishing government support, escalating costs, aging demographics, and the expense of keeping up with medical progress. This has forced everyone working in the field to find innovative new ways to improve workflow processes. Feldkirch Regional Hospital in Vorarlberg, Austria, recognized early on the need for modern IT systems. By 1995 they had already implemented the Patidok electronic Healthcare Information Management System (HIMS). However, maximum efficiency is only reached with a HIS when paper-based documents are fully integrated into the electronic information flow. Therefore, they decided in 2002 to completely convert to electronic patient files. A basic requirement of this was the addition of an electronic archive.

HARIBO, a leading manufacturer of fruit gummies, licorice, and foam sugar products, needed to work effectively in all areas to maintain its global market position. This required the use of a modern document management system. The main factors for choosing DocuWare were the easy integration into their IBM System i (AS/400) and the expertise of the nearby partner/ system house. Their DocuWare Partner was faced with a particular challenge: replacing an older DMS and migrating several million documents as smoothly as possible. The requirement profile for the new solution was clearly defined. All documents required for day-to-day business – such as customer correspondence, delivery slips and invoices, purchasing and logistics documents as well as payroll accounting records – were to be captured centrally and made available to authorized employees at the push of a button. The aim was to extend and standardize established workflows in a meaningful way. Further goals included expanding worldwide use with simultaneous connection of all company subsidiaries to the digital archive; a simple data and document migration process; as well as the automatic indexing of all documents. Direct availability of archived documents from the ERP application also needed to be ensured.

The Providence Center, a mental health and substance use treatment center, was struggling with the limitations of paper-based medical records. These records were only accessible from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and needed to be requested in advance of appointments. This was a hindrance to providing quality care to clients, especially in emergency situations. The Center had already eliminated most of its handwritten forms and had an electronic forms creation system in place, but once the forms were completed, they were printed and stored in a paper medical record. The Center needed a solution that would allow for 24/7 access to clinical records, improve the quality of records by reducing human error, and meet the privacy requirements of HIPAA.

BUTEC, a leading consulting firm in the areas of environmental protection, quality management, and workplace safety, was facing challenges in managing its growing volume of documents. The company's increasing client base and a trend towards providing long-term consulting services led to a surge in information. Searching through their paper archive became increasingly tedious, leading to duplicate efforts and long retrieval times. Even the creation of a central filing process was not enough to alleviate these issues. The company needed a solution that could efficiently manage their documents and provide a flexible knowledge pool.

Serviceline, a company that provides maintenance and repair services for kitchen/catering equipment, was facing several challenges. The company was dealing with a high volume of paper-based Field Service Reports (FSRs) that were sent in by mail, taking at least two to three days to arrive. These reports then had to be manually indexed by a Job Manager. This process was time-consuming and inefficient. Additionally, the company was required to retain information for its customers and suppliers, which led to a need for a large amount of physical storage space. The company was also looking to improve its customer service and invoice control processes.

Fletcher Jones Mercedes-Benz (FJMB), the largest Mercedes-Benz dealer in the USA, was struggling with the volume of paper records generated from car sales and repair orders. The company could only store six months of documentation onsite, and the rest had to be moved to a third-party offsite storage facility. This resulted in slow retrieval times, inefficient document management, and high costs, estimated at $40,000 annually. The paper-based system was not keeping up with the volume of records FJMB needed to manage. The company wanted a system that could index automatically without the need for manual intervention, and that had the ability to scan a stack of documents and automatically recognize and separate the pages into individual records. They also wanted a system that stored the images in a non-proprietary format and gave them the ability to backup information on CDs or DVDs that would work as a stand-alone system.

Jack Tighe Ltd, a UK-based industrial painting company, was struggling with the multitude of invoices that needed to be processed every day. The process they were using was cumbersome. Purchase and sales invoices, remittance advices, supplier statements, all had to be individually photocopied and distributed. Numbers had to be manually assigned, stamps needed to be applied and then returned or transferred to other departments. The accounts department received over 100 invoices by post every day, which had to be sorted based on which Jack Tighe company they referred to. In addition, about 150 sales invoices needed to be produced in any one day. The invoices were typed into Microsoft Excel by entering relevant information into templates set up for the different customers. After creating the sales invoices, an invoice number was assigned from and was then copied as it was printed. One of the copies was sent to the customer, one copy went to credit control for the ledger where it was filed numerically. The third copy went to a job file. Whenever remittance advices and statements from suppliers were received, they were filed in alphabetical order under different files such as credit control or customers names. Whenever a customer called to check on the status of his payment or order, files had to be physically carried to the desk. Only after searching for the relevant statements could the customers be called back and their queries be answered.

Georg Fischer DEKA GmbH, a pipe system specialist, was facing a challenge due to the extensive production data they had to archive. The laws surrounding product liability required that all manufacturing documentation is securely retained for more than 50 years. The company was looking for an alternative to archiving with paper due to the increasing storage space requirements. Additionally, the company saw this as an opportunity to re-think and reorganize the way their company communicates. In the past, each work group as well as each individual staffer had their own filing system. Records were manually organized, copied and filed in binders. Then after each year, the documents would be placed in a central storage space, which only an authorized employee could access. The search for any older records was rather difficult and took a lot of time. Any exchange of documents between departments was often problematic and even more time-consuming. Customer inquiries could not be handled quickly, since documents had to be moved within the building via “tube mail.“

The City of Niles, Michigan, provides its residents with water, sewer, and electricity services. The Utilities department was struggling to fulfill customer inquiries and perform internal audits due to the complexity of their billing software and electrical rates. They were unable to view or recreate old bills, and only had access to the dollar amount of the bill. Detailed information such as the rate, meter number, service location, and address was essentially lost. When electrical rates changed, the software was reprogrammed with a new rate structure, making adjusting the rate or recreating an old bill impossible. The department wanted to implement a flexible document management system that could grow and change with the department’s changing needs.

Douglas County, Oregon, with a population of 100,000, was facing challenges in managing a large volume of records across multiple departments. The Sheriff’s Department had years of old case reports stored on paper and microfilm, making the vast reservoir of information essentially useless because it wasn’t searchable. The Health Department had original documents stored in several locations, causing inefficiencies and making compliance with HIPAA privacy requirements difficult. The Assessor’s Department was dealing with a large volume of forms, resulting in long document retrieval times. The County needed a system that could handle a large volume of documents, operate in a multi-site environment, automate indexing, and possess advanced search features.

Tompkins Cortland Community College, part of the State University of New York (SUNY), was facing challenges with their paper-based student file system. The college's two most important student documents, the student folder and permanent record card, were physically stored and could only be accessed by one person or department at a time. This led to inefficiencies as staff members from various departments had to physically retrieve the folder from the last department who had referenced it. The college had previously digitized all 40,000 of their permanent record cards, but the system used was outdated and no longer met their needs. They needed a non-proprietary, flexible system to store all documents digitally and provide seamless access to all staff members involved in a process.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Justice had a challenge of managing documents across its 150 courts located across the country. Each court maintained its own paper archive, making it time and cost-intensive to obtain documents from other locations. The Ministry of Justice had a clear vision of what they wanted from their Document Management System (DMS). They wanted to streamline processes, integrate their Oracle database, and provide access to the document pool from all locations. The decision to install a DMS came as part of the „Phare Programme“, an international project launched by the European Union. The goal of the project is to successively automate the organization and processes of the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice.

sudhoff technik, a wholesaler of custom rubber, plastic, and aluminum products, was facing challenges with its warehouse workflows. The company was dealing with a large volume of paper documents, including incoming documents and approximately 130,000 outgoing proof-of-shipping slips and invoices. The process of sorting and filing these documents was tedious and prone to errors. If a customer called to track a shipment, an employee in the warehouse would have to go through all of this documentation to find the answer. The company was also building a new logistics center and needed to eliminate the space-wasting paper archive and make their business processes flow more efficiently.

Corsicana Bedding, Inc., a national mattress manufacturer, was facing challenges in managing its documents and cash flow. For each delivery, the company produces an invoice which acts as a proof of delivery document. With over 350 deliveries a day, the company wanted to invest in a system to collect information from all locations and make it immediately available to the corporate office. The situation the company faced was that information took too long to get back to the corporate accounting department so that customer account information could be updated and reconciled. In addition, responses to customer questions were delayed until the information was received. Business critical documentation was being shipped by multiple people from various locations. This presented a huge challenge for customer service personnel located at the corporate office, often making it extremely difficult to research and resolve disputes quickly. This in turn led to upset customers who simply wanted answers.

TECHNO COLOR's huge volume of documents had become increasingly problematic: every day, about 1,000 pages of paper were tucked into binders and stored throughout various departments. Records from recent years were clustered in huge wall systems, while older documents were stored in dedicated warehouse space on pallets. This was all done in order to meet the legal requirements in their industry for document retention. Aside from all the wasted space, this paper-based archive had another problem – the search time that employees used to find individual records. Even employees working on the same project often had to look through different departments for delivery slips, contracts, test results or measurement protocols. At that point, copies were often made, so that duplicates were again stored at someone's own desk. This did not, however, guarantee that the information they found was the most current - like whether new details were discussed with a client, if new parts were already announced or if a recall was expected.

Norbert Dentressangle, a leading company in the Spanish logistics sector, was facing challenges with managing over 90,000 paper records per month. The company was struggling with the time-consuming process of registering, storing, and retrieving documents. The process was so labor-intensive that two full-time employees were dedicated to handling incoming documents. Additionally, customer inquiries and requests from external offices led to further delays and inefficiencies. The company needed a solution that would not only reduce the time and cost associated with document management but also improve customer service by providing easy access to the document pool.

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) was facing several challenges in managing its vast amount of documents. The agency needed an efficient way to store, access, and distribute all kinds of documents including engineering drawings, permits, technical reports, sample data, compliance documents, photos, and inspections. Thousands of documents were submitted to the IEPA each month, primarily for permit reviews and inspections. The original paper documents and microfilm were physically housed in the headquarters’ office, making it impractical for field office employees from all over the state to review a file. This required the IEPA to either ship the original documents back and forth between offices or maintain duplicate copies. Copying large format drawings and engineering documents was costly for the IEPA, who was forced to pass the cost on to private industry. The Bureau of Land’s three record rooms contained 1.5 linear miles of paper files in addition to copious amounts of microfilmed records. Maintaining such a large volume of records consumed staff resources, lengthened record retrieval time, and contributed to deteriorating file integrity from copying and shipping records. Meeting the Freedom of Information Act and providing communities, legal firms, environmental consultants, and concerned citizens with requested information was also a daunting task. The agency could receive 500 requests for a 1000 page file forcing them to devote significant time and resources in meeting these requests.

GE Capital Bank, one of the premier financial institutions in Poland, was facing challenges with its paper-based document management system. With a consumer loan portfolio exceeding $1 billion, the bank had several hundred users accessing loan documents. However, the paper-based system meant that the same document could not be used by more than one person at a time. The retrieval process was time-consuming, with documents demanded from the archives taking a day to be available. This was particularly problematic for the Customer Service and the Vindication Department, who needed to process loan requests and other loan-related matters quickly.

The Mobil Oil Health Insurance Fund experienced a rapid growth from 3,000 members in 1999 to over 500,000 members in 2002. This growth was due to a change in law which opened corporate health insurance companies to external members. The rapid influx of members posed significant challenges for the staff, organization, and IT infrastructure. Mountains of paper started to pile up and the manual filing cabinets appeared to be growing unrestrictedly. In order to have fast answers for its members and to manage the internal paper flood, the Insurance Fund decided to implement a document management system in 2000. The electronic filing system was meant to create “space for employees instead for files” and shorten filing and research procedures.

FALKE, a clothing company, had been storing its documents digitally since 1997 with the help of a service provider. However, this process was not efficient as documents were unavailable for a week and customer enquiries had to be stalled. Access to data was not user-friendly and was not possible from workstations. Copies were therefore often stored locally in departmental and workstation archives. FALKE was also looking for a system that could be expanded over time, allowing foreign sales companies to be connected in stages, enabling direct access to documents from the individual departments’ applications, and the introduction of a workflow to optimize document processing times. The company generates a thousand outgoing invoices each day, in paper form alone enough to fill an entire file. They are printed from COLD data. In addition to this there are 50 customer documents a day, 2,000 ledgers a month, 70,000 accounts lists a year, as well as 50,000 incoming invoices, 20,000 internal documents, and 15,000 payment documents for credit transfers or checks each year. This comes to an annual total of half a million documents, with retention periods of up to 10 years.

As a growing practice treating more and more patients every year, LVCC spent a lot of time and money filing and storing patient records. Each new patient meant more records to process, track and store. Not only are patient records difficult to manage due to their large sizes, but because LVCC is required to keep these records on file for seven years they were forced to keep the overflow in an off-site storage facility. Another problem for the office was the labor-intensive task of having the daily patient records prepared for the doctor. Given the number of patients and records, it was becoming difficult to retrieve the files. Additionally, the center’s fax machine generated a large amount of paper-based information that needed to be managed. Each day the office received requests for medical records, referrals, prescriptions and EKGs for its patients.

Oaklawn, a mental health treatment facility, was looking to move their Patient Financial Services department from being outsourced to an in-house department. They needed a solution that was easy to install, learn, and use on a daily basis. The solution should not hamper the new department’s workflow or consume limited office space. They needed a solution with a low total cost of ownership that could help them meet the privacy and access requirements defined by the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act, commonly known as HIPAA. Additionally, the system needed to be flexible and able to be rolled out across the organization.

Independent School District 196, a K-12 public school district in Rosemount, Minnesota, was struggling with a paper-based hiring process. The district, which serves more than 28,000 students and is one of the area’s largest employers, was facing administrative headaches due to the manual review and check-out of resumes. Principals and hiring supervisors had to visit the district office in person to review applications, which was time-consuming and inefficient. Additionally, the HR department was maintaining employee files in paper form, which posed security risks and made it difficult to comply with governmental and internal regulations.

Comelf AG, a Romanian manufacturer of technical components, parts, and machines, was struggling with an overwhelming amount of documents that were disrupting their work processes. The purchasing, sales, and technical departments were responsible for managing the majority of these documents, which were created, copied, processed, and then stored locally every week. For time-critical processes, email was also used. The flood of documents was particularly disruptive for the purchasing department. If a department needed a certain product earlier than planned, this request would unleash a series of unclear processes in purchasing. A buyer had to search through documents page by page, before digging through old email. This process was lengthy and a time-waster for employees. The subsequent approval process wasn't much simpler: signatures were not easy to obtain, especially if colleagues were working outside the office. Small details could derail the entire process.

Salmon Companies, a key service provider for the United States Postal Service (USPS), has grown from a regional transportation company to a nationwide entity with a fleet of 1,500 trucks. Despite their growth, they faced challenges in managing their business productivity and operating costs. Their accounting system was outdated and inefficient, leading to increased costs and reduced employee productivity. The company needed a solution that could automate their accounting system, reduce costs, and provide fast, secure storage and access to information. Additionally, when Salmon acquired a company that used DocuWare, it was crucial for the two companies to merge their processes to meet government requirements.

Carubba Collision, a body shop conglomerate in upstate New York, was experiencing a high growth phase, opening 4-6 new locations a year. This rapid expansion posed a challenge for the company's accounting department, which was struggling to manage the increasing volume of invoices and other financial documents. The company was using PSIcapture to transfer invoices into QuickBooks for processing, but the management team felt that a tighter integration between platforms could be achieved by implementing DocuWare’s workflow automation capabilities.

Total Environmental & Power Systems, Inc. (TEPS), a top telecommunications contractor in California and Nevada, was facing challenges with its paper-based accounting workflow. The company received a request from a large customer for electronic copies of their material invoices to better understand the material charges. Additionally, almost 90% of the invoices TEPS received were digital, making the paper-based format inefficient and outdated. The company needed a solution that was mobile-ready, cloud-based, and easy to implement and maintain.

On Point Custom Homes, a Houston-based custom home builder, was in need of a cloud-based solution that would allow its employees to access data and review and approve invoices remotely from job sites. This need was further amplified when the company experienced a server and backup drive crash, forcing them to revert to a paper-based system for a few months while they researched the best fit digital solution. The company required a solution that was mobile-ready and offered security and flexibility.