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SIMPLIFYING DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
Document Management
Article
Moser
Baer has simplified its document management activities by using ViewWise
from Syntax Soft-Tech. The company’s General Manager, IT, V Muthukumar,
talks to Abhinav Singh
In addition
to the head office in Noida, Moser Baer has two manufacturing plants.
Thousands of documents are generated and archived at these three locations.
There is a full-fledged ERP system, Ramco Marshall, which also generates a
lot of information. We have gone in for ViewWise, a Document Management
System (DMS) which is integrated with our ERP system. This makes it easy to
correlate information from the ERP system with that of the DMS.
Just good
business sense
Going in for
a DMS was more or less a proactive approach to digitise and bring in
transparency in the document management system. The aim was to enable some
process flows without paper, and thereby simplify management. The system was
implemented to centralise document management. For instance, if there were
any auditing processes underway, it would be possible to present any
relevant document at the click of a button as everything is visible through
a single window. Earlier, when any document was required, we had to search
for it in different departments. Today, after the implementation, that
document is available immediately.
A tough
choice
We evaluated
three vendors. Their products were assessed based on some parameters which
we had set. The number of documents a given DMS could support was an
important priority. The ability of the new system to integrate seamlessly
with the ERP system was another one. The evaluation went on in August and
September 2004, though we did not go in for any pilots during the evaluation
process. Finally, we decided on ViewWise from Syntax Soft-Tech as we felt
that the product had the ability to support our documentation needs and
integrate with our ERP system.
Only
relevant documents digitised
Even before
beginning the DMS implementation, we decided to digitise only relevant
documents. The initial challenge was to identify the documents that were
needed. They had to be categorised as per the document size. As there were
different sizes, varied methodologies had to be adopted to get these
documents into the DMS. We also wanted to index all the documents that were
entered into the system to avoid any confusion while retrieving them later.
50 percent
of the time was spent on the drawing board doing all this. Initial
discussions and inputs were taken from all functional and departmental
heads. The entire process took two months and involved about 30 people.
Since DMS was a new concept in our organisation, all the departments had to
be trained by using demo kits. Also, because some of the scanned documents
were too large, they needed to be compressed before entering into the DMS.
The exercise was successful, and the DMS went live in March 2005. We have
integrated the purchase to pay, order to delivery, and revenue recognition
processes into the DMS. We have also included documents related to legal
processes—agreements, contracts, treasury management and resume management.
All the information generated from the ERP system can be archived
simultaneously in the DMS.
Mission
accomplished
Although
early, I can point out some of the quantifiable benefits that have accrued
to us from the system. Firstly, it has helped us digitally archive and
retrieve documents through a single window. People don’t have to run about
tracking documents. Document management has become efficient, and the system
is transparent.
Transactions
through the ERP system have been streamlined, and supporting documents for a
transaction are readily available. One can store documents in the DMS, and
associate some fields with them for indexing. Later, documents can be
retrieved from within the ERP screens based on these indexes through the
Image Enable Application of ViewWise. Since access to documents requires no
more than pressing a button, the average bill payment cycle has been reduced
by 20 percent. Swifter response time to vendor queries is another payoff.
Earlier, it used to take two days to respond, but ViewWise has trimmed the
response time to a few keystrokes. A query is resolved in a single stage,
rather than in hours or days involving different people. The accounts
payable team can now use a single application to create and view vendor
payment screens and related documents. Employees are more gainfully
employed. It is possible to maintain strict authority and security on
business-critical documents. Sharing and collaborating on documents such as
non-conformance reports, and storing vendor quotations online to retrieve
them instantly are possible. We plan to archive and enter most of the
processes from the ERP system into the DMS, and are working towards this
end.
|
Snapshot |
|
Company |
Moser Baer India, a leading global manufacturer of recordable
optical media |
|
Product |
ViewWise from Syntax Soft-Tech |
|
Operating system |
Windows 2003 |
|
Database |
MS-SQL |
|
Servers |
HP ProLiant Server |
|
Number of user licences |
50 concurrent user licences |
abhinav@expresscomputeronline.com |
