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TOKOPEN
DM SCISSORS CUT PAPER WITH STONE
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Using TokOpen to improve information sharing and storage availability
Tokairo's
TokOpen document management system is providing an effective
paperless IT business solution for one of the UK's leading
suppliers of stone aggregates. The system is now being used
by the Estates and Planning department of Aggregate Industries
UK - www.aggregate-uk.com.
Northampton-based
TokOpen reseller Datatrade plc - www.datatrade.co.uk - supplied,
implemented and supports the system. Key elements of Tokairo's
document management technology employed by Aggregate Industries
are TokOpen Sorting Office and TokOpen Web.
Initially
installed in 2001 for the company's Estates and Planning department,
TokOpen was taken to manage documentation generated by more
than 190 sites throughout the UK, including planning consents,
deeds and leases, as well as inter-company documents. Now
the company is looking to roll out the system to other areas
of the company's operations.
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With an annual turnover of more than £600 million,
Aggregate Industries UK is a major producer and supplier
of primary, secondary and recycled aggregates, asphalt
and concrete. The company also operates a national contracting
business.
All areas of the business are certified to ISO9002 and
ISO14001quality and environmental management standards,
and through an analytical approach to continuous improvement
of business processes, the company is well on course
to continued expansion and prosperity.
With close to 200 sites across the country handling
quarrying and processing of aggregates, manufacturing
concrete and providing contracting services, the company
generates a very high volume of documents. In addition
to the normal inter-company technical, financial, sales
and other general business documentation, these include
planning consents, deeds and leases.
Much of this documentation has to be frequently transmitted
to many internal and external audiences and needs to
be stored securely for legal requirements. The company
has very high business process quality accreditation
and this in itself generates a workload and call on
resource for the processing of documents.
The problem facing the company's Estates and Planning
department was that availability of storage space was
diminishing, data access was getting slower and the
workforce needed greater mobility. The company decided
to pilot a document management solution that would provide
more efficient data management both in the workplace
and for its mobile workforce.
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TokOpen
was selected and Tokairo reseller Datatrade plc, whose clients
include Aston Martin, Royal Bank of Scotland, Motorola and
Brewin Dolphin Securities, was asked to demonstrate the product's
ease of use and its ability to meet business needs. Over a
period of four months all historical filing was reviewed and
any unnecessary or duplicated data was discarded.
The remaining
documents were scanned and stored on the new system. At the
same time, working practices were changed so that all correspondence,
from CAD and MS Word to legal documents, were scanned on receipt
and filed with all other electronic media.
The two main
elements of Tokairo technology employed are TokOpen Sorting
Office and TokOpen Web.
TokOpen
Sorting Office removes the traditional organisational paper
chase and protects documents immediately they are received,
using a mixture of scanners and copiers. It manages the transfer
of documents to other staff anywhere in the organisation for
indexing, between departments, even between remote offices.
It reduces
manual indexing by obtaining index information already keyed
into other systems, and uses the latest fast and accurate
OCR and ICR technologies automatically identify and index
documents. Sorting Office reads bar codes, checks boxes (OMR),
machine print (OCR), even handwriting (ICR) directly from
the scanned documents to reduce the need for manual indexing.
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TokOpen
Web enables users to publish documents to the Web
or Intranet. It restricts which drawers, folders and
documents are available via a browser, and provides
authorised remote access to staff, customers, suppliers
and students with secure availability to selected
documents.
Other
features include support for the most popular Windows
Web browsers, scalable architecture, intuitive, simple
screens ensuring that users can quickly locate and
view published documents and tight integration with
other applications. There is maximum system security
and minimal annual support fees using guest user accounts.
Also, a comprehensive audit trail, customised screens
to reinforce a user's own corporate identity, and
minimal support overhead.
The
business benefits? Access to information and speed
of availability has been improved, and data security
has been assured. Hard copy filing cabinets have been
removed under the pilot scheme and archived material
from those files is now stored electronically - and
is available instantly over the company's Intranet
or via the Web. The company is so pleased with the
pilot that it now plans to implement the system across
the whole corporate network.
"While
property asset management had its origins in hard
copy documents like deeds and leases, the modern day
property professional still relies on paper but aspires
to more efficient data management," says Head
of Estates and Planning Jeremy Murfitt.
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"Storing
information by topic, whether it is a Word document, spreadsheet
or email is an additional bonus of TokOpen. The search facilities
make retrieving data simple. All information can be accessed
remotely and is even accessible via mobile phone link".
The bottom
line is an elegant, efficient, cost-effective and rugged document
management solution that meets very demanding requirements
in a highly competitive business environment.
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Tokairo Ltd
20 Linford Forum, Rockingham Drive, Linford Wood,
Milton Keynes, MK14 6LY, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1908 695 569 | Fax:
+44 (0) 1908 696 961 | E-mail:
info@tokairo.com
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© Copyright 2004 Tokairo
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