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DIRECT
WINES TOKOPEN PILOT FLIES TO DM /WORKFLOW SUCCESS
Direct
Wines is the world's leading independent wine specialist.
Owners of the Laithwaites and Sunday Times wine club brands,
it was established over 30 years ago and now has an annual
turnover of more than £200 million. Worldwide, it is
also one of the largest direct delivery wine organisations.
The
company recently implemented Tokairo's TokOpen document management
and workflow solution. Initially, this was to streamline the
operation of the accounts payable department - replacing a
former paper-based manual system.
The
piloted system has been proved, with demonstrable cost savings
and significant gains in the business processes. Now, it is
the workflow mainstay of the department, with 50 users involved
in the processing of over 2,000 invoices a month, and company
is poised to roll TokOpen out to other parts of its operation.
When
looking for a document management system Direct Wines identified
several key drivers
The aim
was to improve control, management and payment of non-stock
purchase invoices for goods and services. For example, IT
and other equipment, facilities and utility bills. These were
running at the rate of around 2,000 a month, and increasing
all the time. After authorisation and processing, these were
manually entered into the company's Great Plains financial
ledger system for payment.
Direct
Wines wanted to provide speedier access to and visibility
of the invoices for the department's personnel, reduce duplication
and generally make the whole process quicker and more efficient.
A central objective was to make those individuals responsible
for authorising payment quicker to respond to approval requests,
which a disciplined workflow environment was necessary.
"We
wanted to give better access to information for those in the
approval loop," says Finance Manager Jo Quigg. "Previously,
it was a laborious, time-consuming process. Invoices had to
be manually batched for internal distribution and then rebatched
when they returned with authorisation signatures. Sometimes,
even batched a third time. Often several people needed to
sign off individual invoices."
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Key reasons why Direct Wines
selected TokOpen
"The old process was traditional
but primitive compared with what was possible.
The individual invoices were simply put in envelopes
and physically delivered to the relevant personnel
- one by one. Each would sign it and pass it on
to the next."
"The process could sometimes
take a couple of weeks, with people away or working
off-site. For their own individual budgeting purposes,
people would need to keep copies. So, more paper
and more filing."
"We also wanted to get away
from manual archiving which accounted for considerable
filing cabinet space and always carried the risk
of losing or misfiling documents. We get around
20 queries a week and each meant a trip to the
relevant filing cabinet and a trawl through pages
of files. Then calls back to the querier."
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"We
chose TokOpen because of it's simplicity and tailorability
- for both workflow and document management functionality
and because of its ability to integrate fully with Great
Plains," says Jo Quigg "It was also competitively
priced and the system had a good track record with a
large user base."
"It
presented as the most cost-effective way of achieving
our aim, particularly in respect of visibility of purchase
costs and easier access to information, and its modular
construction and scalability made it the sensible way
to proceed."
"We
could see how the system had worked for other organisations
with similar challenges, and how its use had brought
significant, beneficial changes to business processes.
We also liked the way workflow and document management
was fused together. Other reasons were the system's
ability to integrate fully with Great Plains, to which
we were committed, and Web functionality."
How TokOpen helped
"Now, paper has disappeared between receiving
an invoice and making a payment. With the increasing
use of BACS and other forms of electronic payment, as
well as email issuing of remittance advices, we can
see the paper trail stopping completely once the invoice
has come in, says Mrs. Quigg.
"When invoices are received, they are scanned
in and given a unique bar code. This identifies supplier,
voucher number, nett value, to whom coded, and product
or service description. The information is then indexed
in TokOpen to populate all authorisation response fields.
Then TokOpen uses the batch ID from Great Plains to
link to a TokOpen lookup table that identifies each
authorising individual's log-on."
"This is the workflow trigger to automatically
send the invoice to the first in the loop, then on to
the next - in an electronic round robin. All the information
needed for an OK is there, so there's no reason for
a delay."
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"Because
all users can access the files securely anywhere for
electronic signature OK via a standard Web browser
through TokWeb, working from home, being off-site
or 2/3 day-a-week part-time working is no longer a
reason for not responding immediately. If not with
authorisation, then with a valid query. Now, we not
infrequently receive the invoice back approved in
half an hour - sometimes instantly."
"We
have achieved a disciplined workflow regime that drives
the invoice through the organisation like a railway
through a swamp. "When an invoice has been OK'd
it is imported into Great Plains for payment processing.
At the moment we still do a final manual check. There's
no real need for it but it's a question of confidence
in the system - and that has grown during the pilot
to the point at which we will soon abandon it."
"Some
exceptions will probably still continue for large
amounts or unusual transactions. At the moment, we
are still sending paper remittance advices through
the post, but we'll soon be going over to email for
that. We get a much better picture of the approval
process. For example, an on-screen alert tells the
user that there is an invoice to sign."
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Automatic
notification of an invoice awaiting approval is achieved through
the TokOpen Workflow Desktop Alerter. This is similar to that
in MS Outlook that announces the arrival of an email. Recipients
have the option to request a reminder in, for example, 10
minutes, an hour, a day or whatever is appropriate. Alert
intervals can be individually configured for each user.
The system alerts users only to invoices relevant to them.
If necessary, it can be suspended for periods. The process
is made possible through TokOpen Web to both run searches
and display desired, pre-selected results. The alert also
displays a list of documents requiring attention. Clicking
on a document opens the TokOpen Web log-in page.
"Now,
we know how every invoice is progressing," says Mrs.
Quigg. "We can see on-screen a record of all actions
being taken by authorisers, and there are automatic exception
reports if a delay occurs, or if for any reason an invoice
has been sent to the wrong person."
"Using
TokOpen very significantly reduces invoice approval time,
removes the possibility or errors and saves management resource.
We can produce a wide range of management reports on demand
and virtually instantly by, for example, areas of spending
or department. Overall, we have a firmer grip on the business
process - and users have dramatically improved access to information.
Essentially, the onus is now firmly on them to respond rather
than being chased by the accounts department."
"People are much quicker to sign off invoices and there
is less hoarding of paper and less double-entry" says
Jo Quigg. "For example, individuals no longer need make
paper copies for departmental filing. Generally, there is
increased confidence in the veracity of data and a greater
willingness to accept the workflow discipline.
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Tokairo Ltd
Tokairo House, Copperhouse Court, Caldecotte, Milton
Keynes, MK7 8NL, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1908 366 388 | Fax:
+44 (0) 1908 367 700 | E-mail:
info@tokairo.com
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© Copyright 2004 Tokairo
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