TNT LOGISTICS STREAMLINES KEY BUSINESS PROCESSES WITH TOKOPEN

- Using TokOpen to manage invoices, HR documents and engineering documents

TNT N.V., with its two brands TNT and Royal TPG Post, is a global provider of mail, express and logistics services. TNT Logistics, a division of TNT N.V., is a leading global logistics company. It designs, implements and operates complex supply chain solutions on a national, regional or global scale for medium to large enterprises. Through its freight forwarding unit it provides air and sea freight services within an international network.

Since its formation in 1985 TNT Logistics UK has enjoyed sustained and rapid growth. Today, the company employs a workforce of over 8,000 and operates over eight million square feet of warehousing and over 4,000 vehicles and trailers.

The company provides services across the full supply chain, from inbound support for production facilities, through manufacturers' and retailers' warehousing and distribution operations - to final destination delivery, incorporating a full range of value-added services. www.tntlogistics.co.uk

TNT Logistics operates within a diverse range of market sectors including automotive, tyres, electronics, consumer goods, utilities and telecom, and publishing and media.

"Logistics is a rapidly changing sector with customer expectations rising all the time," says TNT Logistics Project Manager Sue Cambridge. "While the company has always been successful and has consistently turned in excellent growth and profit figures, we wanted to make sure we stayed ahead of the game. These days, it's not enough merely to be good; you've got to be better".

Improved Performance

"We identified the fact that certain emerging and rapidly developing business process technologies - such as document management and workflow - offered a platform to improve performance and cut costs. Two years ago, the board decided to go for a new IT infrastructure that would support a tighter grip on the business and support business growth. A key element was document management".

"For some time we had been holding documents electronically and had a scanning facility in place - for example, in HR- but we wanted a more complete solution that would cover a wider brief. And we wanted a solution provider that would be a partner and not just a vendor".

"TokOpen had been used before in other parts of the group and was the preferred supplier, although we did evaluate other competitive offerings. However, with our previous experience of TokOpen it wasn't a difficult decision to choose it again for the new application areas. Particular features we liked included the Web browser view that made it available to everyone, and excellent security - both at document and user level".

For invoice processing, the requirement was a DM system that would enable the electronic capture and distribution of accounts payable purchase invoices for internal authorisation.

"For human resources we have traditionally kept all documents electronically but benefits accruing from the new system include more self service and better communications between offices and departments".

Altogether, the company has 150 sites and over 8,000 staff.

TNT Logistics currently operates full HR and Payroll functions for their employees across multiple sites. In order to raise the visibility of documents between locations and across functions TokOpen has been implemented to enable the secure publishing of company documentation on the corporate Intranet.

Payroll staff use remote Sorting Office to capture documents for the central TokOpen system. Although the documents are captured by the payroll team, there is considerable cooperation and cross-over on document types with the HR function.

The documents are therefore held in the same employee areas as HR documents, with specific permissions applied to pay-related documents to provide access to only to authorised staff. ERM was also used to create 750,000 payslips for web access by Payroll.

Engineering Support

TokOpen has recently been introduced by the TNT Logistics engineering department, which is responsible for the maintenance and handling of all vehicles in the logistics fleet - around 4,000 vehicles and trailers, many of which are committed to specific contracts that require them to be based in customer depots across the country. All records for fleet vehicles are stored and maintained centrally. The use of Dokustar enables documents to be read and indexed directly.

"The volume of paperwork is very high," says Cambridge. "Documents come in all shapes and sizes and cover everything from MOT certificates, plating details, weight compliance tickets, repair records, servicing history, etc. Altogether, this represents around 1,000 documents a day for the entire fleet".

TNT is using TokOpen to store all engineering documents electronically and link it to their Fleet Management System (FMS) to facilitate document access via FMS for remote users as well as within the Engineering area itself. The process has been approved by VOSA, the vehicle inspectorate.

Documents for the four projects are held in the TokOpen server situated in the TNT corporate data centre. In addition to these functions, TNT Logistics is also looking at extending the use of TokOpen to other areas of their business, including contracts, leases and delivery documents.

"All in all, TokOpen provides a reliable, highly practical and easy-to-use solution that gives us good document and user security," says Cambridge. "The Web access ability removes the communication restraints associated with the former, traditional reporting and data accessing processes. The benefits, even at this fairly early stage of its use in the new application areas, are very significant. The improved VAT reclaim by accounts alone means that the system is already paying for itself".