ERP Software for Archiving and Administration

Electronic Documents Replace Paper

Erschienen in der IST 01/2011

A special business management software package for surface finishing companies simplifies document management and makes the process more efficient, in particular when it is used to replace traditional paper-based archives. The example of one metal finishing firm shows that the software can also be integrated easily into existing administration systems.

Nowadays companies are obliged to store their documents for many years as a result of numerous official regulations and the requirements of their customers. However, traditional paperbased archives take up a lot of space and give rise to considerable amounts of administrative work. Electronic archiving offers significant cost benefits where there are large volumes of documents. The longer the storage period, the greater the advantages become. If an ERP system is used, the documents are created electronically and automatically archived in the system, avoiding the problem of different formats and different types of media. The access speed for electronic archives and the easy search methods allow users to find stored data quickly.

At the surface treatment company Thoma Metallveredelung, based in southern Germany, the DocuWare archiving package was installed ten years ago. The solution is supported by City Computer Contor. The archiving software was integrated with the Omnitec industry-specific ERP system developed by Softec. The system can be accessed from a network of several workplaces and includes all the functions needed for the day-to-day tasks involved in managing a complete business, ranging from order entry and production planning to the automatic capture of business data.

Automatic document filing

The system was easily integrated with the Omnitec ERP solution in use by Thoma. The small amount of work involved is reflected in the costs for the ERP installation. Thoma processes a wide range of documents using the ERP system. Orders are generated from incoming customer delivery notes and then documents such as the order confirmation, outgoing delivery note, quality assurance log and invoice are all created. All of these documents, which are printed out on paper by the system, can also be stored in the archiving system. This system can identify the forms used by Thoma and assign the correct keywords to the documents that are being archived. This process takes place automatically and allocates the information to customers and to contract, order and delivery note numbers which have already been entered in the database. There is no need for a traditional paper filing system.

A different method is used to assign keywords to the incoming delivery notes, which generate orders in the ERP system. As the incoming delivery notes are supplied by customers, all of them have different layouts. A small label printer is used to print a self-adhesive label which is stuck to the customer delivery note. The labels can be scanned and identified by the system, which enables the correct keywords to be assigned to a hand-written delivery note, for example. As the incoming delivery notes are used as the basis for orders, the system is able to standardise and automate the process of assigning keywords. The process of entering orders with the input manager is even more efficient. As the incoming delivery notes have been scanned, the orders can be generated immediately by means of a text recognition system. This makes the order creation process much faster. The managing director of Thoma, Andrea Thoma-Böck, is very pleased with the simple and effective solution and will not hesitate to recommend it to other companies.

Contact:
Softec AG, Karlsruhe, Germany Tel. +49 721 94361-0, Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist gegen Spambots geschützt! JavaScript muss aktiviert werden, damit sie angezeigt werden kann.