document management

pEnfOnUANCE and profits go I together like a hammer and nails. Graham Bishop says that's especially true with U.S. Lumber's sales and back office accounting teams.

"We count on our edge in technology and efficient work habits to keep our business ahead of the competition," he says. "When customers call on our sales team with questions, it's imperative we respond swiftly and accurately."

Bishop, chief financial officer, and IT manager Aaron Chancey work together to improve efficiency within U.S. Lumber Group, a $150 million wholesaler of domestic and imported lumber, pattern stock, decking, siding, flooring and moulding. Imported forest products come from Europe, Canada, South America and Mexico. Besides their home office in Atlanta, Ga., they synchronize operations at 11 other branch sites across Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and the Carolinas to serve customers in 10 Southeastern states. The paper shuffling needed to run a tight ship can be overwhelming.

Before 2002, accounting personnel and sales representatives spent a great deal of time thumbing through file cabinets. The grind of matching delivery tickets with invoices, re-filing them, and cross referencing documents ultimately took some of the fun out of the distribution business.

"We are always looking for technology to provide us with practical solutions," Bishop says. "The concept ofpaperless and remote access to electronic files certainly struck a chord at U.S. Lumber. It simply makes good business sense."

Bishop and Chancey surveyed the technology market to learn how other industry leaders improved efficiency, then called Boe Knapp of WorldView, a division of DMSi, to help migrate from a paper-based system to an integrated, Internet-based document management solution. In a matter of days in January 2002, U.S. Lumber implemented the first stage of the document management solution; storing COLD (electronic text) documents automatically from their core back-office application. The second stage involved imaging; converting paper documents to electronically stored images.

U.S. Lumber introduced document management to its accounts receivable processing department. Scanners were installed at each branch to create electronic files of delivery tickets. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology reads delivery ticket transaction numbers and other indexing criteria to make for easy retrieval upon customer request. In addition, invoices are automatically indexed and stored as COLD files. From then on. at anvtime, employees can use any PC wiih an Internet browser to retrieve the documents by typing in a password and user ID. Invoices and delivery tickets are automatically cross-referenced and the time savings of no longer manually matching these documents has been tremendous.

Using the power of the Internet to aid document management helps U.S. Lumber in three important ways: Customer Service. Instant access to information and cross-referencing at the click of a mouse helps U.S. Lumber respond to questions faster. Space. Thanks to document imaging and COLD, U.S. Lumber expects to shed most of its filing cabinets within five years.

Back-up. Records once stored in the warehouse and suspect to catastrophic fire or floods are stored more safely off-site in a bunkered facilityavailable for instant retrieval day after day, even should disaster strike

"We've centralized control of our processes, yet maintain a more accurate, complete filing system that's now instantly accessible across a distributed network of nine locations in addition to remote sales staff in the field," Bishop says. "The level of service we can offer customers is incredible. Information is at our fingertips when we need it."

"For example, if a customer calls needing to confirm receipt of a shipment, WorldView's solution helps us locate the signed delivery ticket-and related documents, lets us e-mail the customer a proof-of-delivery copy, then discuss the situation all without hanging up the phone," he adds. "That's a wonderful tool to have. We can quickly answer questions of whether our products were shipped correctly, when the orders were delivered, and who signed for the shipment. In the end, that helps us to maintain quality customer service."

Efficiency with less paper overload reduces the potential for overtime pay. Imaging saves processing time and allows each department to allocate skills elsewhere. Chancey appreciates the ease of implementation for Internet-based document storage compared to an in-house alternative, as well as the reduced demands on IT staffing, hardware, training and upkeep.

"We saved money with no need to buy servers or databases, less training for people in our department, no need to configure document types, and no need to purchase additional software," Chancey says. "Set up for our system was extremely fast and painless. For us, the reward for sound document management boils down to less paper headaches, and less capital investment for higher levels of customer service. It's that simple."