Document Management Case Study.
Document Management for Classroom and Bentley Associates
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Helping Classroom Ltd and Bentley Associates get teachers into class. Classroom is dedicated to placing education staff into schools in London and Manchester, and fills full time and temporary appointments at short notice.
Bentley Associates provide solutions for all permanent and temporary educational staffing needs.
Rapid expansion of these two businesses, which share support systems, was causing severe delays in processing applications. Most documents were kept in filing cabinets and could only be accessed by one employee at a time.
Old filing systems were slow and a waste of space
With 2000 teacher applicants per annum, generating 30 documents each, and with 20 staff who need access to those files at any time, Classroom and Bentleys faced increasing document management issues. These caused delays in business processes and put severe pressure on office space.
An automated document management system was the answer. Document Manager was chosen because their team had the industry experience to understand Classroom’s current and future needs.
“Information previously held on paper is now available for all users simultaneously” says Operations Director Richard Gilbey. “Improved access means we are more competitive e.g emergency calls to supply replacements for sick teachers (accounting for 15% of the business), can be handled in one phone call, giving a better chance of placing a teacher before other agencies do.”
Financial benefits include enabling business expansion without extra office space and removal of administrative staff in one office. The finance department has improved credit control by capturing sales invoices and documentation into Document Manager, and by using workflow to make processing and follow-up faster.
Choosing Document Manager
The company looked at a number of document management systems, but none offered a complete solution. “We wanted more than just a product. We wanted a team that not only understood our business but with whom we could have a mentoring relationship that would see us through the changeover and support us in the future” says Operations Director Richard Gilbey.
Benefits of Document Manager
- Removal of slow physical filing cabinet system
- Automatic indexing of documents and search functionality
- Documents now available to all staff when required
- Staff can access documents from home via the web
- Productivity increase through time saving
- Simultaneous access to single documents for multiple staff
- Office costs reduced
- Faster reaction time to enquiries gives a competitive edge
“The system will, literally, have paid for itself within a year” says Operations Director Richard Gilbey.
The Document Manager solution
Document Manager provides a document management solution for Classroom and Bentley Associates which records, indexes and stores all incoming applicant registration documents into a central system.
All active teacher placement details are also on the system. This was achieved through Document Manager’s batch scanning process which allows automatic or manual indexing of live files while they are back-scanned.
Consultants can access all documents whenever they need to, from the office, with a client, at home or on the move.
The improved access delivers competitiveness. Requests for staff are handled more quickly, with efficient searching and no more queuing at filing cabinets, or waiting for documents that are in use by other consultants.
Document Manager has streamlined the finance department. 500 invoices and documents are scanned into Document Manager and indexed each week. Queries from clients are handled faster because staff don’t have to leave their desks for documentation. This results in tighter control on outstanding debts.
