SER Solutions Deutschland GmbH

Success with Enterprise Content Management in the air, on land and water

The key potential for successful differentiation of logistics companies from the competition lies in the area of IT. This means more than systems for consignment tracking, online order entry and electronic invoicing. The key technology for central information management, distribution and recording is Enterprise Content Management systems with dynamic records management and integrated automated inbound document processing.

It is now inconceivable that a logistics company could operate without an intelligent IT infrastructure. Companies which attributed special strategic importance to IT at an early stage are now seeing above-average growth in earnings. Only about 15% of a logistics company's costs are incurred in the actual transport of goods from A to B. The real cost drivers – and therefore also the important savings potentials – are to be found in other areas. This is where the intelligent use of information logistics can help to reduce costs and trim down processes.

Surmounting the disadvantages of working with paper records

Transparency and speed are the key factors for success in logistics. Customers expect information on demand about the status of their orders and the location of their goods. This requires precise organisation in the back office which is nowadays impossible without integrated and intelligent Enterprise Content Management. The disadvantages of conventional, paper-based records are obvious: office staff have no immediate access to records and no direct retrieval facility. Where necessary the documents have to be specially requested and delivered. If the required file is currently being used by another member of staff, waiting times cannot be avoided because several people cannot access a paper file simultaneously. Long transport and processing routes also cause delays. Ascertaining the location of a record is frequently difficult when records are passed from one member of staff to the next without informing the office responsible for managing the records.

Dynamic records management in the logistics sector

Logistics companies are overcoming the problems associated with paper-based workflow management with the use of integrated Enterprise Content Management systems such as SER's iECM Suite, which supports the document flow on a digital basis along the supply chain from inbound mail, document processing and records management to audit-proof archiving. The central tools used by office staff are electronic records. Documents such as bills of lading, delivery documents, customs documents or delivery notes are assigned to the customer or order records so that the administrator or member of sales staff does not have to search the archive for individual documents, but has them all available together in the record. Electronic record models and file plans create clear record structures and ensure correct assignment of new documents.

Logistics companies can save a great deal of time by using automated systems for processing inbound documents, such as SER's DOXiS Inbound Center. Newly arrived documents are automatically analysed and classified and assigned to the correct record with InboundMaster. The relevant data can be scanned automatically from structured and unstructured documents and transferred to productive systems that process them further. In this way the records and productive systems are always kept up-to-date. Authorised staff are given central access to all required records and documents. The information is displayed on the screen in just a few seconds. Time-consuming searches for records become a thing of the past. This enhances availability of information for office staff when dealing with matters by phone because they have immediate access to all the information they need. Team-work is likewise no longer a problem because several members of staff can access the same file at once.

GL Kayser automates processing of freight invoices

There is considerable potential for logistics companies to reduce costs in the processing of freight invoices. G.L. Kayser GmbH & Co. KG, the number one amongst logistics companies in the Rhine-Main area, has already had positive experience with the intelligent IT solution DOXiS InvoiceMaster. Entry of freight invoices has become much simpler thanks to SER software. With the help of this special solution for data extraction, the logistics company can now enter and digitally archive a daily document volume of approximately 500 freight invoices sent by more than 280 freight companies across Europe in just four hours. In the past, about 25 staff in this 200-year-old company were engaged in the task of selecting and processing the documents. The documents are now scanned, classified according to sender, address or customer number and forwarded to the relevant administrator in a matter of seconds. This also achieves a substantial improvement in the workflow. At the same time the invoices are automatically stored in the financial accounting software and in the legally prescribed freight applications. Before, discs would be included in the freight goods in the truck, but now there is a largely automated flow of documents between the companies. This has led not only to a 40% decrease in manual processing time but also to better use of human resources and an optimisation of invoice verification processes. Furthermore, documents are now destroyed after scanning which leads to a significant reduction in the paper archive.

New challenge: electronic tax audit

Since the GDPdU (regulations for data access and auditability of digital documents) came into effect on 1 January 2002, logistics companies have another good reason to introduce electronic archiving: for digital audits, which are now admissible, logistics companies have to preserve, in a form that can be analysed by a computer, all digitally created data relevant for tax purposes from ERP systems and ancillary systems such as payroll accounting systems and electronic driver's logbooks. The first all-in-one GDPdU solution from SER and AUDICON is helping freight and logistics companies to comply with the tax office's requirements. With the analysable archive from SER it is possible for the first time to preserve digital data relevant for tax purposes for a period of 10 years and more outside the original system in a way that complies with GDPdU, facilitating all three access modes allowed by the tax office.