Clients & Case Studies
Major UK Trade Union

More Digital Asset Management Case Studies

Daydream's FocusOPEN was used to replace a paper based forms and handbooks system for this client.

Cost savings of 66% were achieved per form by using the electronic workflow system provided by Daydream's Digital Asset Manager

Background
The client is a large UK trade union that has to update both policy handbooks and associated forms on a regular basis.

A major problem faced by a number of departments within the organisation was the speed with which regulations and policy documents altered. This resulted in printed guides becoming out of date just a few weeks after each edition had been released.

In addition to documents, the large body of paper forms that were in circulation at the union were causing bottlenecks. In the personnel department, one form required the verification of up to seven different members of staff. Each time the form was verified and amended, it had to be photocopied, manually filed and then sent to the next manager using the union’s internal mail.

The entire workflow process cumulatively occupied around six hours of staff time (up to ten days allowing for intervals between receipt and handling) when multiplied by the average true hourly rate of each member of staff involved (i.e. inclusive of non-wage related costs such as desk space etc.) each form was costing the union approximately £120 to process.

We prepared a business case for a web application to allow both electronic editions of policy guides to be published and for the printed forms to be replaced with an electronic forms and workflow management system. After consideration, Daydream were commissioned to handle development from analysis through to deployment.

Solution
There were two key requirements: guidebook publishing and forms management. We were able to leverage our FocusOPEN application to rapidly deliver a functional solution that could be put straight to work.

The forms management element was complex due to the wide variety of forms in circulation and the complex nature of some of the form escalation procedures. Our solution had the following characteristics:

  • A form builder extension was developed, which allowed a select number of designated to construct new form templates using a simple interface. Forms are stored as XML information on the server.
  • A full audit trail of any changes made by any manager or member of staff was kept. This ensured complete transparency and gave staff the confidence that their submissions could not be altered after they had completed a form.
  • Notification that a member of staff had completed forms was sent via a link in an e-mail message. This prevented large amounts of form layout data needing to be distributed.
  • A default workflow routing system was established, but, crucially, regional managers were given the flexibility to either re-route forms or distribute reference copies. Managers therefore had the flexibility to make decisions on a per form basis rather than being locked in to an original design.
  • Form data was automatically collected. A default set of form reports was provided, and an ability to extract the raw data also provided so custom reports could be generated.
  • A security model and set of non-repudiation procedures were developed to ensure that anyone using the system could be held accountable for data they supplied.

The system was a demonstrable success and has easily recouped the initial capital investment in efficiency savings in the first year alone. Whereas before, a form took six hours of staff time to process due to the necessary photocopying and filing, the electronic system has removed this manual work and the average time taken to process is just two hours. This represents a 66% cost saving or £80 per form processed.

The application is now being re-purposed for several departments across the union’s regional branch network with the intention of further leveraging their investment in the system to generate even bigger cost savings.

 

Further Information
To arrange a demonstration of FocusOPEN or find out more, e-mail: info@daydream.co.uk or telephone us on +44 (0)20 7096 1471.

 


© Daydream 1995- - All Rights Reserved
Digital Asset Management Software, Services and Solutions
Daydream Interactive Ltd t/a Daydream - UK Company Number: 3453913
Registered Office: Linton House - 164-180 Union Street - LONDON - SE1 0LH - United Kingdom
TEL: +44(0)20 7096 1471 - FAX: +44(0)20 7117 1636 - EMAIL: info@daydream.co.uk