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WORKFLOW
Integration
with SAGE
means that
all requisition
orders, purchase
orders, invoices
and related
documents can
be stored and
managed in
M-Files
Hollybank Trust, a registered
charity based in West Yorkshire,
has been providing care to adults
and children for more than 60
years through a special school,
residential homes and daytime
activity programme.
The charity was initially
introduced to the M-Files enterprise
information management (EIM)
solution in 2014 to meet a
requirement for a document archive
for its finance department. The trust
was impressed with M-Files and
was interested in making use of the
system to tackle other challenges
within the finance department.
The opportunity to do so arose
when auditors warned that the
process it was using to manage
requisitions and purchase orders
was open to abuse and needed to
be addressed.
When making a purchase on
behalf of the trust, staff would
submit a hand-written requisition
form to their manager. Once this
was reviewed and approved, it
would be routed to the finance
department where a purchase order
would be raised.
Because the process was based
on handwritten paper forms, it was
slow, cumbersome and easy to
bypass. There was no audit trail
and no simple way to see whether
a requisition order had been
approved or where it was in the
approval process.
To satisfy the concerns of
its auditors and gain end-to-end
visibility of the process, Hollybank
Trust took a decision to digitise and
automate the workflow.
For Martin Wilson, Head of
Finance at Hollybank Trust, an
obvious starting point was the
finance department’s existing
information management system.
“Since we were already familiar with
M-Files, we thought it might be able
to meet our needs, but it was only
when we met with M-Files partner
EBC Group that we realised just how
powerful the system was,” he said.
“Not only could M-Files address
the issues with our requisition
process and improve our
auditability, it also had the potential
to streamline a number of other
processes within the department,
as well as allowing us to work
almost entirely without paper.”
Paperless workflow
M-Files Gold Partner EBC Group,
a workplace technology specialist
headquartered in Halesowen,
Birmingham, designed an M-Files
workflow that automates the entire
requisition process from beginning
to end.
Now, instead of completing a
paper form, employees create a
requisition order within M-Files,
which is automatically routed to the
appropriate manager for approval,
based on the monetary value of
the order. The manager concerned
receives an email notification
that they have a requisition order,
which they can access, review and
approve within the M-Files system.
When a requisition order
has been approved, the finance
department is notified so that they
can generate a purchase order
in SAGE. This is saved in M-Files
Visibility and control
Audit report prompts charity to introduce
paperless process for requisitions and
purchase orders based on M-Files
information management system
along with the requisition and an
email sent automatically to its
creator advising them that the
requisition has been approved and
a purchase order issued.
This workflow has transformed
the visibility, auditability and
simplicity of a previously challenging
process. The trust can now very
quickly identify who has raised
a requisition, track its progress
through a workflow, identify all
related documents and look back at
previous requisitions when required.
SAGE integration
Integration with SAGE means that
all requisition orders, purchase
orders, invoices and related
documents can be stored and
managed in M-Files, including
invoices and delivery notes scanned
on receipt of the requested goods.
Because M-Files uses metadata
when storing documents, all this
information can be linked for quick
and easy retrieval, giving the finance
team a single point of access to
all the information they need and
ensuring they always have access to
the most up-to-date version.
“Everybody picked up M-Files
quickly, which is a testament to not
only how user-friendly and intuitive
M-Files is, but also to the quality of
training and support we received
from EBC Group,” said Hollybank
Trust Head of IT and Facilities
Management Ben Batty.
Mobile support
Automating the requisition process
is not the only change EBC
Group has made to the finance
department’s day-to-day operations.
It has since created digital
workflows for invoice processing,
expenses claims and mileage
records and introduced an M-Files
app so that employees can approve
requisition requests, access
information and complete tasks
when out of the office.
These initiatives have been so
successful that Hollybank Trust
now plans to extend M-Files to
other departments, as part of a
strategy to minimise the use of
paper across the whole trust. It is
also considering the scanning and
electronic storage of a large quantity
of paper documents, many of which
need to be kept for up to 100 years.
ABOUT M-FILES
M-Files enterprise information management (EIM)
solutions eliminate information silos and provide quick
and easy access to the right content from any core
business system and device.
M-Files has a uniquely intuitive approach to EIM
and enterprise content management (ECM) based on
managing information by ‘what’ it is rather than ‘where’
it is stored.
With flexible on-premises, cloud and hybrid
deployment options, M-Files places the power of EIM in
the hands of the business user and reduces demands
on IT by enabling those closest to the business need to
access and control content based on their requirements.
Thousands of organisations in over 100 countries use
M-Files as a single platform for managing front office
and back office business operations.
