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| About Us | Order Supplies | Solutions | Processes | Products | Tools | Home |
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STORIES |
The solutions below portray the great potential of a well-planned solution.
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A County Solution Under Construction - Please Check Back Later (Click here to go back to the top of the page.)
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A Single-Site Solution A Boston-based bank implemented a solution for its mortgage servicing operation in the Summer of 2000. All data for 30,000 active loans resides in MS Access databases on a shared file server. The organization was new and was expecting dramatic growth from a series of acquisitions of smaller operations. Loans would soon be arriving five thousand to eight thousand at a time. Management saw that operations would become unmanageable using current practices. The bank turned to us to streamline tasks and minimize the amount of staff that would be hired. We implemented a networked solution that would allow vault staff to track files with bar coding, and servicing staff to locate and request loan files from their desks. At implementation, the vault was organized in separate sections for Notes, collateral files, legal files, etc. A custom label design allowed the File Type to appear in large type. Portable scanners allow files to be scanned directly to shelves. Periodic desk audits with the portable scanner allow the location of files that have moved outside of the file room to be updated in the system. (Click here to go back to the top of the page.)
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An East Coast Solution A 'Big Five' accounting firm adopted a solution for its New York Metro Region. All data resides on a server in Mid-Town and is accessible by 4,000 staff across five offices. For many years the firm had used a Wang mini-computer to track and manage its practice records. Changes in technology had made the Wang computer both obsolete and very expensive. In addition, custom reporting required programming and a wait of several months. The firm turned to us to reduce costs and increase capabilities. Our flexibility accommodated the structure of the legacy system. Staff were able to transition with little training and no disruption of service. Also, custom reports are now available on-demand. On-line request and retrieval processes have proven to be so efficient that the largest office has been able to move the file room and 300,000 active folders off-site to less expensive real estate. (Click here to go back to the top of the page.)
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A Midwest Solution A large Insurance Brokerage Firm is adopting a regional records management and color coding solution for its south central region. All data resides on one server and is accessible by 1,500 staff in seven offices via Internet Browser. Offices in this region have used six different systems for tracking its client records. Changes in the industry have dramatically increased the number of staff in each office. A series of mergers and acquisitions left some offices with filing systems made up of three standards. The firm called on Records Associates to provide a unified solution. We helped the records committee establish a new standard for color coding, department codes, coverage codes, client codes, and file type codes. We documented a set of standard practices and helped the client utilize data from an existing client billing system. (Click here to go back to the top of the page.)
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A West Coast Solution A 'Big Five' accounting firm adopted an a regional solution for its Western Region. All data resides on a server in San Francisco and is accessible by Internet Browser to 8,000 staff across fourteen offices. For many years the firm had used eight different tracking systems in its practice file rooms. Changes in the industry had increased the interchange of records and staff among offices, yet there was sharing of data among offices and all the systems were different. The firm called on Records Associates to provide a solution. We helped the records committee establish a new standard for practices and systems based on our analysis of operational needs, data in legacy systems, and data available from other back office systems. To date the firm has seen many benefits. As of January 1st, 2000, almost one million folders are being managed. Almost 8,000 staff use the browser tools to search and request from their desks and from client sites. The solution has also been expanded to create a regional standard for the HR departments in the larger offices. (Click here to go back to the top of the page.)
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A National Solution A large Insurance company implemented an national solution for its US offices. All data resides on a single server and is accessible by staff across offices in 35 states. The firm had a centralized records center where all records were archived. Individual offices requested retrieval of folders from the archives by referencing written log. These books were manually maintained, and listed each box and all the folders stored in each. Practices were extremely diverse and quality was varied. The offices now create archival boxes directly on-line, eliminating the use of written logs. Retrieval is automated by on-line inquiry and requesting, running over an existing network of T1 lines. (Click here to go back to the top of the page.)
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A Global Solution A large HR Consulting firm adopted our solution as a Firm Standard, incorporating file tracking and color coding for its US and Canadian offices. All data resides on a single server and is accessible by 5,000 staff, using the internet infrastructure - not the expensive T1 lines. The firm had always given individual offices a great deal of autonomy. Each office chose their own folders, shelving, color coding, and records management software. Practices were extremely diverse. The firm called on Records Associates to provide a solution. We helped the firm's executive management by creating a new set of standards for centralized and de-centralized environments. These standard included color coding, best practices, standardization of data, and implementation of a retention schedule. An automated add/update routine retrieves data from the Practice Management System. New client and project data are automatically added each night. Updates to existing client and project records are also made through the same process. One of the most interesting aspects of the solution is how the offices are connected. All data is accessed over the open internet, placing no additional burden on the existing leased T1 communication lines. In 2001, we expect to complete the implementation with coverage of a dozen European and Asian offices. (Click here to go back to the top of the page.)
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A Color Coding Solution A national mortgage lender was centralizing mortgage servicing operations from retail branches into a new facility in Texas. Six months later, management recognized that labor cost components were increasing faster that the count of loans being serviced. The company called on us to provide a solution. At that time over 120,000 credit files were housed in a file room run by 17 staff. The folders had been created at the retail offices, and were standard manila files, labeled with Borrower Name and Account Number. We implemented an on-demand color coding system using a jointly-developed label design. Our PlusTab labels automatically created an end tab on the folders. The file room was reorganized from alpha-order to loan-number-order. The final report to management after our project showed a 75% reduction in labor per retrieval/re-file. Average time to fulfill requests dropped from 18 business hours to under 3 business hours. (Click here to go back to the top of the page.)
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A Color Coding Solution A law firm in Boston had been operating a bar coding and tracking system for several years. They were still hand-wrapping color code stickers, despite the fact that their volume had grown to opening over fifty new folder per day. The firm had been in contact with several local vendors for a month, but had been unable to get the speedy response they wanted. The firm turned to us to for fast delivery of a working solution. We worked with the firm to create a label design based on their existing label layout, index style, and color scheme. The design was jointly revised by email and conference calls over the course of the next week. We worked with the technical support staff from their tracking system vendor to determine the best opportunities to integrate the two systems. The client did not have to worry about the technical details. Three weeks after our first conversation we implemented our solution. We integrated it with their tracking system, and provided full documentation on printing color coded labels from the tracking system. (Click here to go back to the top of the page.)
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