Case Study

 

'Furrows Group is a large Ford dealership with over 400 staff at several sites.'

The Client’s Problem

Furrows was being swamped by the volume of paper coming into the office on a daily basis. Each month the dealership had to process 1500 invoices alone which meant hiring filing staff to stay ahead of the tidal wave of paper!

 

Furrows use a Dealer Management System (DMS) to undertake many of their business processes, but invoices were often mislaid or lost. They estimated that 3 people would spend at least an hour per week locating originals before they could be finally dealt with. Meanwhile a copy invoice would arrive and be paid, but when the original was found that would frequently be paid too! This wasted valuable time and with non-regular customers would often lead to real difficulties in reclaiming the money.

 

Finally, during already demanding and time consuming audit periods, unnecessary delays and errors added to the pressure! Furrows were looking for a ‘simple’ solution that replicated their existing administrative processes but radically improved efficiency by reducing the volume of physical paper used.

Our Solution

CMS Software introduced Adest  Document Manager with the Bar Code module to their invoice handling process. Now invoices are entered into the supplier day book within the DMS and along with all associated documents, scanned and automatically filed using bar codes into the Adest database.

A report is produced by the DMS showing all of that day’s entries. This report is then reconciled against that day’s indexed items in Adest Document Manager. Invoice entry errors, omissions or mistakes within the DMS are now quickly spotted and rectified. These errors have been reduced to such an extent, that checks will be run weekly, not daily!

 

The efficiency of the new process means that the business effectively gained time equivalent to one extra working day a month.

Business Benefits

Measurable financial gains realised within the first year Reduced filing saved salary costs of £12,000 p.a. 50% saving in paper usage worth £2500 p.a. Improved retrieval time – saving £6000 p.a.

e-Fax facility means printing & copying reduced by 80% Greater efficiency during audit period No more mislaid documents Improved cash flow

 

“Adest is an excellent system. Since we implemented the bar code invoicing we have a much more efficient and easily accessible filing system.”

Malcolm Ibbotson, Accountant

 

 

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