Digitally capturing valuable evidence for a wholesale food service

An efficient management of transactions is crucial for a leading UK wholesale food service supplier that makes half a million deliveries a month from 36 distribution centres. Upon delivery, each consignment generates a POD (proof of delivery), which is essential to both the regional depots and credit control, and is also a valuable piece of evidence should payment be disputed.

In the absence of a digitised, centralised system, this organisation spent unnecessary resources managing paperwork and there were too many chances for PODs to be damaged and delayed. We partnered with them and presented an electronic document management solution which provided a single view of multiple data sources and could be accessed by authorised users at any time.

Accessible and efficient workflow systems

To ensure that information flows automatically from workstation to workstation, it needs to be accessible instantly once it enters the organisation. After a thorough review, we partnered with this wholesale food service supplier to create a comprehensive solution. That solution was a fully managed outsource service, from the point of document collection through to its digital delivery, as a fully searchable electronic file, via a secure web interface.

How does it work?

• PODs were collected weekly from 36 regional distribution centres.
• High-volume document scanners captured the PODs electronically and converted them into to a PDF format. Consignment details were recorded at the central Capita processing facility.
• Basic metadata created from each document’s barcode was matched against the accounting database. The corresponding entry was located and used to populate the retrieval index.
• The PDF and supporting index was loaded into the web-based system for subsequent user viewing.
• After four weeks the processed hard copy was securely destroyed, with the digital output safely stored in the customers electronic document management system (EDMS).

Our electronic document management solution provided this organisation with the ability to search single or multiple values within files. They could select multiple documents and export the index data, as text or csv data files, to provide self-serve reports. There was also no limitation on the number of documents that could be archived.

Benefits of our service

• Higher output, lower outgoings - streamlined operations improved productivity whilst driving down costs.
• Complete local access to information - all the benefits and none of the risks of having instant access to business information.
• A more agile business - staff and stakeholders alike benefitted from having faster access to customer files.
• Low cost of entry - significant business benefits resulting from minimal initial investment.

Key outcomes to our wholesale food service client 

• Fully managed service delivered to agreed service levels.
• Users had instant, secure access 24/7 to business-critical information.
• Full search functionality.
• Reporting function highlights misplaced or lost documents.
• Invoice payments took less time as PODs were attached.
• Digitised files converted into a format that could be incorporated into an existing EDMS enabled the organisation to provide an improved customer experience.