E-business has changed the way business operates and there is no more visible area of its impact than the supply chain. However, while speeding things up and reducing costs, automated supply chains also generate paper and electronic records for each transaction that need to be carefully managed.
Only a few years ago, warehouse managers had to calculate manually what stock was available and make sure they faxed or delivered the physical orders to suppliers, hoping that they in turn had stock and could deliver on time to ensure the company could meet its commitments. This generally resulted in over-stocking becoming the norm, with the money wasted on keeping up stock levels instead of keeping customers happy and gaining new business.
The resultant piles of orders, delivery notes and invoices were filed away to create a mountain of paperwork detailing the state of the company`s logistics supply line. Now that networks and the Internet have linked internal departments as well as diverse companies and business applications, stock management is simpler but records management has become much more complex.
A textbook stock management system handles stocking and supplier orders with trigger levels for each stock item. As soon as a trigger is reached, the system automatically sends orders to suppliers or notifies the warehouse manager that an order needs to be placed. The relevant documentation is then electronically sent and the relevant paper copies generated and faxed or delivered to the supplier as well as to the company`s files.
If the suppliers` systems receive the order and process it electronically, they automatically set the process for delivery as well as ordering or manufacturing replacement stock into motion. At the same time, records of these transactions are also generated, some of which must be sent back to the purchasing company to confirm the order and delivery date and then be filed. At the end of the transaction, there is consequently a host of paperwork and electronic documentation that needs to be put somewhere.
Traditional accounting and auditing records require proper organisation for quarterly, bi-annual or annual reporting, and most companies have those procedures down to an art. However, new legislation such as the ECT Act also requires that companies have all records - including historical records - available in a reasonably short time when requested. This could include records that were generated five to seven years previously, depending on the type of information.
Rows of filing cabinets will not suffice for these needs unless that company in question has staff dedicated to filing and retrieving records. Since most companies do not want to hire staff in areas not connected to their core business (such as document and records management), the logical solution to logistics documentation is outsourced or co-sourced document and records management.
New legislation requires that companies have all records available in a reasonably short time when requested.
Paul Mullon, Marketing Director, Metrofile
In this scenario, every record generated, whether paper or electronic, can automatically be routed to an external location where the physical documents are scanned and stored. The electronic documents can also be safely hosted offsite while copies are included in the same database as the images of the paper documents.
The company retains access to all its records, but in electronic format. Staff therefore no longer have to worry about searching through someone else`s filing to find a document or wonder how and where an electronic record was saved, as everything is linked and indexed. All documents are called up on screen and can be used as reference information or have annotations made without affecting the original.
The outsourcing company immediately benefits from having all filing and storing of documents handled by experts at a set cost. More importantly, the paper chase ends as documents are immediately available electronically. This means staff can focus on their jobs without wasting time, increasing their productivity and the level of customer service dramatically.
It`s often the case that new technologies offer great benefits to companies, lowering costs while speeding business processes considerably. However, one should never forget the realities that affect us all in this electronic age: an ever-increasing burden of physical and electronic data that needs to be managed properly.
Outsourcing this burden is not a way to avoid the problem, but allows experts in records management to handle the drudge work of controlling documents efficiently, while the company can use data as required in pursuit of its core business. In the logistics arena, this means using data to speed the flow of information with the goal of lowering stock holdings and costs while improving delivery.
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