Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works improves effectiveness of critical service delivery with OpenText

OpenText (NASDAQ: OTEX, TSX: OTC), a global leader in Enterprise Information Management (EIM), today announced that the Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works is using OpenText Content Suite to improve its critical processing of public transport operating licence applications and supplier payments.

The Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works is responsible for ensuring safe and efficient transport in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Issuing residents with their licences to operate public transport services, vital to both private citizens and the transport system, the department plays an important role in Western Cape's busy economy.

"Paper-based application processing was inefficient and costly," said Yasir Ahmed, Chief Director for Transport Regulation. "Applications and supporting documents were routinely misplaced or lost, and we were getting numerous complaints with average turnaround time rising to 147 days. The department also lacked a way to clearly track the status of applications, an extremely frustrating process for clients and our staff."

The department began its digital transformation by launching a pilot project with OpenText to digitise and manage all documents throughout the application process. Working with OpenText, and local South African partner Datacentrix, the Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works implemented a multi-faceted change management program to train employees on the solution and ensure strong user adoption - a vital component to making the project a sustainable success.

The new digital process enables staff to scan applications and supporting documents as they are submitted and upload them into OpenText Content Suite, which handles the routing of applications throughout the entire review and approval workflow. Digitising the physical documents allows for better transparency and accountability, and automating the workflow has resulted in significant efficiency and productivity gains.

"With the OpenText technology, operating licence applications and supplier invoices stopped going missing, which was an immediate time saver," said Ahmed. "We are seeing a number of immediate improvements as we continue using the solution. Now, applicants get SMS or e-mail updates on their applications, processing times and complaints are down, feedback is very positive and we have seen a real growth in the trust between clients and the department."

OpenText Content Suite has helped the department reduce the average turnaround time by 70%, to 45 days, by improving the efficiency of the approvals process and eliminating the problem of missing documents. The department also uses OpenText Content Suite to process supplier invoices using a tracking application. This has improved average turnaround time for payments to less than 30 days, in line with a presidential mandate to all government departments.

The OpenText EIM portfolio enables organisations to spur growth and innovation and decrease time to competitive advantage. The platform integrates Experience Suite, Business Network, Process Suite, Content Suite, Discovery Suite and Analytics Suite for a comprehensive view of information flows through the digital enterprise from Engagement to Insight. OpenText's EIM solutions are available for deployment on-premises, in the cloud and in hybrid deployments.