TDM Transportes S.A.

Trucking Company Transports Information Digitally

TDM Transportes S.A., a Colombian trucking company, implemented DocuWare to improve its invoicing process. The company will obtain a return on investment in about one year, saving tens of thousands of dollars annually. Reducing “time to invoice“ has improved cash flow and customer service and allows TDM to comply with Colombian record retention laws.

TDM Transportes S.A., serves the manufacturing industry transporting liquid, bulk goods and containers throughout Colombia and Venezuela. Using advanced communication systems such as GPS, fixed and mobile check points, cell phone and radio, the company is able to maintain complete control and security of the goods transported. TDM guarantees arrival dates and offers its customers real time tracking through Internet or e-mail.

Documents

Each shipment generates many different types of docu­ments, such as:  a bill of lading and proof of delivery, invoices, fiscal documents, export documents, agreements, inspection documents and others that may be required dependent of the type of material being transported.

These documents are very important because they are used to generate TDM's invoices for trucking services and act as support documentation to the transportation agreement as defined by the Colombian Commerce Code.

Work Processes

Headquartered in the city of Itaguí, TDM has five regional branch offices located throughout Colombia. Each office generates invoices for customers in its region, regardless of the delivery destination. Upon delivery, the bill of lading and supporting documentation for each shipment are signed and stamped, then delivered to the nearest TDM branch for review before being forwarded by courier to the correct office for invoicing. On average, it took 12 days for the documentation to reach the correct branch and for an invoice to be issued, affecting customer service and extending cash flow and collection rates. Generally, a copy of the invoice and supporting documentation was sent to the corporate office for filing. However, due to Colombian regulations, certain documents had to be stored at the invoice issuing branch.

Because the company generates over 19,000 pages of bills of lading docu­ments and over 3,000 invoices per month, retrieving a file was a lengthy process. Document retrieval could often take as long as one day, especially considering that the files are located in different places throughout the corporate office, as well as in the branch offices.

Solution Requirements

TDM wanted to invest in an integrated document management software product that could efficiently, securely and easily transfer information among offices and reduce the company's "time to invoice" from 12 to 4 days. The company needed a solution that could integrate with other applications, auto-matically index documents using OCR or barcodes and provide information access over the Web.

Solution

Rafael Vicaria, President of Microfilma­ciones de Colombia S.A., an Authorized DocuWare Partner, and his business associate, Camilo Posada, Pre­sident of Summan, TDM's copier supplier, played key roles in planning and implemen­ting the DocuWare solu­­­­­tion. Today, docu­ments are managed and processed in a digital format. Each branch office uses a Fujitsu Fi5120C scanner, while the corporate office uses a Fujitsu Fi5220C scanner to capture information elec­tronically, allowing intranet access to important informa­tion, so using couriers is a now thing of the past.

Information capturing is done in two phases. First, anytime TDM prints a bill of lading or invoice, a PDF file is auto­matically generated, indexed and stored in a DocuWare file cabinet. The second phase of capturing occurs when the drivers deliver documents to TDM after a shipment has been made. At this point, signed proof of delivery forms and other supporting documents are scanned and stored on the main server which is located at the corporate office. Using OCR technology, match codes and information stored in TDM's database, indexing documents is auto­matically done by at least five different fields: dates, customers, customer order number, description of services and origina­tion office. After only three months of use, the archive contained over 70,000 multi-page documents.

TDM is working to create a customer culture that accepts digital files without resistance. Older paper documents currently in storage will be digitized during the second phase of the project. Planning is in place to implement DocuWare to manage all processes in the organization which are document dependent.

The Benefits in Detail

User Benefits

On an individual level, employees now have quicker and easier access to infor­mation providing better customer assistance. Having the proper tools to efficiently answer customer requests has increased job satisfaction and em­­ployee moral. With electronic docu­ments, work quality improved by elimi­nating manual tasks, such as copying and refiling.

DocuWare's seamless integration with TDM's other systems has contributed to rapid user acceptance because their users correctly perceive DocuWare as a tool that can help them with their processes and not as additional work.

Department Benefits

TDM's employees responsible for the invoicing process can now perform their activities with more efficiency and have a better control of the pending docu­ments needed for issuing an invoice. The department's productivity has increased because documents are no longer lost. In fact, the entire process is more visible for all involved.

Corporate Benefits

The most important benefit DocuWare has brought TDM is the ability to reduce the time to invoice and thus has im­proved cash flow and collection rates. This change dramatically impacts the bottom line and has the potential to completely change the way the company does business. By revising workflow and reducing printing and copying needs, the company continues to reduce costs and is saving tens of thousands of dol­lars annually. Soft dollar savings continue to add up with the decrease in document retrieval time and increase in productivity. Both soft and hard dollar savings contribute to TDM's return on investment.

"During our analysis of different docu­ment management systems, we wanted to find a solution that would allow us to lower our time to invoice to 4 days. Based on this goal and our daily sales volume, we discovered that our return on investment or ROI for DocuWare would be only 14.8 months. Now that the system has been installed and is running, we KNOW that our ROI will be better than our original estimate and this makes us very happy," said Hector Dario Jaramillo Restrepo, Director of Information and Technology for TDM Transportes S.A.

Colombian laws 962 and 205 require businesses to keep 10 years of accounting information on file. The information may be kept on paper or any other media, magnetic or electronic, as long as the media allows for reproduction. DocuWare allows TDM to be in com­pliance with these laws while providing the company with an incredible inte­grated workflow and document management solution.

"By implementing an electronic docu­ment management system, customer satisfaction has greatly improved. In the end it is our customers that benefit the most from the immediate information we are able to supply them on the fly by fax or e-mail," said Jaramillo.

Without a doubt, DocuWare helps TDM meet their company vision! Other than transporting goods, TDM transports information and DocuWare is the tool that allows them to go even further in providing innovative and efficient ser­vice, meeting customer expectations and guaranteeing the accomplishment of dates and schedules promised.

Quote:

During our analysis of different document management systems, we wanted to find a solution that would allow us to lower our time to invoice to 4 days. Based on this goal and our daily sales volume, we discovered that our return on investment or ROI for DocuWare would be only 14.8 months. Now that the system has been installed and is running, we KNOW that our ROI will be better than our original estimate and this makes us very happy.     

Héctor Dario Jaramillo Restrepo,

Director of Information and Technology,

TDM Transportes S.A.

The Task

n Reduce “time to invoice” from 12 to 4 days

n Provide company-wide access to information

n One central storage location for digital documents

n Reduce costs and gain a competitive advantage

n Improve customer service

Appointed Modules

n ACTIVE IMPORT

n RECOGNITION

n CONTENT-FOLDER

The Benefits

n Reduced “time to invoice”, improving cash flow and collection rates
n       Compliance with Colombian Federal record retention laws

n       Improved customer service and gained a competitive advantage

n Cost savings of tens of thousands of dollars annually