Automating repetitive administration tasks when using Access Dimensions
Like many organisations that use Access Dimensions you probably work to tight deadlines, and as a result, the productivity of employees can be affected by the availability of time critical information. Regardless of the industry you specialise in, customer service is paramount, and employees, management and customers require information quickly and efficiently.
Unfortunately, as the demand for information grows time delays start to occur and administration errors are increased. So how do SMEs using Access Dimensions improve the way that they are providing business critical information?
Access Dimensions: Influencing Customer Management and Finance Departments
As a working example, a customer services department is the heart of many organisations. It is often responsible for providing information which has the ability to influence decisions throughout a company. Automating processes within this department, such as monitoring ‘contract due dates’, can greatly improve company performance. Proactively monitoring key data changes within applications can reveal details of contracts which are 90, 60 and 30 days away from renewal, which can provide the following benefits:
- Time spent on administration by service managers is reduced, enabling them to concentrate on customers
- Renewal and revenue cash flows can be easier to predict
- Renewals and payments are processed more efficiently
Similarly, finance and accounting departments run a number of daily reports which can influence the decisions of senior management. Stock reports and monthly reconciliations, for example, involve manual data collation and report creation and distribution by a number of different people and from a variety of sources. In this instance, the introduction of intelligent automation capabilities can dramatically increase productivity and reduce operational costs.
Report and document automation for Access Dimensions ensures that:
- Reports are automatically created and distributed by a scheduled or database driven event
- Reconciliation times are reduced
- Administration and processing errors are removed
- Management decision making is improved
Keeping management informed by monitoring service applications
Traditionally, monitoring and reporting key data generated within a service application is handled manually by senior management. This manual process means that any outstanding jobs that are present within the service manager application could lead to a delay in invoicing. The impact of an action within one department can generate a huge process bottleneck for others.
With business processes continually crossing a number of departments and functions, a manual process delay in one department can affect a different activity in another department. Using a service manager application as an example, a manual process such as not closing down a job which has been completed, could mean that financial processing is delayed further down the line.
Dynamic monitoring and reporting ensures that:
- Invoicing is more efficient, resulting in fewer enquiries
- Management receives information detailing job completion in real-time or on a scheduled basis
- Administration errors are removed
- Process bottlenecks are eradicated
Taking Access Dimensions automation a step further
It’s not uncommon for organisations, which implement business process automation to enhance their primary business applications, to continue to automate business processes over and above their initial requirement. When there is a new requirement, business process automation platforms allow for added flexibility so that anyone with a basic understanding of their company’s database structures can adapt or create new business processes quickly when management see further opportunities for operational excellence.
Depending on your industry specialism, you could:
- Dynamically send SMS or email notifications to remote workers e.g. engineers to sign off and request new jobs via SMS
- Workflow authorisations e.g. purchase requisition or purchase invoice authorisations
- Publishing of stock availability to an eCommerce web site such as Magento, PrestaShop, Amazon Marketplace, eBay etc.
- Access Dimensions integration e.g. eCommerce store, courier service, payment gateway, email marketing platform, business service or expense softwareexpense software
- Report and document automation e.g. sales team reports, delivery schedules
Want to learn more about enhancing Access Dimensions?
Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform for Access Dimensions enables organisations to reduce bespoke development costs so that they can cost effectively build, operate and maintain practically any number of automated business processes.
For more information on how Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform can automate your business process and integrate Access Dimensions with your other business systems download the brochure below or call us on +44 (0)330 998 8700.
