Document and Report Automation
Documents and reports play a vital role in the successful development and management of any organisation. Consistent business reporting ensures compliance procedures are adhered to, decision makers have the best information available and company performance can be monitored, analysed and improved. Reports also help organisations engage with internal and external stakeholders, including customers, employees, shareholders and suppliers.
A wide-range of documents are generated to support this business reporting, as well as to assist with many other functions of the organisation. Business documentation can take many forms such as welcome packs, contract renewals, order confirmations or delivery notes.
Regardless of the nature of the documentation or report created, the one constant is the amount of time it takes employees to manually create and send these communications. Their generation and distribution can be repetitive, error prone and costly.
Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform Report and Documentation Capabilities
Codeless Platforms’ BPA Server provides the platforms and tools that enable organisations to connect existing applications and systems, which can automatically generate and distribute document flows, to all the company’s stakeholders and trading partners. Moore Stephens LLP, an accounting and financial advisory organisation, uses Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform to supplement the standard feature set of its document management system.
“Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform generates a report at the end of each week, categorised and organised by department and person, and then emails it to departmental managers who need to do a quick review of activity during that week,” explained Charles Verrier, Information & Database Architect, Moore Stephens LLP. “We also use it within our purchase ledger system. Once a week it assembles a report of purchase orders still awaiting approval and circulates that report to stakeholders, just to make sure that we keep on top of our purchase ordering.”
Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform enables organisations to automate the creation and delivery of practically any document or report – from accounting and sales to marketing and stock levels. By automating these procedures on a scheduled basis or business event ensures that business rules are enforced, repetitive administration and reporting errors are removed and that decision makers have the most current information to analyse.
“We require our POP (Purchase Order Processing) reports to be delivered every 10 minutes so that key members of staff have the information they need to make effective decisions. Tasking an individual to continually produce these reports was not a viable or indeed productive option so we used Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform document automation capabilities to dynamically create and distribute these reports,” said Adam Wheeler, Operations Manager for Aventi Holdings PLC. “By automating our POP reports we have gained a number of visible business benefits. Primarily, we have eradicated costly administration from employee workloads, but more importantly to us, we now receive information when we need it.”
Stock Level Report Automation
Proactive stock level reporting is a critical success factor to businesses involved within the manufacturing, sale or movement of goods. Without effective reporting delays can occur, stock can perish and customers may suffer poor customer service. Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform can automate the creation and delivery of stock level reports on either a scheduled basis or business event, such as a large order being placed. Employees can therefore benefit from less administration and produce 100% accurate reports.
“To enable our sales team to maximise opportunities, it is crucial that they have up-to-date information whilst meeting with clients. By simply sequencing Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform Scheduler, Query ODBC, Run Crystal and Send SMTP tools we’ve completely automated this process.” explained Adam Wheeler. “The benefits of this automated process are twofold; the sales team benefit from perfect knowledge with regards to actual product availability and, internally, valuable employee time is not absorbed by this repetitive task.”
The management of stock for companies based within importation, distribution and wholesale is extremely resource intensive, with multiple departments and employees often spending many hours ensuring a smooth operation. Just one missed report and subsequent poor decisions could result in businesses carrying unnecessary stock or not having sufficient supplies to satisfy demand.
“Through the real-time automation of our Pegasus and Crystal reporting systems we now have the fluidity of information that is not always present within companies operating from multiple sites. The savings in lost employee hours has certainly been evident from the minute Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform was deployed,” said Jonathan Hinchliffe, IT Manager, CB Imports. “The BPA Platform has proven to be a powerful tool in reducing waste and increasing employee productivity. Now we have true report automation, it’s difficult to remember why we persisted with the manual approach for so long.”
For more information on the benefits of document and report automation, download the benefits of automating business reports eBook below or call us on +44 (0)330 998 8700.
