Taming The Paperwork
Mountains of documents become a mole hill.
John Bendel
Technology Editor
Land Transportation has found its way out of the paperwork jungle. "When I walk though our back office here I don't see stacks and stacks of paper on top of desks any more," said VP Mike Cavanaugh.
These days, Land experiences fewer billing disputes over receipt of original documents - "questions we've had in the past with customers saying if you can't provide an original I can't pay you," he said.
Land's newly implemented document management program centralizes original paperwork and makes digital images available on demand.
"That was our key thing. We had to eliminate lost originals, and that's what TripPak does for us," Cavanaugh said.
TriPak is shorthand for various document management and digital imaging services provided by TMI of Denver, Colo. and Brentwood, Tenn. (see sidebar). Land Transportation chose TMI to create its document management system.
According to Mike Cavanaugh, Land Transportation LLC is "first and foremost" a trucking company with approximately 400 owner-operators running under Land's operating authority and with Land's insurance. Most of Land's trucking involves dry van trailers, but the company operates some refrigerated and flatbed trailers as well.
Land also handles intermodal freight, most by rail, but some involving domestic water transportation. The company grosses approximately $80 million a year, 60% of that from its trucking operations.
Paperwork was more of a problem for Land than for some trucking companies because Land works through some 40 agents spread across the country. The agents issue bills to their customers, including necessary documents - proof of delivery, for example. Those bills go out with a return envelope pre-addressed to Land; Land reimburses agents when the billing process is complete.
"As long as the customer is credit approved, the agent is not responsible for the collection as long as he has the proper paperwork," Cavanaugh said.
It's up to Land to collect the freight bills.
"After a period of time we would have our collections folks here in Atlanta who would say, 'OK, it's been 45 days or 60 days and this customer still hasn't paid.' You call the customer and they say, 'well I never received the paperwork.' So you go back to the agent and they say, 'well, I mailed the paperwork.' You go back to the customer and they say, 'well, I require original paperwork.'
"So we often had copies in the mail that seemed to get lost in the shuffle. Documents are lost here and there so a customer may say, 'well, I need the originals.' We say, but we sent you the originals and somehow you lost them. It's frustrating for them. It's frustrating for us," said Cavanaugh.
Now, certified copies of originals from TripPak are recognized as originals by most - though not all - of Land's customers. (see sidebar)
"At the bottom they have 'certified original' stamped on there. So it is recognized as an original document. That eliminates a lot of those questions we've had in the past with customers saying, 'if you can't provide an original I can't pay you.'"
If Land needs a genuine original - not a certified copy - TripPak overnights it via Airborne.
THREE-STEPS TO BETTER MANAGEMENT
Land's document management system is being implemented in three phases. The first involved scanning documents returned by drivers. Land formerly mailed those documents to its agents who sent out the actual bills. In Phase 1, Land began sending the documents to TripPak's scanning facility in Ohio instead.
"We had special envelopes made up with a bar code that identified the specific agent office. Let's say we have an agent in Atlanta and his code was LD01. We would put his paperwork in that envelope," Cavanaugh explained.
TripPak set up a section on its server for each of Land's agents. They placed scanned documents in the appropriate agent's section - or queue - based on the bar-coded envelope it arrived in. So instead of opening mail and handling actual paper, agents accessed billing documents over the Internet. Agents needed nothing more than a computer with an Internet connection. Of course, TripPak retained the originals.
"Phase 2 was where the systems began to talk to each other," said Cavanaugh. "There was a lot of programming done between our AS400 (IBM computer) and TripPak." Innovative Computing Corp., Land's enterprise software provider, was involved as well.
In Phase 2, every transaction had a bar code that included all necessary information, including the agent, the driver and more. The company no longer needed to sort documents by agent into 40 separate envelopes by hand. The computer sorted scanned documents automatically into agent queues.
According to Cavanaugh, Land and TripPak are working on Phase 3.
"Phase 3 ties more closely to the invoicing side of it," he said.
For one thing, the system will automatically flag bills that lack necessary documentation. That will prevent improperly documented bills from going out in the first place, an important change for Land since the company reimburses agents after billing - and often before collection.
Cavanaugh said Phase 3 would make it possible for Land to centralize the billing process if they chose to do so in the future.
"That's when it all comes together. And at some point we may go to centralizing the invoicing. The agent will pull the trigger but the invoicing will actually print here so we know it's going out," he explained.
How has document management changed things for Land Transportation?
"The paperwork that used to be mountainous is now virtually eliminated. It's reduced incredibly. It's making the job of everyone here a lot easier for two reasons," Cavanaugh said.
First, of course, originals are not as frequently lost. And there's more.
"You don't have to spend time opening mail every day, getting the invoices sorted out and making sure the right person is working those invoices."
Their work and the necessary documents are waiting for them in virtual queues on their computers, he said.
Land's agents have bought into the system as well.
"It makes sense to them," Cavanaugh said.
Sidebar
TMI at a Glance
Integrity of the "Certified" Original
