Mersey Care has implemented paperless office technology

NHS Mental Health Trust, Mersey Care, has implemented ’paperless office’ technology from Version One to turn its document-filled storerooms back into office space. Version One’s electronic archive technology has also enabled Mersey Care to eliminate the time and costs associated with filing and retrieving HR and Payroll documents manually, as well as the considerable inconvenience of off-site document storage.

John Farquhar, Senior Financial Accountant from Mersey Care says, We needed more office space and the choices were to rent out additional offices at a separate location or to implement document management technology so that our existing storerooms could be turned back into working offices. It took little to convince us that document management software was the way forward. Not only could it free-up storage space, it could also improve communications across departments who share the same files and generally improve business efficiency whilst containing costs and making better use of staff time.

We selected Version One’s technology as it already tightly integrated into our core financials software and has the document indexing capabilities and the ease-of-use we required, says Farquhar.

Now implemented, Version One’s electronic imaging technology has been used to free up huge amounts of space. Hundreds of thousands of documents have been scanned-in, electronically imaged and then stored and indexed in the central archive. Written agreement was obtained from the HM Revenue and Customs that once electronically stored in a scanning system that met government standards, the originals could be destroyed. To ensure physical storage is kept to a minimum, documents that are stored off-site as well all new incoming documents are also being scanned-in, electronically emailed across departments (which are in different towns) and electronically stored.

Farquhar comments, Not only have we saved space, staff time and money by changing storerooms back into office space, we have also eliminated duplicated records and the need for off-site storage which was costing us thousands of pounds every year in rent and to retrieve archived documents. With Version One’s technology, having to wait 2-3 days for an archived document to arrive, and spending time locating and retrieving filed documents have also been eliminated - all documents are now instantly accessible from our core financials system.

Additionally, the problem of lost and misfiled documents has been eradicated, and for the first time, users can view the same document at the same time. This is more important than ever as the HR, Management Accountants and Payroll Departments are located on different sites 16 miles apart!

As Mersey Care stipulated that all Payroll and HR documents relating to a single employee had to be electronically filed together, Version One configured the archive so that all documents relating to an individual (payslips, appointment forms, sick notes, disciplinary letters etc.) are automatically interlinked, creating a fast-track to jump from one type of document to another with just a ’click of the mouse’. Farquhar says, With some employees having over 600 documents relating to them, without the right indexes in place, we would have had to trawl through hundreds of different electronic images to find just one, which would have been a total nightmare. With the system from Version One, document retrieval is extremely easy and instantaneous.

Farquhar concludes, It’s fantastic - not only have we saved the considerable cost of renting additional office space, but we’re also making ongoing savings of staff time and therefore money!