L’Koral Designed for Success Clothing designer and manufacturer L’Koral implemented DocuWare to improve overall efficiencies within their company. By moving their multi-step business processes from away from being e-mail based to a combined electronic workflow and digital repository solution, the company gained a substantial increase in employee efficiency, eliminating double data entries and unburdening their Exchange server, all while improving their bottom line. Initial Situation L’Koral is a designer and manufacturer of clothing for high-end boutiques and large department stores ranging from Walmart to Saks 5th Avenue. A mid-sized player in the fashion world, the company employs 200 designers, sales reps and customer service agents working mainly from Los Angeles and a smaller satellite office in New York. The company contracts to have the goods manufactured overseas in China, Korea and Vietnam. L’ Koral’s large department store customers use Electronic Data Interchange or EDI transmissions to place and amend orders. The company was able to process the orders electronically but had no way to store and mange the information other than printing it out and filing it in banker’s boxes. This paper intense process meant that important information contained on documents such as customer PO’s, pick tickets, bills of lading, invoices and shipping tallies was difficult to retrieve. Researching receivable payment discrepancies was a complex process that was often so cumbersome that the company was unable to refute customer claims. Industry: Apparel Design and Manufacturing Location: California (USA) Application: Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Customer Service, Import, Production and Sales departments Document types: Customer PO's, pick tickets, bills of lading, invoices, shipping tallies The Task n Resolve payment discrepancies quickly n Shorten search times for information n Eliminate process bottlenecks The Benefits n Digital workflows are efficient and easy to manage n Unburdened the Exchange server n Reduced double entry of data n Increased cash flow Requirements L’Koral needed an electronic document management system to improve their workflow by routing documents through a multi-step process, without using e-mail. The solution needed to integrate with their AS/400 based ERP system and be able to automatically index and archive EDI transmissions, as well as serve as an archive for hand-written documents which would be scanned and imported. Additionally, the company wanted a solution that could be tailored for their use without custom programming. Solution After evaluating several systems, DocuWare was implemented along with two scanners, the Kodak i1320 and i1440. The company’s existing Toshiba and Xerox MFPs also became part of the solution. Paper-based workflows were examined and digital processes created. L’Koral worked with their Authorized DocuWare Partner to conduct internal surveys to identify the opportunities to capture paper and digital documents, as well as e-mail and move the company to more efficient business processes. Today, EDI information is automatically indexed and stored in DocuWare. Hand-written information such as customer PO’s from their 800 boutique customers are manually indexed serving as a permanent record for which orders were placed. The almost instantaneous access to order information for both the customer service department and accounting department offsets the time spent on manual indexing. L’Koral outsourced the scanning and indexing of two years of customer orders, in order to resolve outstanding short payment claims they may still collect on. ...“Our DocuWare solution has been more effective than I imagined after I saw the demo. It has paid for itself within six months. Our Return on Investment with DocuWare hasbeen very dramatic.“ Don Lewis - Chief Financial Officer. L’Koral Benefits L’Koral’s new paperless processes closely mimicked their paper-based processes, reducing learning curves and increasing user adoption. For example, when the customer service department prepares a proforma invoice for a customer, it is electronically sent to both the customer and credit department for approval and release. Electronic stamps route the document through the process, moving the document from one employee’s virtual inbox to the next inbox until the process is complete and the document is archived. By using electronic filing, the company has a searchable, permanent record of every transaction. Internal and external audits can be conducted with ease by giving the auditor access rights to the files. The best part is that no time even needs to be set aside to pull requested documents. With digital workflows in place, management was able to identify hidden bottlenecks and gain valuable insight into the backlog of unprocessed transactions. After simple adjustments to their processing queues, work efficiencies were immediately realized. Additionally, L’Koral discovered that by moving their workflow to DocuWare they were able to unburden their Exchange server because e-mail was no longer used to distribute order processing documents as attachments. Approximately 45 employees throughout the Cash, Accounts Receivables, Outstanding POs, Customer Service, Import and Order Entry departments are using DocuWare. DocuWare is now a core part of the company’s IT system and has been integrated into its databases through a database connection to the AS/400 based ERP system. This has allowed the sharing of information and reduced the double entry of data. “We didn’t fully understand what a powerful tool DocuWare could be for our organization until we started working with it,” said Don Lewis, CFO for L’Koral. Now with DocuWare, customer complaints for shipping discrepancies are sent to the credit department for resolution. By using DocuWare as a digital archive, the credit department, can respond immediately and provide compelling documentation to support L’Koral’s position. Quick response to shipping discrepancies improves customer relationships and has allowed the company to improve its cash flow. “Our DocuWare solution has been more effective than I imagined after I saw the demo. It has paid for itself within six months. Our Return on Investment with DocuWare has been very dramatic,” said Lewis. L’Koral employees are much more efficient because they can find the information they need promptly whenever an issue arrives and they avoid printing and filing documents altogether realizing cost savings from their old paper based system. “My staff used to be surrounded by four foot high piles and boxes of paper. Now the office is free from those walls, improving our workplace environment. Conclusion “All of our information is in one place - DocuWare. I feel like we’ve just joined the 21st century,” said Lewis.