Scanning solution insures Elders' future

April 30, 2009:A document management system implemented at Elders Insurance is driving the company to increase staff productivity by 10-15 percent. Custom-designed by national scanning experts Scan Conversion Services (SCS), it incorporates scanning, workflow, storage and retrieval for around 18,000 claims a year.

Brenton Crabb, National Manager Claims and Operational Services for Elders Insurance, said that the core focus of implementing the Motor Claims Imaging (MCI) system was to improve turnaround time and customer experience. However, the system realised several hidden benefits, from “green ICT” improvements, through to easier search, analysis and reporting, and flexible work arrangements.

“The system integrated faxes and emails with the in-house insurance systems to create an electronic data stream that replaces the need to print records and transfer them into a paper-based system,” he said.

“Apart from the productivity advantages, this has contributed to the business’s sustainability goals by reducing print consumables, stationery costs and filing cabinet storage.”

Elders Insurance processes more than 35,000 Motor Vehicle Claims a year, from the company’s network of 500 authorised insurance reps and staff in 145 offices across Australia.

If a claim is for less than the agent’s maximum allowance, which could be $5,000 or $10,000, it is handled by the agent. If it’s more than the allowance, the agent will fax or email the claim to head office in Adelaide for processing. About 18,000 claims fall into the latter category. The Elders CRM system is hosted on an IBM AS/400 Mainframe running I/90.

New claims are originated in the CRM system which is polled hourly to extract any new claims data. New claims details are imported to DataViewer via DvFolderWatch and any Commentary notes added in the CRM system can be extracted and updated to the corresponding claim record in DataViewer via DvFolderWatch.

Claim payments are then extracted and updated to the corresponding claim record in DataViewer via DvFolderWatch. Each of these extractions is handled by a custom-built integration service specific to the CRM system and AS/400 platform.Previously all the faxes and emails were printed and stored in a claims folder, which typically could include 50 or 60 pages over the life of a claim, including invoices, reports, solicitor’s letters, customer’s letters, and photographs.

“Our initial objective was to convert all those hard copy forms into electronic files that in the future the agents could easily access and to enable improved workflow and status of claims activity,” Mr Crabb said. “However we achieved much more than that.”

The other driver was to make the process more efficient from the administrative perspective. Emailing, printing, filing, and status reports for every insurance claim all made up a fairly cumbersome, error-prone process.

Working closely with Elders Insurance, SCS conducted a major customisation of its Dv document management software, integrating MCI with external systems and designing interfaces to a “folder watch” system, email indexes and fax gateways. Unique claim identifiers were allocated to every supplier and assessor.

As before, an external assessor appraises the damage on a vehicle before the crash repairer starts work, while the crash repairer takes photographs of the vehicle. Now, however, the new MCI system takes over. The assessment and photographs are emailed into head office using the unique claim identifier, which is picked up automatically and transferred into the MCI system. The claim is then automatically assigned to head office claims staff who review and authorise payment.Elders' database platform is Microsoft SQL Server 2005 while a Windows 2003 application server, hosts the Scan Conversion Services DataViewer application. Installation is split across several Windows 2003 ‘virtual servers: the file server, where the images are stored , the database server, which hosts the DataViewer database, and the application server, which hosts the DataViewer application.

All faxes are captured by a Fax Server and saved as image files to the DvFolderWatch ‘Upload’ folder. They are then manually allocated to the corresponding claims record as there is no way to deduce the claim record from the image file name.DataViewer polls a generic email account hosted on Elders’ MS Exchange Server to originate new messages in DataViewer. Email integration is performed by the DataViewer ‘Email Indexer Service’

“When we put the business case together, we took into consideration the purchase of second computer monitors, consulting costs and internal costs,” Mr Crabb said. “We were able to flag between 10 and 15 percent productivity improvements across a team of 20.

“The SCS software includes an advanced search facility, which our legacy insurance system doesn’t offer, and that means we can quickly find customer details when discussing their claims over the phone.“Supervisors can review and authorise claims by consultant onscreen, which makes it a lot easier to reallocate work if someone is sick.

“The storage company does not have to spend time retrieving files, and staff save hours of time and frustration wading through boxes to find what they need.”

The solution integrated all the scanned data with Word, using a pre-populated Word template. Elders is using a Canon Multi Function Device as the scanning interface.

“Now users don’t have to transpose data from one screen to the other,” Mr Crabb said. “This alone probably cuts in half the time it takes to put a letter together.”

The MCI system also reduces time to train claims staff, because the new workflow guides users through a well structured process for managing a claim. It tracks all work that’s outstanding for each claims consultant, categorises it and provides a colour code to prioritise tasks.

Paper storage, which at the time of setting up the project was a minor issue, has taken on new significance with increasing awareness of the need to curb carbon emissions.

“We no longer create any hard copy files so we are reducing the number of filing cabinets. Also, because we have a backup system in place, we can’t lose a file.

“We will need more time and data to fully understand the savings in terms of storage, power and consumables, but from the staff point of view, they no longer have to keep getting up to go to the printer, they just refer to their screens.”

The MCI system also meets a strong need for more flexible working arrangements.

“Some of our staff can work from home part-time because they don’t have to pick up hard copies in the office. We also want to provide a facility for people in our branch offices to be able to view the files online, which hasn’t been possible till now.”

Mr Crabb said that one of the biggest challenges at the outset was to define and interpret the requirements precisely for an extremely complex integration project.

“Although the SCS team came into the project with little or no knowledge of insurance, by the end they understood every requirement from our business perspective,” he said.

“They pushed the envelope on this product, building a tailored solution without a lot of delays and paperwork you might get in a larger bureaucracy. With SCS we were able to take an iterative approach, and their flexibility made a world of difference.”

With a tailored claims document management solution under its belt, Elders is now applying the technology to manages board papers and corporate governance.

(This article is taken from the latest edition of Image & Data Manager magazine.)

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