At the Australian operations of global medical equipment manufacturer ArjoHuntleigh, a Hyland OnBase content management solution has revolutionised the operations of a national workforce of service technicians responsible for maintaining complex medical equipment for hospitals and other healthcare facilities. The Australian subsidiary employs over one hundred people and maintains offices in every state. 

A paper-based workflow for commissioning and logging details of service calls is now managed via Motion F5v rugged Tablet PCs with touchscreen and pen input capabilities.

Shane Bruce, ArjoHuntleigh's IT Officer – Systems Development & Support, explains, “We needed something that could work on a PDA or tablet, that was able to capture a signature and could integrate with our existing ERP. We wanted something that would make putting a new business process into the system easy.”

A SharePoint intranet hosts policies and procedures and other corporate documents. Australian business process management specialist CAYLX proposed using the OnBase content management solution developed by Hyland Software.

An automated process has been implemented to funnel all service calls through the company's Customer Care Centre where query and customer data are captured. The information is then passed on to the relevant branch and assigned to an engineer who downloads the electronic service form from OnBase before heading off to the job. 

On completion the customer electronically signs the form which is later automatically synchronised with the OnBase system. The accounts department is notified and the completed job is processed for billing.  In another time-saving measure, the accounts information is automatically uploaded into the ERP, rather than manually entered as was the case in the past. 

“The benefit is that billing is more accurate and occurs much faster. This means we get the money in within a much shorter period. One of the great things about this electronic system is you can impose responsibilities on people and have traceability as well. 

“Accounts are over the moon about it, to be honest. They've been waiting for a solution for a long time,” said Bruce. 

As the potential of service workflow became apparent, ArjoHuntleigh management identified an additional opportunity for OnBase within the accounts receivable department.

“Accounts receivable were using a paper-based process,” Bruce notes.

“They would print out invoices, credit notes, statements and most of the time, these would be manually posted off to customers. Occasionally some would be scanned and emailed, but it was still a manual process. The decision was made to take those documents and convert them to an electronic form.”

With CAYLX's help, a new workflow was created whereby the different accounts receivable documents are imported directly into OnBase and a document distribution lifecycle automates the task of distribution.

“If we have an email address or fax number for a customer, we can automatically send their invoices or statements electronically. Where that information is missing, we are able to chase up and try to get those details so we can improve and speed communication with our customer,” Bruce says. 

“Right now we are about to start testing phase two of the service project, which involves the preventative maintenance side of the business. 

“This will bring all our asset information into a central database and help us with customer compliance and audits.”

The system will enable the service department to easily identify the equipment that each customer has. 

It is expected to support more accurate billing and will be used to identify opportunities such as when an upgrade, replacement or warranty extension may be required.