Hyland’s content services portfolio has been successfully deployed by a large group of companies with diverse interests across western and southern Australia including in mining and commercial property.

The organisation runs a relatively complex business environment due to the diverse nature of various business departments and a workforce that is dispersed across the country. This makes collaboration difficult, and the sharing of documents across departments, divisions and companies holds significant challenges.

Previously, the group had used a Document Management System (DMS) based on Lotus Notes. The solution had been in place for over a decade and had become an integral part of communication, collaboration and workflow at the organisation. However, the system had become outdated as functionality had diminished when new data sources were brought online and staff found the system difficult to use. As a result of this decreased functionality, the organisation found staff could no longer maintain their records in the system as scrupulously as they were previously.

The existing solution was also plagued by a poor search capability, making it hard to locate documents and thus holding up work and reducing collaboration. The solution also had no remote capabilities, so staff were unable to access documents stored in the system from the field or from home. It was also not suitable for use by senior management, so staff felt compelled to send documents to management independently from the system. The result of these issues was a document management system that was under-utilised with no staff ownership of the service.

The organisation made the decision to search for a replacement solution, and a committee was created to identify requirements; it prioritised a user-friendly system with a simple, easy-to-use interface and excellent search capabilities.

It would also need to have seamless and secure remote working capabilities for selected documents. The controls for accessing particular documents and categories would need to be simple to set, maintaining granular security over documents and providing access privileges to individual staff.

The committee recognised that property managers in the group’s Real Estate and Commercial Real Estate divisions would require deep collaboration capabilities in order to maintain up-to-date workflows and work on shared accounts. Lastly, the committee decided that a solution should be integrated with the group’s accounts payable software to streamline back-office processes.

Ultimately, the decision was made to search for a complete service provider rather than using in-house capabilities to develop proprietary software. 

Following a competitive evaluation, Hyland’s OnBase content services platform was selected by the committee on the basis that it represented excellent value and met the following criteria:

• Good user interface for better user experience
• Excellent search features
• Automated workflow for account and payments approval
• Secure and consistent access to documents out of office
• Collaboration across properties for property managers
• Easy integration with Microsoft Dynamics NAV for key data and accounts payment creation
• Integration of features into the core product
• Accommodation of complex group of companies and industries

OnBase is a low-code enterprise information platform for managing content, processes and cases. It is modular by design, allowing organisations such as this to tailor a solution to their specific business needs. OnBase is the central part of Hyland’s broader product portfolio, providing a full suite of content services solutions.

The platform speeds up processes and reduces costs by capturing important information into one system and managing those processes along with data and documents. OnBase integrates with the organisation’s existing IT systems, providing instant access to everyone in the company who needs it, and giving visibility to business processes and system performance. Essentially, the platform securely stores, protects and ultimately provides a means of destroying the group’s information once it reaches the end of its life.

Deploying the solution

Hyland performed the project management for the deployment, design and integration of the system and technology implementation. The organisation worked with Hyland on the design and testing phases of the deployment, while the organisation’s IT department facilitated the technical aspects of the system build.

Once OnBase was up and running, the organisation quickly realised a host of benefits. Ease of search removed most pain points for storing, finding and working on documents, and there was less frustration among staff and management, as the system made finding and collaborating on documents and workflows easier. Documents were able to be securely shared across employees and companies within the group, empowering people to communicate more openly on workflows. Real Estate managers were able to upload and share information remotely and collaborate on accounts more efficiently. Overall, the group has witnessed a rise in ownership among users as employees took more stock in the usage, storage and collaboration of documents, files and data.

Following the success of the rollout, the organisation plans to widen the use of OnBase to other areas of the company. Phase Two has recently gone live, involving an AP automation solution using OnBase with Hyland’s Brainware intelligent invoice capture software.

Return on Investment

The return on the organisation’s initial investment in Hyland’s content services solutions has been significant. An internal business audit reports that the organisation’s accounts department has witnessed a 12.5 percent increase in efficiency, while its property and analysts department has seen a six percent increase. Senior executive efficiency has increased by three percent.

It is anticipated that upon completion of both Phase One and Phase Two, the group’s investment in Hyland’s content services solutions will result in a 27.5 percent increase in efficiency across all departments in the group.