Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Challenge

Seeing steady growth in the organization over the last several years, CCHMC business managers searched for efficiencies to improve overall business performance. Human resources and accounts payable paper-intensive departments that support all areas of the organization—realized that moving to an electronic document management system would provide valuable time and cost savings and ease the building paperwork pressure on the staff. CCHMC selected Perceptive Content from Lexmark Healthcare.

Perceptive Content integrated seamlessly with CCHMC’s PeopleSoft Financials and HCM systems using patented, non-programmatic technology. The link between documents in Perceptive Content and records in PeopleSoft means all invoices, check request forms, HR forms and supporting documentation are available at the click of a button, directly from the associated PeopleSoft records. Now, rather than sorting and shuffling paper from desk to desk, documents are scanned upon receipt, linked to the related PeopleSoft records and routed electronically through workflow to the appropriate queues for processing.

Solution

CCHMC worked closely with project managers at Lexmark Healthcare to build the best solution for the department. According to Alan French, CCHMC Executive Director Financial Systems, Perceptive Content’s flexibility enabled the team to keep many of their existing processes and leverage existing EDI technologies, resulting in two complementary solutions.

“We didn’t want two processes that were so different that it would be difficult for our developers to troubleshoot or make changes. The flexibility of Perceptive Content allowed us to leverage our existing technologies,” French says

Results

Improving efficiency and accuracy

CCHMC has realized a return on its investment from the marked increase in staff productivity. “We process 50 percent more invoices than the best AP processor could manually,” French says. Take the CCHMC internal check request process, for example.

“An AP processor can make mistakes, but Perceptive Content ensures we follow the best practice to process something the same way every time,” says Diane Willmoth, CCHMC Business Analyst Applications Specialist.

Perceptive Content also positioned the AP department for future growth without an increase in staff. With the administrative burdens of paper-pushing aside, employees are less stressed about piles of paper and more focused on accuracy. “We’ve been able to sustain 10 to 20 percent growth in each of the last few years without a staff increase because Perceptive Content helps our employees be more efficient, productive and accurate,” French says.

Tightening process controls

The Perceptive Content portfolio also allows managers to more easily ensure control over processes. Taking advantage of the tight link between Perceptive Content and PeopleSoft, managers can quickly and easily run reports to ensure their processes are working effectively.

“We run a query a couple of times a week that shows us every invoice in PeopleSoft that doesn’t have an associated image in Perceptive Content,” French says. “That verification gives us the confidence that invoice backup exists and is readily available for our users.”

The entire organization benefits when processes within AP are more effective. “Perceptive Content has made the AP department transparent. With instant access to any invoice at the click of button, users have commented on our improved ability to provide fast, effective customer service,” French says.

“It has also helped us improve customer service, because when we get a phone call, we can pull up the invoice right away and email a copy,” Willmoth adds. “Perceptive Content really saves us time.”

Human resources efficiencies

Before Perceptive Content deployment, nursing managers went to HR to view employees’ files or retrieve the paper record that was produced every time there was a nursing shift change. Now managers enjoy instant, single-click document access from any location, enabling them to focus on treating patients. CCHMC’s payroll associates are taking advantage of the tight integration between Perceptive Content and PeopleSoft HCM to effectively administer online employee W-4 forms.

When an employee changes his or her W-4 in PeopleSoft, HR staff electronically store a copy in Perceptive Content, rather than creating a hard copy. Links to daily generated W-4 reports enable users to email amended W-4 copies to the Internal Revenue Service and employees. Retrieving documents such as performance evaluations used to involve going down a flight of stairs, through a locked door and into a storage room to search through file cabinets. Today, recruiters easily access all documents without leaving their desks, helping them to process promotion applications and transfer requests faster.

Partnering for the future

Having realized the benefits in AP and HR, CCHMC plans to expand Perceptive Content to other processes in payables and human resources, and also to the grants and supply chain management departments. “Perceptive Content is a good product that allows us to leverage our technologies better,” French says. “Use of Perceptive Content will grow because people have seen what it can do, and now everyone wants on board.”