Before the introduction of their document management system, the logistics company processed all their documents manually: orders received by email were printed out and forwarded to the responsible clerks and archived together with other shipping documents – all in all, a very time-consuming process with a lot of administrative effort. To help free up more resources for core tasks, ETC began looking for a digital solution. They wanted to make sure all of their orders, incoming invoices and transport documents were quickly processed and automatically stored. Some records also needed to be visible to drivers and customers. And access to documents during audits and tax audits needed to be simplified.

Central Document Pool

The choice fell on the professional document management system DocuWare, which was then connected to an existing specialized transport software, Ixolution. DocuWare acts as a central digital archive in which all documents can be stored, edited and distributed. The filing of documents is largely fully automated.

Centrally received orders are scanned, read out by DocuWare and stored in the central electronic document pool with corresponding tags. But individual documents can also be stored, quickly and easily. To scan bills of lading, the company's drivers were equipped with tablets. All they need to do is snap a photo and the corresponding document is captured, indexed and transferred into the system.

Colleagues at the main office can then immediately view and further process the electronic documents. Since the individual orders and freight documents sometimes have to be retained for several years, depending on requirements, DocuWare also takes manages long-term archiving.