Solutions
Products
Resources
Partners
Request a demo

Case Study: Non-profit

Find more case studies

Whereas invoices used to go through a cumbersome process and pass through several buildings on the monastery grounds - which could take days or even weeks – today’s approval processes are generally completed within an hour.

The main impetus for a DMS implementation at the Kloster Eberbach Foundation was a lack of clarity with regards to incoming invoices: Mail was distributed between various locations on the grounds, wandering from A to B, and it was often impossible to track where it was at any given time.

The range of tasks performed by the foundation’s administration is broad. On their historical grounds near the town of Eltville am Rhein, they have catering establishments, a hotel and a museum. Wine is produced in a sister company. Founded in 1136, the monastery is now used for numerous cultural events and as a conference center. Because of its impressive medieval-Gothic architecture, it is frequently featured in movies ("The Name of the Rose") or on television ("Hildegard von Bingen") and is visited by about 300,000 people a year.

Since the beginning of 2021, Yannick Mueller, was put in charge of the entire Finance, Controlling and IT department. In this overarching role, he was able to devote more time to optimizing administrative processes. DocuWare plays a central role in this strategy. They began by revamping the invoice receipt workflow, which was set up together with their DocuWare Partner. Their old method of distributing mail by basket and folders meant that invoices were often paid too late or, in the worst case, inadvertently paid twice. 
 
Country:
Germany
Industry:
Non-profit
Department:
Company-wide
Deployment:
On-Premises
Integration:
Microsoft Dynamics NAV

DocuWare allows us to edit documents from virtually anywhere. The intuitive editing interface on the user side and options for customizing workflows and authorization concepts ourselves really make the system easy to work with.

Yannick Mueller
Head of Finance and Controlling and IT for the Eberbach Monastery Foundation, Eltville am Rhein (Germany)

Invoice approvals usually within one hour

Since going live in June 2018, DocuWare has proven its worth on a daily basis. Each year, the foundation receives around 1,500 incoming invoices. About 95 percent are now received digitally; the rest are scanned. After an email containing an invoice PDF is received at the foundation's "Invoices" address, index data (such as vendor name, date, gross and net amount, cash discount, etc.) is automatically generated and forwarded with the invoice to the accounting department, which checks and post-processes the data. From there, it goes to the respective purchasers, usually the relevant staffers in Purchasing and to additional stations for larger amounts that require board approval. Invoice approvals, which in the past could often take many days or even weeks, are now usually completed within just one hour. In exceptional cases, such as when a technician is involved who is not permanently in the office, it can take a day. As a result, cash discounts can no longer be lost. Reminders or disputes, which are now extremely rare, are resolved immediately, as it is possible to see where things are going wrong in the workflow with just one click.

Optimizing other processes

“Digitization was urgently needed” summarizes Yannick Mueller almost three years after introducing DocuWare. And this is especially true since administrative tasks and challenges continue to grow. For example, in 2020, the previously leased hotel operation was taken over under the company's own management. But the administrative workload is also increasing in the area of leased catering, facility management, and the many events they host. A start has been made with the invoice receipt workflow, but they plan on building out the system. For a variety of topics - from correspondence with customers (which is to be transferred to the DMS in 2021) to contract management and the integration of outgoing invoices - process optimization with DocuWare is the obvious choice. 

The special highlight from the point of view of the Finance, Controlling and IT Manager: "With DocuWare, we can adapt the processes ourselves. Recently, for example, we integrated a new organizational chart with corresponding authorization levels all on our own."

With DocuWare, we have the right tool to streamline a variety of administrative processes.
macbook.png

Schedule a personal demo

Get your free, zero-commitment, personalized demo of DocuWare and discover how document management and process automation can help drive digital transformation for your organization.

Schedule a demo today