The company

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. employs about 30,000 staff members and its annual turnover amounts to more than nine billion dollars. Worldwide, the company is the leading provider of analyzing devices, lab equipment, reagent and consumable materials, and software and services to organizations involved in research, analytical and diagnostic activities. It has more than 350,000 customers in the pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries which include doctors, R&D and other organizations around the world.

Project targets

The heterogeneous company structure was one of the most important challenges associated with this DMS project at Thermo Fisher Scientific (formerly Thermo Electron GmbH) in Dreieich. The main objectives of the d.3 introduction were considerable decrease in paper flow, the categorization and storage of documents and faster access to documents. Rule-based workflows for processing both incoming invoices and orders and their connection to the ERP system MS Navision were designed to result in optimized business processes, improved transparency and increased efficiency.

Efficiency

As of now, five departments benefit from using d.3 although they all apply d.3 for different purposes. The sales department uses the software to archive most of their offers from MS Navision, part of which is archived without manual intervention. Customer inquiries and bidding documents are scanned manually and automatically stored in digital form. In this way, customer orders are managed according to rules and invoices, delivery receipts and other Navision documents are automatically archived. Customers still place orders via faxes, which are then scanned and forwarded to the general d.3 in-box.

In this way, orders are assigned to the responsible person in a fast and effective way. Every staff member is involved in distributing and processing the orders: Very busy staff members are disburdened because they are supported by their colleagues. Thus, order assignment is a collective task rather than one which a single person is responsible for.

The bookkeeping department uses d.3 for batch scanning, for the management of incoming invoices based on predefined rules, the automatic archiving of credit memos, as well as for storing statements of account according to categories. In the service department, the system was integrated into the ERP software ”EasyServ“. Invoices, delivery receipts or service reports can thus be stored in the d.3 system. The staff responsible for the corporate warehouse and incoming goods can file records on incoming goods and delivery receipts in the d.3 system using a batch procedure. ”The highly heterogeneous infrastructure composed of different systems and ways of delivery was one of the characteristics of this project,“ Alexander Zirl, leading project manager of Thermo Dreieich at d.velop AG, explains.

Why d.3 in particular?

The crucial aspect for our decision in favor of d.3 was that the software has been used successfully in the Bremer Thermofischer Scientific Bremen GmbH – but only in a very small part of the subsidiary. In this way, we were able to benefit from their experiences. The staff in Bremen chose the d.velop product because it seemed to be the most professional one and because it involved the most favorable price.

Ute Michels, organizational manager, who is responsible for the DMS project in Dreieich, gained a similar impression: ”The benefits of the d.3 software become obvious immediately, even to laymen.“

The system is supposed to cover all workflows. As a consequence, the system introduction served as a pilot project for all German subsidiaries.

"Prior to the d.3 introduction, we had to rely on a very basic Windows server file repository. We were not able to keep an overview, and documents and information got lost and had to be searched for,“ said Ute Michels.

What has changed during the initial months after software introduction? d.3 permits storing documents in a structured way. Customer inquiries can be processed considerably faster because customer orders get to the people responsible a lot faster. This process is accelerated due to escalations and rule-based management. Teams are granted even more convenient access to all documents and are therefore able to process them a lot faster.

The Project Team

Ute Michels	Mark Meerkamp	Johannes Lämmel

Course of Project

The decision about which product to purchase and implement was made at the end of 2003. In February 2006, we started implementing stage 1 by designing workflows and document depositions. The system went live at the beginning of October. By December 31, 2006, we were able to complete stage 1. It took us twelve months from the start to live operation, which matched the project plan. This rapid availability of an initial base was a result of the implementation method used: ”Evolutionary Prototyping“ ”, where all detailed tasks are carried out by continuous interaction with the department heads.

As a first step, we introduced the DMS system at the site in Dreieich (Hesse) where most of the sales activities in Germany take place. Because the company Thermo Fisher Scientific was a result of the merger of several companies, the project turned out to be highly complicated. On the one hand, this harmonization of heterogeneous business processes promised to produce high efficiency gains. The entire process of handling incoming invoices, for instance, was structured using the d.3 rule-based workflows. All documents processed, such as cost calculations, invoices of shipping companies or those for purchased goods, needed to be forwarded to different departments e.g. to the bookkeeping department, warehouse or order department, but only be displayed to authorized staff members. These requirements were met using the d.velop software. As a result, invoice processing is now conducted according to the Sarbanes Oxley Act. The responsible staff members at the parent company located in the U.S. paid special attention to the fact that the DMS solution meets one essential criteria: Using the DMS solution, global SOX processes need to be reflected.

Facts and Figures

At Thermo, it is estimated that about 40% of the previous costs incurred in the handling of traditional filing will be saved using d.3 within the course of the next five years. The project is considered to be especially successful because it initiated the digitization and optimization of corporate processes. On the way to higher efficiency, d.3 helps to consolidate business processes and reduce them to few standard models. This effect will be reinforced with the solution's further dissemination throughout the corporation.

• d.3 is connected to, among others, Navision and EasyERP
• Applying a DMS allows for a comprehensive filing structure
• Transparency increases throughout the entire company as a result of the implementation and integration of rule-based workflows into the existing IT system
• Processes are designed according to SOX
• High efficiency gains and considerable cost decreases

Outlook

While we had mixed feelings about the DMS introduction, our skepticism disappeared very quickly. This was also a result of the continuous efforts which Ute Michels, Mark Meerkamp and Johannes Lämmel made in order to train our staff and to convince them of the various benefits associated with this new way of working. The job of our employees is additionally facilitated by the "two-screen-solution": d.3 documents are displayed on one screen while ERP and other applications are displayed on another.

”One thing we still need to practice is how to assign attributes“, Ms Michels says, ”If keywords for every archived document are not carefully selected, the impact of the new solution decreases. d.3 provides many options but we still need to take advantage of them. This, though, requires discipline to a certain degree.“

The DMS project at Thermo in Dreieich is intended to provide the basis for broad d.3 integration at additional corporate sites in Germany. After stage I was finished, we started the second project stage at the beginning of 2007. During this stage, the workflows that are already successfully installed will be extended to additional departments such as the HR department. At the same time, existing concepts which need to be refined will be adjusted to the requirements. We will also grant sales representatives access to the system.