Press Releases

Electronic Document Management and Workflow Solutions Can Benefit Power Transmission Companies Such as the Alabama Electric Cooperative

DAYTON, OHIO (July 6, 2000) - Utilities and other companies can increase department productivity and lower costs through an Electronic Document Management Solution (EDMS) such as that recently installed at Alabama Electric Cooperative (AEC). This generation and transmission utility headquartered in Andalusia, Ala., provides wholesale power to 21 member owners in central and southern Alabama and the Florida panhandle including 16 distribution co-ops, four Alabama municipalities, and one large industrial owner.

As utilities such as AEC grow and continue to expand service and product offerings, EDMS and other strategic solutions can help them leverage efficiencies and competitive advantage.

EDMS solutions make mission-critical documentation and related data electronically available, so pertinent information is always accessible when needed. This substantially enhances internal productivity. It also shortens mission-critical, business-process cycle times. All of these benefits are critical to maximizing the investments made by member owners to whom cooperative utilities are responsible.

AEC’s EDMS solution—implemented by Dayton, Ohio-based Document Imaging Solutions, Inc. (DIS)— specifically helped it save expenses associated with storage space, document reproduction and materials costs by eliminating filing cabinets and microfilm and microfiche, decreasing the amount of paper generated. In addition, the workflow component of the solution substantially improves productivity and cycle-time associated with the accounts payable process. Other workflow processes are planned for the near future.

“Alabama Electric had a need for an efficient and effective system to manage all the documentation we’re required to file for internal and external uses. Hard copies and microfiche were just becoming too cumbersome,” explained AEC Communications Manager Phillip Burgess.

The plan is to empty AEC’s many filing cabinets and vaults of hard-copy documents and scan them into electronic format for internal access. Native electronic-based documents—such as AutoCAD drawings, Word documents, Excel documents—will also be stored and managed by the system.

The solution incorporates all of AEC’s electronic and paper documents – including deeds, easements, invoices, check requests, purchase orders, packing slips, and engineering and AutoCAD drawings – so they can be easily found, managed, viewed, and printed by any authorized person in the company. This saves time, minimizes errors and, most importantly, positively affects the bottom line. AEC’s employees in four departments – Right of Way, Accounts Payable, Purchasing and Engineering – will have on-line access to more than 100 different document types.

Among several other technologies, AEC uses Step2000 as the “heart” of its solution, a software developed by Universal Document Management Systems in Cincinnati, Ohio. This application is an object-oriented, rapid-application development product capable of integrating with all Windows-based “off the shelf” products to easily meet customers’ needs. AEC employees will see their information through the Myriad view/annotate viewer developed by Scottsdale-Arizona-based Informative Graphics.

DIS incorporated computer output to laser disc /enterprise report management (COLD/ERM) software into the application to extract mission-critical information for Accounts Payable and Purchasing. An additional module, especially beneficial for AEC’s Legal Department, includes a full-text search engine allowing a search for any character string contained within the company’s native, electronic text-based documents.

“One of the main reasons we chose DIS was their proven ability to custom tailor a system and integrate it with our current hardware and software infrastructure. DIS personnel worked closely with AEC’s Information Systems Manager Craig Kilpatrick, and the rest of our information systems department. They created a system flexible enough to provide an enterprise-wide solution supporting all our needs…consulting, installation and integration, as well as training,” Burgess said.

“The accessibility of the Internet as an enterprise communications vehicle has made the deployment of EDMS as an enterprise-wide solution possible for organizations of all types and sizes,” he concluded.

Founded in 1941, AEC is the seventh-oldest generation and transmission cooperative in the United States. Its member-owners include 16 distribution cooperatives, the municipalities of Andalusia, Brundidge, and the Opp-Micolas Mills. About 350,000 consumers in 39 Alabama counties and 10 in the Florida panhandle are served by AEC member-owners. Additional information may be found at http://www.powersouth.com.

Dayton, Ohio-based Document Imaging Solutions, Inc. (DIS), is a systems integration company focused on providing high quality, cost-effective Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) and automated workflow solutions, system solution components, related professional services, and scanning conversion services. DIS is a Gold-Level Associate Member of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). More DIS information is available at www.DISolutions.com

Contacts for this Press Release:

Robert Chappell
Chappell Public Relations
(937) 298-5070
chappell@erinet.com