• Nexus Search is a ‘quick and easy’ way to search across all index fields and readable content of documents from a single location (see video).
• Customize your search screen. If you normally search by just 2 or 3 indexes, you can deselect the index fields that are not important to you to hide indexes as you wish. These settings will persist when you log out and log back in (see video).
• Download multiple documents from FileNexus in a ZIP file. You can now export a batch of documents (instead of one at a time) to a ZIP file for easy email and distribution.
• Advanced search capabilities.* You can now create more complicated searches by combining the AND/OR operators with full text and index searches to enhance your document search results.
  *Previously only available in the windows client.
• Download search results as a CSV file. Simply download all index data for your selected search results into a single file, so that you can use the information for additional analysis and reconciliation.
• Customized file names for downloaded files. FileNexus administrators can setup customized file naming conventions based on such things as class info, index info and text. Users will be able to easily identify their documents and will not have to manually rename them prior to emailing, saving, etc.

• Search the contents of your scanned documents. FileNexus can index the contents of scanned documents through optical character recognition (OCR**) with Microsoft’s TIFF iFilter. With the contents of scanned documents fully indexed and searchable, FileNexus provides you with even more robust search capability.
  **OCR is the mechanical or electronic conversion of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. Scanned printed texts are digitized so that they can be electronically searched. The ability to search on image content will vary depending on the image quality of the original image document.

To upgrade FileNexus™ to version 6.8, contact Loris Technical Support at support@loristech.com or call 416-252-4701 and press “3”. Please visit our website for the Full Feature Sheet.

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To learn more about FileNexus and Loris Technologies Inc., please visit www.loristech.com

Most recently, the Engineering department wanted to move from a paper-based issuance of work orders to a paperless electronic system. Paper work orders could easily be misplaced, misfiled or stalled—awaiting action under a pile of folders or in a contractor’s truck. Sometimes people wouldn’t even know they were holding up the process. Engineering needed to track a project from start to finish and let people know what they needed to do at various stages. PowerStream worked with the FileNexus team to streamline and automate work order processes for three Engineering workgroups: Capital Projects, Subdivision and ICI (Industrial Commercial). The initial project phase was up and running in a week.

Several other departments and processes at PowerStream have already benefited from the FileNexus expansion.

• New Services Process
  Workflow is managed by using FileNexus to notify business units of connections that are ready to be made.
• Customer Service
  Contact Centre CSR’s have the ability to see all interactions with the Customer using FileNexus, including service orders, all emails sent to and received by customers, moves, meter changes, cheques, CDM correspondence, incoming faxes, etc. FileNexus also provides Ontario Energy Board (OEB) Customer Response compliance tracking. Automated email alerts notify the Supervisor of any customer enquiries that are approaching the response time threshold and any other communications that are outside the compliance band.
• Legacy archiving system retired in favour of FileNexus
  When PowerStream merged with Barrie Hydro, information that was stored in Barrie’s legacy archival system was seamlessly imported into PowerStream’s FileNexus System.
• Integration with ‘FieldWorker’ to automate the capture of meter change data
  Photos and data captured in the field (meter images, etc.) are automatically indexed and archived to FileNexus and are now readily accessible for the purposes of dispute resolution.

Ongoing and Future Projects

• Automated capture and approval of electronic timesheets
• Integration with the GIS system
• Integration with the new CIS system that is being deployed
• Management Dashboard reports

About FileNexus

The FileNexus Document Management System gives organizations, both large and small, the ability to capture virtually any type of document from any source (i.e. paper records such as maps, drawings, manuals, electronic files such as host generated reports, client statement streams, IVR recordings, etc.), index and compress them for secure archival and future recall—providing a single cohesive repository for all document management, workflow, archival and business continuity needs. To learn more about FileNexus and Loris Technologies Inc., please visit www.loristech.com and request a FileNexus demo.

For more information on how FileNexus can improve your business efficiency, please contact Kathryn Peet, Director of Communications, at kpeet@loristech.com or call 416-252-4701 x242.

Related stories

Learn more about how other utilities use FileNexus™:

• Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro Inc. – epost™
• Whitby Hydro Energy Services Corporation – Engineering Department
• Entegrus Inc.
• Cambridge and North Dumfries Hydro Inc.
• Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro Inc. – Cable Locates
• Keys Energy Services
• Whitby Hydro Electric Corporation – Customer Service
• Orillia Power Corporation
• Hillsdale BPU
• Peterborough Utilities Group
• Roanoke Gas Company
• Innisfil Hydro
• The City of Clearwater, Florida
• Oakville Hydro
• Erie Thames Services

Business was growing and Foresters needed to manage the contract/application flow to and from tens of thousands of brokers. This meant reducing the time it took to turn around requests and minimize the human capital necessary to do so. They believed adopting technology to streamline and automate workflows could save both time and money – while faster response times would make them more competitive. After weighing the options available, Foresters selected the FileNexus Document Management System as the best solution for their document management, archival and workflow needs.

Prior to FileNexus, all transactions and correspondence were captured on paper and stored in filing cabinets—which could fill a football field—in Foresters’ basement. It represented a huge risk to the company.

Dealing with paper is very inefficient. Any given piece of paper could be required by eight or ten different departments within the organization. While a paper file is awaiting action on someone’s desk, it is inaccessible to other departments. Sometimes documents were misrouted. The process to locate, access and circulate information was very inefficient and costly.

FileNexus managing 50 million pages and counting
Foresters began by back scanning all of their old files into FileNexus, representing more than 40 million pages. Jim Williamson estimates that Foresters now has in excess of 50 million pages… and growing. As an electronic archive and document management system, all information is now immediately accessible and searchable with the click of a mouse.

What types of files does Foresters now archive to FileNexus? Anything and everything that is transactional and has to do with their day to day business, all of their core business flow, and all paper and electronic correspondence from host systems to email, both inbound and outbound.

All new incoming and outgoing documents are now standardized as electronic files. FileNexus automatically indexes, archives and logically organizes documents in their native file format. No more paper files. No lost or misplaced documents. With advanced logging features, Foresters can use FileNexus to track the metrics of how long documents take to cycle. And they know at a glance where the document is and at what stage it is in the process.

FileNexus offers automated routing and approvals of documents to streamline Foresters’ approval processes – all rapidly deployable and customized to Foresters unique needs. Users are notified of pending tasks. Once they log in to FileNexus they only see the documents that relate to their workflow and know what actions need to be taken. Staff get the resources they need to better service their members and quickly make informed decisions.

Customer Self Service Portal
FileNexus has enhanced Foresters’ Customer Self Service capabilities. Instead of the Customer Call Centre being inundated with requests to pull up documents, customers and brokers can access their own documents directly through the Foresters web portal, which is linked to FileNexus. The Customer Call Centre is now able to get back to servicing their more than one million members.

In 2006, Foresters went from a captive sales force to an independent distribution network. They now have well over 30,000 independent brokers licensed to sell Foresters products across North America.

When hiring a new broker, Foresters records the entire application interview and archives it in FileNexus. The agreement over the phone counts as a broker’s signature and agreement to terms of service and is captured by FileNexus. This speeds up the interview and sign up process, allowing Foresters to hire the right people without wasting valuable time chasing signatures.

Insurance Operations at Foresters has a strategic objective of a “work anywhere” concept. With the FileNexus Web Client, brokers eCommute using a web browser. Nothing to install on their PC.

With appropriate security access, underwriters have access to important documentation such as medical transcripts, application forms and affidavits. They have concurrent file access to everything they need for their decisioning process.

Foresters has integrated FileNexus with report outputs from various sources such as their mainframe, policy administration system, cheque disbursement and general ledger system. Instead of sending reports to a print spool (and manually distributing them) they are sent directly into FileNexus where they are indexed, archived and automatically distributed to Foresters’ pre-set instructions. No user intervention required.

Recipients can view reports online as they become available. FileNexus can even send an email notification when it is ready for viewing. Foresters has reduced the amount of paper they use and streamlined distribution.

FileNexus is connected to and integrated with Foresters’ Portals and Enterprise Service Bus. Now all of their other systems can easily integrate with FileNexus through web services to retrieve records directly from the host application screen – no user login into FileNexus required. It has given them some much needed automation with Mastek, their new business system and helped their business flow, what Foresters calls their ‘time to settle’. With two fairly significant systems integrations in place, Foresters is in the process of integrating through this same service bus their customer relationship management system, Microsoft Dynamics, used by their Call Centre and Membership Services Department. With FileNexus, organizations have the flexibility to integrate and expand the functionality of their business systems and applications.

Foresters’ first production ready pilot took about four weeks. The complete deployment role out to the entire organization (including the initial pilot, refinement, testing, go-live including training for all staff—well over 1,000 people across four sites) was completed within six months.

FileNexus has given Foresters a strong disaster recovery strategy. There are now safeguards against losing documents as they are all electronically managed and archived in FileNexus. With electronic workflows, documents cannot get damaged, misplaced or misfiled. And they can’t get stuck on someone’s desk while they are away on a week’s vacation.

Every action on a document is automatically noted and audit tracked at the document class, folder and user levels with FileNexus. It gives a full picture of where a document is in its workflow process, who has looked at it and when, if it has been moved. Each and every workflow is completely auditable and can be performance tracked by user definable dash boards.

Foresters originally considered purchasing a dedicated email archival solution. Once they saw what FileNexus could do they quickly realized the advantage of having a single FileNexus repository for all documents – email included.

FileNexus captures journaled (inbound and outbound) email messages, and allows full text indexing and searching of both the email messages and their related attachments. In investigations, having all correspondence and documents at their fingertips is very beneficial.

Foresters plans to leverage FileNexus to increase their customer self service capabilities and integrate it into more of their applications and workflow processes. Beyond the day to day insurance operations, they are looking to implement FileNexus in their Corporate, Legal, Finance and HR departments, among others. They want to reduce manual processes in favour of increased business automation. In the end their goal is to become completely paperless.

Foresters™ is a life insurance provider with a difference. The fraternal benefit society, founded in 1874, supports family well-being through quality products, unique member benefits and inspiring community activities. Foresters shares its financial strength with over one million members in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit foresters.com

For a number of years, some of their customers were saying “I get my water and phone bills through epost, why not my hydro bill?” KW Hydro approached the FileNexus team in August 2012 to build this functionality into their existing FileNexus Document Management System. The team rapidly put together a solution and easily met Canada Post’s tight implementation deadlines.

Canada Post requires their information in a specific metadata format. It must include customer envelope information and an exact duplicate of the bill the customer would receive in the mail. Using the FileNexus PCL to PDF conversion utility, KW Hydro’s CIS application provides the PCL output needed to archive individual PDF bill statements. FileNexus then automatically provides the statements and their metadata to Canada Post in the required format for epost.

In the first five weeks, KW Hydro had more than 1,000 customers subscribe to epost for their online bill delivery. The Utility is so happy with the FileNexus epost integration that they are grandfathering the old eBILL system. All new customers are now offered epost for their online bill delivery.

Seeing the opportunity to enhance their document archival and business continuity strategy, KW Hydro opted to have the PDFs of every bill archived into FileNexus. Essentially FileNexus splits KW Hydro’s PCL file into three separate directories—print, KW Hydro eBILL and one for the new epost subscribers. They now have an archive for their entire customer base. An exact duplicate of every customer bill is now archived in FileNexus and available for immediate retrieval by customer service representatives.

Customer service representatives and customers are now looking at the same things—bills, notices, etc.—which makes for clearer conversations and faster call resolutions. Everything is safely archived in FileNexus and ready for instant recall and handling. Loris Technologies Inc. is constantly working with clients to meet their changing needs and expand the capabilities of FileNexus.