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Case Study: Clay Electric Saves Time By Automatically Distributing Documents Via Email

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(Rochester, Minnesota; October 13, 2004) -- Clay Electric Co-op, an electricity distribution cooperative based in Keystone Heights, Florida, is saving significant amounts of time by automatically distributing reports via email. In the past the company printed, burst and collated, then delivered payroll reports using intracompany mail. Now Metafile’s Document Distribution module selects the correct portion of the reports for each manager and automatically distributes them on a predetermined schedule via email, fax or printer. “The new module selects just the portion of the document that each manager needs, the payroll information for his or her direct reports in the case of most managers, and the information for the entire company in the case of top managers,” said Tom Gumber, System Analyst for Clay Electric Co-op. “This approach saves us two hours per month distributing just a couple of payroll reports. Our experience with the new software has been very positive so we are in the process of using it for other reports.”

Clay Electric Co-op is one of the largest in the United States with approximately 149,000 member-owners and a service area that stretches into 15 North Florida counties with over 11,320 miles of distribution and transmission lines. The co-op uses Innoprise enterprise resource planning (ERP) software running on an AS/400 to manage nearly all financial activities. The company had previously implemented Metafile’s MetaViewer software which indexes the co-op’s reports so they can be called up in seconds using the software’s full text-search capability. When Metafile introduced its Document Distribution module, Gumber took advantage of the opportunity to go one step further and eliminate the need to print many reports. “We started with three payroll reports that we used to spend a lot of time printing and mailing,” Gumber said. “We configured the software so that the payroll department manually reviews the documents before they are moved to the AS/400 print queue. As soon as the documents hit the queue, they are indexed for full text searching by authorized users. Then they are analyzed by the document distribution module which picks out the appropriate sections of the report and generates PDF files for each of our managers.”

“Our initial application of the Document Distribution module was so successful that we have begun using it in other areas,” Gumber continued. “Our second application is for a report that tracks customer payments on our web site. Each morning the AS/400 generates a report on customers who made payments the night before. The Document Distribution module emails a PDF file to the appropriate person in our accounting department who uses it to check the accuracy of the electronic funds transfer created by the ERP software. Next, we automated the process of distributing postage reports for the 5,000 or more invoices that we generate every day. Going forward, we see many other opportunities to save labor and printing costs by automating the distribution of a wide range of reports. Our users are also saving time because the reports can easily be filtered down to just the information that each individual needs.”

For more information, contact METAFILE Information Systems Inc., 2900 43rd St. NW, Rochester, MN 55901. Call 1-800-638-2445 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Visit Metafile on the Web at http://www.metafile.com or http://mv.metafile.com

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