SNG is focused on minimising costly inefficiencies so that it can plough more back into the business to benefit customers. The company, as it is today, was formed during a merger of several housing associations. During the process of closing offices and combining operations within larger hubs, the team realised the amount of paper documents being managed was unsustainable.

The physical footprint being used to store files wasn’t the only problem. Working with such large volumes of paper meant that:

• Customer services teams struggled to quickly access information for tenants
• Sharing data between departments was time-consuming and manual
• Identifying when document retention periods had expired was a headache
• Workflows couldn’t easily be tracked for auditing purposes
• Existing technology wasn’t fit for purpose; breaking down under small processing volumes
• Loss or accidental destruction of original documents was a possibility
• Remote working was impossible in many cases, as staff needed physical access to files

The Restore Information Management team designed a bespoke system for SNG using a cloud-based version of DocuWare, the document management and workflow automation tool.

Step 1: The digital transformation audit

The Restore Information Management team visited six SNG offices to audit what was being filed and where. They reviewed the types of documents, required access levels, and compliance requirements to identify what needed to be scanned and stored, what could be scanned and destroyed, and so on.

For more information on Restore’s Information Management Transformation Consultancy, click here.

Step 2: Designing intelligent workflows

With documents now available in digital formats, a raft of potential efficiencies opened up to SNG. Restore worked with the team to understand and map the existing movement of documents around the organisation, before designing new, efficient digital workflows using DocuWare. They also trained the internal team to upload documents and use the DocuWare system.

The project focused on three areas:

Invoice processing

Previously, SNG used temporary workers to input invoice data into their finance system – regularly overloading the server, which couldn’t cope with more than a handful of pages. The new DocuWare system recognises and matches data such as PO numbers automatically, and assigns the invoice to the correct part of the finance team. Creating and implementing the new process took around 2 months to complete.

Certification and compliance

It’s crucial that housing associations keep safety certificates, such as for gas and electricity, up to date for each property. SNG staff were managing a spreadsheet of 60,000 properties; manually checking dates to send out reminders. The new DocuWare system contains digital copies of all certificates, logs the renewal dates and automatically emails out reminders in advance. When the new certificate is issued, it gets uploaded, and automatically replaces the out-of-date document within the workflow.

Customer experience

Customer service representatives had to manually key in information about tenants and properties to SNG’s property management system, opening up the potential for human error. Within the new DocuWare system, representatives are presented with pre-populated names, properties and unique access numbers in dropdown menus to reduce the likelihood of administrative mistakes.

For more information on digital workflows, click here.

Restore Information Management used their professional services expertise and more than 20 years’ experience in digitisation to create a fully bespoke system, using DocuWare software.

Benefits for SNG include:

• Hundreds of thousands of paper documents digitised – Within 5 months, Restore Information Management had scanned in a vast library of files, making them available for more efficient working processes
• Cost-savings equivalent to thousands of pounds per year – New automated finance workflows saved money to plough back into services for customers
• Faster, more efficient workflows – The new finance system processes 14,000 invoices per month
• Improved customer satisfaction – Filing inaccuracies are reduced, access to information is sped up, and important safety certificates are more likely to be renewed promptly
• Improved employee satisfaction – Searching for data is an instant process, as staff no longer need to contend with hard copy files, and the opportunity for remote working is opened up
• Better audit and compliance – It’s easy to track who has accessed, printed or downloaded files, and retention periods are flagged so documents can be destroyed in a timely manner
• Better reporting and analysis – Data can be exported to Excel to allow the management team to track KPIs and improve decision-making
• More sustainable business – The need for printing is reduced as SNG employees operate digitally; and processes are increasingly devised to be digital-first and scalable in the cloud

The outcome of SNG and Restore’s digitisation programme was so impressive, it won a DocuWare Digital Leaders Award in 2023.