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Portfolio
Management / PPM
Engineering project success at Baker
Michael Baker Corporation, a global engineering and energy
management firm, wanted to strengthen its project management
systems with a document management and workflow solution
to reduce online transaction processing costs and reimbursement
cycle times.
Baker
had grown dissatisfied with its project expense management
capability and its cumbersome rebilling process. For example,
employee-incurred expenses represented only a portion of
total rebilled expenditures. Each expense report required
backup receipts, which would total as many as 18,000 annually.
Invoicing clients required associating every expense report
and its backup receipts--many of which originated on paper--with
the appropriate client project.
Baker
wanted to integrate distributed expense documents online,
reduce the amount of time spent handling paper and shorten
reimbursement cycle times. The company also wanted the solution
to be Web-based and to integrate seamlessly with the Oracle
ERP system that Baker had installed.
Donald
Bender, project manager of digital services at Baker, explains,
"We wanted to use document management, imaging and
workflow technology to centralize operations and create
a more efficient operating environment. We knew that automating
processes and eliminating paper would dramatically reduce
the costs associated with processing our large volume of
invoices. But it was just as important to us to leverage
our investments in enterprise applications and to further
improve our ability to provide superior project management."
Baker
decided to implement 170 MarkView technology from 170 Systems
to improve its project management, accounts payable and
expense reporting functions. With the enhanced system in
place, Baker can gather all project-related expense data
into a single, integrated online repository, and authorized
users can access the information in a self-service environment.
That provides a way for the company to accurately track
and manage spending across international projects, according
to 170 Systems. The company further says that Baker clients
benefit because invoices now include all the data necessary
to substantiate rebilled expenses, eliminating telephone
calls and expediting payment.
"Our
accounts payable and accounts receivable processes are more
streamlined, and our internal resources are more available
for value-added work," says Bender.
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