How to work with documents up to twice as fast

Must-have tools for process optimization.

If a new tool for process optimization appears, you need to use it!

Test it, use it, and don't put it off. Sooner or later, you will realize that you are keeping up with your competitors and the market. We realized this for ourselves, especially since we needed to do something about our volume of documents, which is thousands of them. Given the company's steady growth, someday it will be tens of thousands.

Raben Ukraine has successfully converted a wide range of documents into electronic format: invoices, acts, invoices, contract documents, specifications - the list is endless.

We implemented EDI and now paper documents are like a landline instead of a mobile phone. 

The hardest part was convincing our partners to exchange electronic documents. For various reasons: incomplete understanding of the legal framework, unwillingness to change anything in the current process, company policy.

However, we gradually switched one counterparty after another to electronic document management, so the company did not experience any drastic changes.

Our employees generally took the changes positively. And if we now propose to go back to paperwork instead of Vchasno.EDI, neither our employees nor our partners will understand us. It would be like giving up a cell phone and returning to a landline.

Up to 50% faster document processing.

We have noticed that the transition to Vchasno has only positive dynamics. The speed of signing agreements has increased significantly due to the simplified approval process and electronic signature.

The situation is the same with the speed of receiving payment. We send and receive invoices electronically, which helps to speed up payments.

Reduced paper usage and no lost documents are additional benefits for Raben Ukraine. Internal approval of documents is faster, which improves the efficiency of communication within the company. For the convenience of internal communications, the company has automated the procedures for creating, approving and storing company contracts using the BAS Document Management CORP electronic document management system, increasing the efficiency of approving and fulfilling the terms of contracts and additional agreements, as well as obtaining analytical data on contracts. 

With outgoing documents, everything is extremely simple - invoices and acts are generated automatically from the system without human intervention. All that's left to do is to apply an electronic signature and send it to the client.

With incoming documents, the process is a bit more complicated, but it's scary to imagine what would happen if they were paper-based. The invoice needs to be checked, approved internally (and sometimes by several employees), and put on the payment list. And what if these people are in different cities?
However, since switching to Vchasno's electronic document management system, the time we spend on these tasks has been significantly reduced to 30%-50%. This is due to the following factors:

• speeding up the approval process
• quick access to the necessary information
• no paperwork routine

The issue of eTTN in the logistics sector. 

In the logistics sector, of course, we would like to have more consignment notes in electronic form. A specific algorithm for the transportation of groupage cargo requires a lot of testing and sustainable implementation at all stages. There are many parties involved in this chain, as well as the necessary documents.

Therefore, we are currently waiting for the system to be finalized by the government and electronic waybill providers and are conducting the necessary testing together with Vchasno.TTN.

Electronic document management played a significant role in the rapid resumption of our operational processes during the pandemic and the war. When most of Raben Ukraine's employees were out of the office, we still received documents from suppliers, submitted their invoices for payment, and there were no delays.

We also sent invoices to our customers for payment. There are risks that are extremely difficult to manage today, but to have the risk of insolvency just because your customers haven't received their invoices is a joke. - adds Vitaliy Kovalenko, CFO of Raben Ukraine LLC.

Results of EDI implementation.

Since the introduction of electronic document management in 2018, Raben Ukraine has been able to significantly save time on working with documents - from 30% to 50%. This is especially important in the logistics sector, where all work requires dynamic decision-making.

Currently, thousands of documents are processed electronically in the company's Vchasno.EDI service. And the fast sending and receiving of invoices for payment helps to speed up payments.