Step Two - measuring the tactical benefits
The key tactical benefits claimed for EDRM solutions include the following:
| Tactical Benefits | Details |
| Productivity improvements | Same number of staff processing more transactions/cases etc. |
| Competitive gains | Enrol more studentsWin more research grants |
| Cost savings | Detailed under four sub headings below Printing and stationery Increased electronic publishing via the Web reduces print, stationery, postage, copying and filing costs |
| Telephone costs | Online access to documentary information at one-stop shops means questions are answered while the customer is on the phone saving call back costs. |
| Space savings | Moving old files offsite and capturing new documents in electronic format saves space, reduces lease costs and avoids capital costs. |
| Improved cash flow | Improved supplier payment controls means more funds can be kept in interest earning accounts. |
All of the above benefits can be measured - particularly if the original business case included measures of current performance and targets for improvement. Some can only be meaningfully measured after the solution has been in operation for 18 months to two years. Others can be measured within 3 months of implementation.
Given the implementation plan defined in stages four and eight of the toolkit we would recommend that the first review is done three months after the pilot test and the second review during the first roll out. The second review should at a minimum cover two steps of the roll out. A third review point would be during the second roll out and should again cover at least two steps. The final review would be at the end of phase six when the corporate business processes have been rolled out and some will have been operating for 3 - 6 months. It should cover at least two processes.
Examples of productivity improvements that could be measured in an area such as student administration and student services would include the following.
A percentage of paper forms have been replaced by electronic forms completed by students over the Web. This reduces the staff time taken to check paper forms, key data from paper forms, file the paper forms etc. The review would need to find examples of this and measure the new productivity compared to the figures captured prior to implementation.
Paper folders holding student documentation are replaced by electronic folders holding electronic documents and scanned paper. The result should be that it takes staff less time to find the information they need to resolve a query and hence they can answer more queries per day than they used to be able to. The review would need to monitor this and compare productivity post implementation with figures obtained pre implementation.
Examples of space savings could include the following:
As part of their RM strategy the education organisation has set up a central semi-current records management service. Departments are now encouraged to send their semi-current records in boxes to a central facility. The boxes and folders are indexed on the new system and are moved offsite to a commercial store or to a manned store run by the education organisation.
In addition, since the EDRM solution has been implemented new records are held in digital format in electronic folders so no new paper folders are created in that area.
The review would need to have access to the amount of office space devoted to paper filing pre - implementation and then 18 months to 2 years post implementation. The actual space savings would be compared with the anticipated savings and the review would note what new use had been made of the saved space - more staff moved in, etc.
The review should also note any additional benefits which have resulted from the implementation which had not been anticipated. In several cases organisations have reported that by moving away from small paper filing systems and redesigning processes the implementation has encouraged a move to team working with greater sharing of information and a consequent sharing of ideas for further improving processes.
