ProcessFlows partners with Xerox to deliver more powerful, productive and ‘greener’ workflow solutions at Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council
The Customer:
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council is situated in an area of South Yorkshire steeped in mining history. It forms part of the Government Region of Yorkshire and Humber, is the town’s biggest employer and supports a population of nearly 5 million.
Barnsley has a 30 year vision; created by architect Will Alsop called ‘Rethinking Barnsley’. This vision is to create the ideal 21st Century Market Town – a modern community that provides employment, culture, the arts, accommodation, leisure, retail and a place to relax, all focused in its town centre.
Inside the boundaries of the town centre will be the modern equivalent of a thriving community, capable of supplying everything it needs in terms of power, food, economy and workforce.
The Challenge:
In parallel to this vision, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council has pledged to fight climate change and to cut carbon emissions. They have signed and committed to the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change. The declaration will see the Council tackle climate change and greenhouse emissions across the borough and work with organisations to reduce its carbon footprint.
A move to consolidate many disparate offices into a new, purpose built council office within the town provided the catalyst and challenge to invest in eco-friendly technology and promote environmental responsibility.
The Council’s 10,000 staff uses 3,500 PCs, spread over areas such as social services, education and library services. Business processes needed to be streamlined and waste reduced – the 50 fax machines located at various locations throughout the Borough would not be moving in! But faxing was key to many departments and processes, so a ‘green’ alternative to the energy inefficient and paper wasting hardware needed to be sourced.
The Solution:
Working in partnership with Xerox, ProcessFlows installed an OpenText RightFax solution which integrates with Xerox Multi Function Devices (MFD’s), MS Exchange 2003 and SAP.
By implementing RightFax with Xerox MFD’s all fax documents are now captured electronically on the RightFax Database for easy retrieval if required. Users either send a fax directly from their Outlook or SAP client or from the Xerox MFD if a user needs to fax a paper document. The requirement for standalone fax machines is therefore eliminated saving costs and improving staff efficiency. There are now just 2 Xerox MFD’s on each of the 6 floors supporting the reduction of paper documents within the office.
RightFax is also integrated into the Council’s SAP system, so departments such as Business Support are able to process documents like invoices and PO’s within SAP and then distribute them electronically using RightFax to third parties.
In line with ‘green policy’, an electronic post box has also been set up. All mail is centrally scanned and then automatically distributed using the new Electronic Content Management System to departmental areas.
The Benefits:
Leading by example, the council has responded to Government environmental initiatives by demonstrating a ‘greener’ way of processing documents, saving energy and ultimately our trees and because ProcessFlows runs an ongoing scheme in conjunction with the Woodland Trust to plant trees in a Hampshire Woodland for every successful RightFax MFD implementation, the Barnsley roll-out means another 20 native trees have been planted – trees that will grow up to clean the air, reduce temperatures and counteract pollutants.
In Barnsley, automating the flow of faxes, paper, electronic documents and data has reduced costs and improved operational efficiency.
More information
For information on any of our solutions or products, please call us on 01962 835053 or email sales@processflows.co.uk.
