Dominican Convent School, in Belgravia, Johannesburg, has streamlined back-office administration and achieved massive time-savings by rolling out the M-Files electronic document management solution (EDMS). The system was installed and is supported by Itec Central.
Founded in 1908, the Dominican Convent School has a longstanding tradition of excellence in Catholic education, and has about 800 pupils enrolled from Grade R to 12. Like most schools, it has a flood of paperwork to manage, from school enrolment application forms through to sick notes, report cards and learner profiles.
The school, which also uses Itec as its printing and copying partner of choice, realised that it could make its back-office more efficient and productive by digitising the many pieces of paperwork its interactions with its pupils create. “Itec told us about M-Files and we immediately liked what we saw,” says Jorg Kampmann, IT manager at Dominican Convent School. “It is a really good product with a range of powerful features that make it ideal for our environment.”
The M-Files solution empowers Dominican Convent School to better manage, find and track documents and related information. Itec helped Dominican Convent School to set up a dedicated server for the M-Files software and integrate the software with its document output infrastructure, as well as with the PencilBox system that forms its administrative backbone.
Some document types automatically activate workflows, which route the document to the relevant person for approvals and notifications. Reports can be pulled at any time to check the status of any tasks. Workflows have been configured to track and manage other tasks too, such as IT support and maintenance requests.
Paperwork is scanned into the system through the Itec multifunctional devices, as it comes into the school and can be easily accessed across the network when it is required. “Our teachers and administrators have instant access to any documents that they need at any time,” says Kampmann. “In addition to the massive time-savings, we also no longer need to worry about documents going missing.”
The solution streamlines the entire administration process, from the moment the parents of a new pupil file an application, through to the vetting of the application and tracking of school fee payments. Once a student has been accepted for enrolment, his or her application can be turned into a learner profile with a simple click or two.
The application process used to take three months, but now takes just three weeks, thanks to M-Files. Further efficiencies will be achieved when the school introduces bar coding to its paperwork.
Kampmann says: “The system has made everyone's lives so much easier. There was no need for hours of user training, since M-Files is so simple to use. We have also found Itec's support on both M-Files and our printers and copiers to be right on the ball.”
Says Darren Lipschitz, software solutions product manager at Itec Central: “If anything, the amount of paper that most organisations need to manage is growing rather than declining, and is entering the organisation from various avenues, but EDMS solutions such as M-Files make it simple to turn paper into digital information as it flows into the business. This makes information accessible to all who need it, saving time and increasing productivity across the school.”
Darren Lipschitz can be contacted on +27 11 731 6620 or e-mailed at Darren@iteccentral.co.za. Alternatively, please visit http://www.itecgroup.co.za/ for more information.
Share