Companies House Adopts Opentext ECM Central Document and Records Storage Aids Compliance, Service Levels, and Efficiency

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Companies House Adopts OpenText ECM Central Document and Records Storage Aids Compliance, Service Levels, and Efficiency

Companies House, an executive agency of the Department for Business, Innovation, and Industry Skills (BIS), is the public sector body responsible for the incorporation and dissolving of limited companies throughout the United Kingdom. They also examine and store company Public Sector information delivered under the Companies Act and related legislation, making this information Customer available to the public. Companies House is headquartered in Cardiff, Wales, where records for both England and Wales are managed. Their Edinburgh and Belfast offices are responsible for Scotland and Ireland respectively. There is also an information office in London. Company registration has been active in the UK since 1844, and today more than two million limited companies are registered and more than 300,000 new companies are incorporated Business Challenges each year. n Need to meet Government targets The driver for change for centralised document and In 2002, the UK central government published a whitepaper requiring all government record management departments to review their document and record management provisions and practices. The n Lack of structure in document storage, paper called for all departments to implement a centralised system to help drive efficiency and users able to define their own effectiveness in information management. n Legacy systems unable to meet emerging requirements Companies House at that time was using a Groupwise email system and had extended its use to include the storage of documents. They instigated a project to determine if they were able to Business Solution meet the new requirements, and whilst there were positives with the system in place, it didn’t n OpenText ECM Suite fully meet the requirements of the whitepaper. For example, the system suffered from weak security and was difficult to search. This had implications for other emerging requirements Business Benefits such as Freedom of Information (FoI) legislation. The whitepaper called for consistency, so n Better management of information Companies House set about looking for a new way of working. in a consistent structure enabling faster searching Selecting the right solution n Able to meet Government targets Although the initial driver was to meet the need for centralised, well-organised document and for centralised document and record management record management, decision-makers at Companies House recognised the opportunity to improve efficiency within the organisation. As a non-profit body, any surplus that is generated n Ability to meet Freedom of Information compliance requirements is returned by reducing the fees that are charged for the services it provides. By reducing their costs in the area of information management, they would be able direct any savings in this way. Companies House is seen as a flagship in efficiency terms and attracts a great deal of interest, both within the UK and overseas from similar organisations. The roll out Users across the organisation were storing documents in Groupwise, with no particular structure, keeping them in the form of emails and storing on local and shared network drives. The problem of searching and locating current versions of documents, as well as older versions, effectively meant that Companies House was unable to meet its obligations under Freedom of Information (FoI). If an enquiry was received, they would be unable, with any degree of confidence, to locate all documentation relating to it. The roll out of the OpenText solution involved Companies House key staff from each department: IT, finance, HR, the board, and others. The OpenText team was on hand, especially in the early days to provide assistance in technical areas, to provide training and help out in developing the file plan. Once they understood the need to find a better way of working, a Although there was initially some resistance to change when the team was put together to research the market and identify potential OpenText solution was implemented, over time users have not only solutions. A number of solutions were evaluated, and an initial pilot accepted the system, but embraced it. Companies House took project was kicked off in the Policy and Planning Department, using steps to encourage user adoption—some more drastic than others. the Valid R/KYV solution, as it was known at that time, but since For example, they switched off access to documents in Groupwise. has become a part of OpenText ECM Suite. With a total potential user community within Companies House The Companies House team evaluated a number of solutions, of some 1,100 personnel, around two-thirds are regularly, actively taking into account the needs they had established and with a now using ECM Suite. The remainder could be described as view on what would be needed in the future. OpenText was able casual users, who, for example, will access the system only for HR to clearly demonstrate their ability to meet these requirements. appraisals once or twice a year. The OpenText solution provided Companies House with robust Electronic Document and Records Management (EDRM), and Futures it soon became apparent that they would be able to utilise the With the core EDRM functionality well embedded and settled, system to provide consistency across the organisation using a Companies House is now looking at ways to further maximise their corporate file plan. investment. Workflow and Case Management are two areas that present opportunities for further efficiency gains. They realised that if users were able to quickly locate a document similar to one they wanted to create, this would reduce the amount Companies House is also consolidating two offices in South Wales, of reinvention that was occurring at that time. That coupled with the and the move will entail an overall reduction in storage space. reduction in time taken to locate documents, added to the ability to The organisation is now looking at how OpenText ECM Suite can meet Government targets was justification enough to proceed with help facilitate this by removing more paper from the organisation, the roll out to other parts of the organisation. thereby reducing the need for physical storage.

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