How We Implemented an Electronic Archive System for a Fashion and Retail Company
Sometimes we hear that retail is a business sector that is already fully computerized, and it is impossible to implement new projects, particularly document workflow automation. However, LITIKO’s experience shows that this is not the case – “there is no limit to perfection.”
About the Client:
LPP Ukraine (the “Company”), a company actively operating in the fashion and retail industry
LPP Ukraine JSC (LPP Ukraine) is a subsidiary of the Polish fashion giant LPP S.A., which develops the retail chain of Reserved, Mohito, Cropp, House and Sinsay stores. The company has been actively operating in the Ukrainian market since 2003. Currently, it has 300 stores in Ukraine.
About LITIKO:
The LITIKO team has been automating electronic document management and creating electronic document archives since 2008. Electronic archives have been implemented for MTC Ukraine (Vodafone), Tavria B, ATB, Alfa-Bank Ukraine, Pivdennyi Port, VTB Ukraine, and others.
Task:
Implementation of the electronic archive system.
A Challenging Client:
This was indeed a challenging client and a difficult task. The client is a retail company, an international company that has owned a network of stores across the country for over a quarter of a century.
Client’s Requests within the Project:
- Optimize document storage processes in the company and create a single centralized electronic archive of documents that were previously stored in different systems.
- Organize secure storage of documents in electronic format.
- Ensure quick access to documents.
- Automate document uploading and further processing.
- Provide the ability to quickly search for documents and mass export them if needed.
Challenges for Implementing the E-Archive:
- Company Size: The company has a significant number of employees, an extensive network of sales points, and a complex internal structure.
- Retail Specifics: This sector traditionally uses a lot of documentation. This not only requires high-performance solutions but also increases the risk of errors at any stage of the document’s journey. Incorrect processing or loss of documents can lead to financial losses, so the automation solution must be not only productive but also reliable to minimize risks.
- Integration with External Systems: One of the client’s requirements was integration with external document management systems such as “Vchasno.EDO” and “M.E.DOC.” This was entirely achievable since the system has open APIs, which allowed us to develop the necessary mechanism for automatic uploading, storing, and structuring documents in the electronic archive. However, the requirements were more extensive and complex. Just look at one of the intermediate descriptions of the necessary functionality of the electronic document archive system:
- Periodic automatic uploading of various documents from the Vchasno.EDO and M.E.DOC systems to the electronic archive system along with signatures according to the client’s requirements.
- The ability to manually trigger the procedure for uploading different types of documents based on certain criteria: in certain states of signing and approval along with signatures from the Vchasno.EDO and M.E.DOC systems to the electronic archive system.
- Automatic processing of uploaded documents: sorting, classifying, and placing documents in the electronic archive according to the client’s requirements.
- The ability to manually trigger the document processing procedure.
- The ability to manage the structure and attributes of the document, creating document cards of various forms depending on certain document characteristics.
- Grouping documents in the electronic archive based on certain criteria.
- Differentiating access to documents in the archive according to the configured role model.
- The ability to manually adjust the list of documents in the electronic archive: adding or removing documents based on selected criteria.
- Creating structured hierarchies of document folders, adding tags.
- Simplified search for documents in the electronic archive by document card attributes.
- Visualization of documents with signatures.
- Mass export of archived documents along with signatures.
- Document work audit.
Project Implementation:
At the first stage, the LITIKO team configured the client’s organizational structure in the system, then developed and configured electronic directories containing all the necessary information for automated document processing.
Automatic Document Processing Procedure:
Events in the system occur not only when initiated by employees. The automatic document processing procedure must operate periodically. The required periodicity is configured before the processing procedure is launched. Based on the client’s work specifics, the agreed periodicity was set to one hour.
After the launch, the automatic processing procedure reviews all uploaded but yet unsorted documents for compliance with certain requirements. If compliance is found, a new document card of a certain type is created, to which the document along with signatures is attached, and the card is placed according to the configured archive structure. Documents that do not meet the requirements are sent for manual review.
And this is just one of the countless algorithms for working with documents present in the system.
Implementation Results:
After implementing the system, the client significantly improved document management:
- Created a centralized document repository.
- Reduced the time for searching and processing documents.
- Ensured document storage security.
- Standardized document workflow processes.
- Automated document processing and integration from various systems.
Conclusions:
Overall, the implementation of the electronic archive based on became an effective solution for a company with a large volume of documentation. It ensured centralized document management, increased business process efficiency, organized a centralized information repository, established quick and convenient access to data, and improved security and access control levels.
Although retail is known as a business with low margins that maintains profitability through high sales volumes, this case demonstrates that document workflow automation can significantly increase efficiency. Thus, optimizing internal processes and reducing risks allows retail enterprises to improve profitability by streamlining document management.
