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State of Oregon Publishing & Distribution 

ePS Avanti Simplifies Workflows and Automates Manual Processes

By moving to a streamlined Print MIS, reports are now generated to provide detailed breakdowns of job costs, providing a platform for better decision making by knowing costs down to the penny. 

State of Oregon Case Study (2)
quoteBG

“By having actual cost data, we can streamline what we are charging our customers. Plus, ePS Avanti's robust sales order module and job ticket have allowed us to reduce questions from the people doing the work.”

Tim Hendrix,
State Printer and Program Manager

About the company

Seal_of_Oregon.svg

State agencies, counties, and cities across Oregon rely on Publishing & Distribution for efficient printing, mailing, and distribution solutions. By partnering with a provider that brings deep industry expertise and a statewide perspective, these organizations benefit from tailored approaches that address their unique needs and budgets.

The 87-employee organization produces approximately 150,000 production documents and 240,000 to 340,000 secure printing pages per day. It also provides consultation, creative services, file preparation and conversion, production printing, print contract services, production mailing, level-3 and level-4 secure printing, and a statewide shuttle and delivery service. 

87
employees
150000
production documents per day
240000 >
secure printing pages per day

The challenge

Publishing & Distribution had been using an older-generation Print MIS system primarily designed for offset operations.

When it sold its offset presses to the Oregon State Corrections print shop in 2004 and went 100% digital, there was no out-of-the-box solution that met the operation’s needs. So the shop chose to build its own homegrown submission system and to heavily customize the older Print MIS system for new, digital workflows. 

Key Requirements
route-solid Transformation of homegrown processes to a streamlined, automated MIS.
gears Icon - eProductivity Software Move from offset to digital tools, modernizing production workflows.
handshake-simple Integration of disparate job submission solutions for greater shop efficiencies.

Understanding Workflow Break Points and Billing Processes

Initially, the homegrown system created from scratch worked in for Printing & Distribution for many years. As time wore on and organization grew, eventually the processes became too outdated to run a competitive operation running into multiple challenges: 

  • Workflow Breakdowns

    Break points interrupted the workflow, and inconsistencies appeared in the inventory and purchasing departments.

  • Billing Frustrations

    Billing reflected actual costs rather than estimates, which frustrated customers who had to deal with fluctuating prices on repeat jobs.

  • Inefficient Job Capture

    Capturing information to build complete jobs became impossible, forcing CSRs to re-key order information into the Print MIS, adding labor time and potential errors.

  • Complex Chargebacks and Costly Maintenance

    Chargebacks were difficult as they involved manually consolidating data from a variety of disparate systems. The custom-written software, with its decade-old database, operating system, and server, was expensive and challenging to maintain.

The Solution

ePS Avanti integrated the State of Oregon's online job submission process and management information system simultaneously to meet the evolving needs of their organization.

Tim Hendrix, State Printer and Program Manager, decided to replace the web submission and Print MIS systems simultaneously with Rochester Software Associates WebCRD and ePS Avanti.

Both systems are modern tools that meet the digital needs of the shop, and critically, ePS Avanti has integrated into many existing systems to better streamline and automate the operations.

It took Publishing and Distribution about thirteen months to implement and integrate both systems. Nearly all staff now use ePS Avanti to perform their jobs, a significant improvement over the old system which the staff used only for basic job status information.

bullseye-arrow Icon - eProductivity Software
Ensure Streamlined Job Submission

Integration of disparate systems automated job input and storefront capabilities.

arrow-progress Icon - eProductivity Software
Streamlining Management Tasks

Eliminates redundant management tasks and simplifies day-to-day oversight.

gear-code Icon - eProductivity Software
Modernization of Digital Tools

Transformation of submission and production processes to speed time and accuracy to market. 

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The Results

The State of Oregon streamlined operations and gained clearer cost visibility through the following:

  • Jobs are submitted into WebCRD by the State’s internal customers. ePS Avanti automatically receives jobs from WebCRD, which eliminates rekeying time and potential errors.
  • Job tickets now contain all ticketing details and notes related to production, instead of notes scribbled in the margins.
  • Staff use barcode scanners to check into and out of jobs. These keystroke-saving devices enable staff to quickly update job progress so that anyone in the organization can track job status.
  • Email triggers are set up to alert the appropriate staff of incoming work or job issues.
  • Additional triggers are set to automatically alert customers that jobs have been received, produced and shipped.
  • Jobs are now consistently priced based on estimates rather than actual cost, which has significantly improved customer satisfaction.
  • Production work received online has increased by more than 40% to 65 to 70 jobs per day.
  • Chargeback reports are automatically consolidated and sent to the State of Oregon central billing system.
State of Oregon Case Study (3)
quoteBG

“We needed to know from the very beginning what we would be charging customers. Avanti did that.”

Tim Hendrix,
State Printer and Program Manager