Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union
With OnBase installed on every desktop computer throughout 45 locations up and down the west coast of Florida, Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union has a comprehensive enterprise content management (ECM) implementation that supports well over 1,000 users and is an integral aspect of Suncoast’s superior member service. Suncoast, the largest credit union in Florida and the seventh largest in the U.S., has almost $5.5 billion in assets and serves more than 440,000 members.
As the number of members grew at Suncoast, so did the paper. Members each had their own separate paper file folder, and these folders were quickly filling up storage space. The increasing amount of paper began to negatively affect the level of member service. If a member came into a branch that did not have the folder onsite, s/he had to wait for the teller to request information from the branch where it was stored. The member then waited for a person at the other branch to find the folder and fax the needed information over to the teller. The process could take as long as 30 or 40 minutes.
Suncoast wanted to eliminate this wait and generally improve member service, and so the credit union began to consider ECM software in 1998. Suncoast first tried an imaging product that was included in an existing technology, but found it unreliable and difficult to use. The credit union decided to switch over to OnBase in early 2000 for its scalability and ease of use. Developed by Hyland Software Inc., OnBase is an integrated suite of ECM software solutions, including core capabilities in document imaging, electronic document management, workflow, COLD/ERM and records management.
“We chose OnBase because we wanted something that would scale with us, and we needed a dynamic solution that would be easier to maintain,” says Wanda Chambers, vice president of Document Services at Suncoast.
Once installed, Suncoast held a train-the- trainer session and then had a training session at each branch. OnBase was widely accepted. “It was a difference between night and day [between the legacy system and OnBase],” says Ms. Chambers. “By the time we rolled out OnBase, our employees were thrilled to have a system that worked so well.”
With 250 million documents already in the OnBase system, more than one hundred thousand are added each day through various methods. Integrations, import processes and imaging all contribute to Suncoast’s growing number of OnBase documents that give members a comprehensive, disaster-resistant record. Using Application Enabler, OnBase receives and sends data from Suncoast’s easyLENDER mortgage loan origination system and APPRO LoanCenter Consumer loan processing software. With Application Enabler, the credit union can use point-and-click configuration to allow users working within those systems to retrieve OnBase documents with a simple mouse-click.
OnBase is also integrated for archival and retrieval with Suncoast’s in-house front-end platform and SENTRY: Safe software for safe deposit management. These seamless integrations allow for easy communication between OnBase and users working within those applications, simplifying training and enhancing the user experience.
A significant number of the OnBase documents brought in daily are checks to and from the credit union’s members. More than 100,000 checks a day are processed into OnBase using the Check Image Processor. The Check Image Processor identifies the image and financial institution from which the check was received based on the ABA number. OnBase then automatically imports and indexes the checks using keywords such as account number, amount or transaction number. Automatically linked to other related documents through those keywords, Suncoast uses OnBase to create e-statements and allows members to access those statements and check images online.
Using an import method, credit card processing reports are entered into OnBase using COLD/ERM. Needing more information than the reports could offer, however, Suncoast also utilizes the OnBase integration with Monarch report mining to ascertain additional subsets of data not included in the reports. The credit union again employed Monarch and OnBase to resolve some difficulties balancing new imaging ATMs that allow members to deposit money without using an envelope. Monarch pulls out the necessary data from the ATM reports, not only easing the balance process, but also “greatly pleasing” auditors and accountants with the amount of detail provided.
Suncoast captures physical documents using both centralized and desktop imaging. Documents collected at branches such as signature cards, IRAs, new account applications and mortgage loans, are sent to centralized scanning, where they are entered into OnBase. Suncoast’s centralized scanning brings in more than 200,000 documents a month, which are then available to any authorized user who needs them.
Aside from centralized scanning, Suncoast has deployed desktop scanners at every frontline workstation. Each branch is able to capture identification cards via imaging as the member waits, greatly increasing security. When that member returns, any authorized member service representative easily accesses the member’s identification card, without ever leaving their transaction software, via a hotkey. The representative can then verify the member during future visits without asking for identification again, improving service and convenience, while reducing the risk of fraud.
Users have especially taken to the Workflow feature of OnBase. With more than 130 workflows already in place, users are so enthusiastic about the effectiveness of Workflow that Suncoast gets daily requests for more. Because OnBase Workflow doesn’t require scripting and is point-and-click configurable, Suncoast is able to continually add to the number.
Of the 130 workflows, the first to be implemented (more than five years ago) handles member corrections. When members called in with problems, it was difficult to keep track of how each issue was being resolved and could take up to a few days to be completed. Suncoast now pushes corrections into a workflow via an e-form where they are channeled through the credit union’s research center and are ensured not to get lost in the shuffle. If an issue needs to go through more than a standard review, escalation procedures are built into the workflow, while notifications and reminders keep the process moving. Corrections are now often handled in under two hours.
Further increasing efficiency, this workflow has allowed Suncoast to identify where and when errors were being repeated. Each day, frontline and back office employees check to see if and where they made errors, allowing them to self-improve their work and generally reducing the number of resolutions that must occur.
Another workflow has been implemented in accounts payable, where management has deemed it a “lifesaver.” Invoices are imported into OnBase and passed through approvals depending on what the invoice is for, what department ordered it and what parties are responsible for it. The paper approval process that was conducted through interoffice mail often took two to three days, but invoice approvals are now almost immediate.
Also utilizing Workflow, mortgage appraisals are first swept into OnBase using the OnBase Subscription Server. Sent to a specific e-mail address, Subscription Server automatically stores the emails and attachments as documents. From there, OnBase pushes them into a workflow, which indexes them without user intervention.
With more than 300 GB in Suncoast’s OnBase database and two terabytes online at any given time, OnBase is vital to Suncoast’s day-to-day operations. If a disaster should ever occur, however, Suncoast would be ready and the impact on operations would be minimal. Suncoast uses OnBase to back itself up with Automated DVD Publishing. Suncoast writes OnBase documents to DVD as redundancy to an online mirror of the database. Included on the DVD is a “mini” OnBase system that lets any Windows® computer quickly install an abbreviated version of OnBase. If needed, Suncoast could load a DVD and then continue handling the necessary documents within OnBase even if normal workstations are unavailable, giving the credit union secure business continuity.
With the success of OnBase across the entire credit union, Suncoast continues to find ways to further apply OnBase to improve member service. To augment the new member application solution, Suncoast plans to add signature pads at frontline workstations to then capture all deposit documents electronically including signature cards, beneficiary forms and IRA documentation. Service representatives will no longer have to send a signature card to centralized scanning and members will then be able to sign documents electronically, such as new account applications.
Suncoast also plans to increase its member service by implementing OnBase Image statements to create multi-document statements for business members in the future. “The most significant change to the credit union has been the installation of OnBase. It is the one factor that has improved member service the greatest,” says Ms. Chambers. “Our return on investment is immeasurable.”
- Access to more than 250 million documents for 1,000 users
- Processes more than 100,000 checks per day
- Scans in 200,000 documents per month
- Improves correction time to less than two hours
- Decreases accounts payable invoice approvals from three days to just minutes
- Improves credit card and ATM balance processes with report mining
- User friendly and convenient with tight integrations with multiple line-of-business applications
- Enables dependable disaster recovery
- Captures IDs at new account opening to help prevent fraud
- Fiserv easyLENDER® mortgage loan origination software
- Equifax Enabling Technologies APPRO® LoanCenter™ Consumer loan processing software
- SQN Banking Systems SENTRY: Safe™ safe deposit management software
- Internally developed Titan front-end platform
- Eastman Kodak Company 3500-series scanners
- Canon U.S.A., Inc. DR-9080C color production scanners
- Datawatch Corp. Monarch™ Report Mining software