Case Studies

Exposition Services      Franchising, Legal Services

Region: North America
Industry: Franchising, Legal Services

Customer Profile

Client is a national franchise of legal document preparation centers, each independently owned and operated, and all dedicated to providing high quality and low cost legal documents to the increasing numbers of people who choose to represent themselves in uncontested legal matters. It has over 64 Franchisees in 15 states and centralized processing centers.

Background

They were running its operations without a system to support its business processes in a fully automated manner and became overwhelmed. This resulted in increasingly high and unacceptable turnaround times for processing of workbooks. There was little or no management key performance reporting. The lack of customer data tracking was a huge issue for operations. Future growth was either impossible or close to it. They were also suffering from ineffective and inefficient Franchisee communications including marketing material distribution, training and guidance.

Workbook Processing

WB processing is the core business that involves every Franchisee and the central processing centers. Franchisees fill out manual paper based or electronic workbooks and send them to central processing centers via Fax. Additional communications regarding the same workbooks take place via emails. Turnaround time for a typical workbook was over a week and there was no efficient or systematic way to track the workbooks, their status etc. Customer service and progress notification were impossible. Work selection and distribution in the central processing center were haphazard as there was no consistent way to prioritize due dates and deliveries that were required.

Business Challenge

Inefficient legal workbook processing including workflow and communication between Franchisees and the central processing centers restricted the growth and profitability for both.

Solution

They decided to implement a comprehensive system based on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. Surveys with the data solicited from the Franchisees were compiled. The resulting requirements were analyzed and a solution found in a combination of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, InfoPath 2007, Windows Workflow Foundation and the integration designed by us.

For automation of the workbook processing, e-Workbooks were designed in InfoPath 2007. This is where the capture of data resided which meant the data was controlled and verified early in the process. A workflow solution was implemented and integrated with InfoPath Forms Services. This automated the entire process. Within weeks of implementing this solution, workbook turnaround time was reduced to a few days compared to the initial period of over a week.

A central portal was created for all the marketing materials which channeled all the customers to one efficient site. End user training materials were created by us and included in one central site. The Franchisees had only to access one place for all their training needs.

Benefits

Their Management received rave reviews from the Franchisees for the enhanced and modern system. Costs for the Franchisees were greatly reduced as was the time to train and get the workbooks updated, making them efficient and increasing profits. The internal staff and management in the central processing centers are now looking forward to phase two: automating other key processes that relate to the Franchisee operations, management and reporting.

Improved Efficiency and Accuracy

Having gone through the Business Process Reengineering (BPR) process with us, the business processes and information flows are efficient, accurate and timely. This greatly impacts staff and management from a cost, efficiency and labor hour’s perspective.

Improved Tracking and Prioritization

Due to timely, accurate and efficient tracking and reporting, the workbooks are better managed at the central processing center. Priorities can now be set and work scheduled efficiently. The resulting turnaround time is now predictable and customer service has increased dramatically.

Collaboration

The external marketing and training portals afforded the Franchisees an effective avenue for collaboration and communication with their customers.

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