Automate and streamline the contracts workflows

More efficient and streamlined contract document workflows

DS Smith, a UK manufacturer of sustainable packaging, is one of the world’s leading suppliers of corrugated packaging solutions. The company operates in more than 34 countries worldwide, with a number of almost 30,000 employees and with an extensive product portfolio that includes transit packaging, consumer packaging,
display and promotional packaging and customised protective packaging.

Locally, DS Smith Paper Zărnești is the largest packaging paper production unit in Romania, supplying almost half of the domestic market. The company uses 100% waste paper and cardboard as raw material.

DS Smith also has a recycling operations coordination centre in Bucharest, two recycling depots in Otopeni and Cluj-Napoca, two packaging plants in Ghimbav and Timisoara and three workplaces in Pitesti, Timisoara and Otopeni, employing a total of 650 people.

Due to the cumbersome work with a large number of contracts, making document workflows more efficient and streamlined has become one of DS Smith Paper Zărnești’s main priorities. The company therefore chose a document management solution from Konica Minolta, that allows them to easily manage documents from creation to approval and signature. After implementing, contract document workflows have been fully automated and simplified, and the efficiency and transparency of their management has increased significantly.

The aim and context of the project

Due to the cumbersome work with a large number of contracts which has started to be felt more and more acutely, making document workflows more efficient and streamlined has become one of DS Smith Paper Zărnești’s main priorities. In the first stage, a rigorous analysis of the internal process was required in order to create a customised digital solution tailored to the company’s workflows.

In designing the right solution, all the important steps to streamline the work with the contracts were taken into account, starting from the analysis of draft contracts, to the completion of all the information associated with it, the approval steps, the endorsement of the contracts by external users, and the electronic signature process by all the people involved.

The requirements

Following the consultancy provided by Konica Minolta, the final solution was established and was subsequently successfully implemented at the local DS Smith Paper Zărnești subsidiary.

Concrete data about the implemented solution

In order to implement the contract management solution, specific steps have been taken:

Analysis of the business process by which the contracts with partners are initiated, approved and signed
Analysis and optimisation of the approval workflow
Development of the proposed workflow in M-Files
Integration of the digital signature solution
Import all the partners and contracts in place
Setting up the contract storage structure, allowing easy retrieval of documents
Creating the necessary reports and setting up automatic notifications to users
Setting access rights for users
Testing the solution with key users designated by DS Smith and implementing the additional functionality identified

Our medium and long-term investment plan is to increase the efficiency of our paper production activity and at the same time minimise our impact on the environment through better resource management and lower carbon emissions. The need to streamline and simplify working with a large volume of documents led to our decision to implement an in-house document management solution that allows us to easily manage documents from creation to approval and signature. Following the implementation of Konica Minolta’s solution, workflows with contract documents have been fully automated and simplified, and the efficiency and transparency of their management has increased significantly.

Antonia Stroie

Manager Assistant, DS Smith Paper Zărnești, Romania

Challenges

The cumbersome management of the contracts in physical format
Long time required to retrieve information
Possibility of signing contracts only in handwritten form, presence in the office being required
Ensuring confidentiality of documents
Long time for signing contracts with partners
Lack of contract expiry notification

Solution

Implementation of contract management solution based on M-Files, facilitating collaborative work on contracts, addenda and annexes
Implementation of automated approval workflows
Simplified way to search for contract information and, by default, associated documents
Automated notifications on approval, revision or expiry of contract documents
Specific reports needed by both company management and other employees. (The information available at the level of each contract is basic, needed for document identification and tracking, or complex, allowing cost tracking and optimization of contract terms)
Implementation of an e-signature solution to streamline the time required to sign contracts, as well as to significantly reduce courier or printing costs

Benefits

Secure access to contract information
Quick retrieval of information from contracts, addenda and annexes
Automatic contract expiry notifications
Approval workflows allowing a transparent view of the whole process
Contract version history, with visibility of each user’s comments
Specific reports for each contract category
Digital signature to reduce the time required to sign contracts