Ricoh’s document management software has underpinned college’s process automation efforts.
Marymede Catholic College is one of the fastest growing schools in metropolitan Melbourne with facilities across two campuses. As the college grew, the school’s senior management realised that existing, paper-based records and processes could no longer support increasing student numbers. These processes were time-consuming, prone to errors, and often delayed due to waiting for paperwork from parents.
After examining a range of alternatives, a decision was made to engage Ricoh to review existing processes and make recommendations on how they could be digitised and streamlined.
“We were impressed by Ricoh’s significant experience in the digitisation of workflows and the comprehensive set of tools and technologies that made such changes possible,” said Marymede Finance Manager, Suresh Gangadharan. “They took time to understand our challenges and design a solution that matched our particular requirements.”
The digitisation and workflow project has been completed, with new workflows continually being added. This transformation has led to a significant reduction in administrative overheads, supporting the college’s growth as student numbers continue to rise.
Key highlights
• Replacement of paper-based, manual process with digital equivalents
• Ricoh’s Workflow and Records Management solution migrates school from paper-based to digital student records
• Leveraging Ricoh’s Robotic Education Digital Worker (RED) to eliminate manual data entry
• Enrolment and re-enrolment processes now completed online
The Challenge
Finding a more efficient alternative to manual, paper-based processes
The College encountered challenges in managing large volumes of paper-based student records and administrative labour-intensive processes. The documents needed to be manually processed and stored in an increasingly large archival system.
“As an example, we were relying on paper forms for both new student enrolments and re-enrolments,” said Gangadharan. “As well as being a costly exercise, it was inefficient and meant staff had to manually enter data into the school’s student management system.”
As the demand grew for simpler enrolment systems, more convenient submission processes, and easier points of contact, the school recognised the need for change. The reliance on paper forms for enrolments and re-enrolments was creating input and legibility errors from handwritten submissions, complicating the process for parents, teachers, and students. By addressing these issues, the school aimed to streamline administrative tasks, reduce errors, and improve the overall experience for all involved. Through the digital platform, parents enjoyed faster completion times and fewer input errors.
The Solution
Deploying a digital document management and process automation system
Working closely with the school, Ricoh began the migration processes by focusing on the digitisation of student records. Attention then shifted to automating key administrative tasks using eForms and digital workflows.
“Ricoh’s document management software has underpinned our process automation efforts,” said Gangadharan. “We have also been able to replace paper enrolment and other forms with digital equivalents allowing parents to complete them online and upload relevant supporting documents.”
To complement the document management software, Ricoh’s Education Digital Worker solution, which makes manual processes both smoother and more efficient, was also deployed. This was the last step of the process to automate data entry for re- enrolments, into the school records management system.
Ricoh also helped the school implement a secure payment gateway and a digital approvals process for all enrolment applications.
“The project has really been a gamechanger for us,” said Gangadharan. “The combination of process management bot technology allows the new system to generate automated email updates to parents, automate interview scheduling for successful applicants, and create online forms for interview notes.”
The Outcome
An automated, digital system that significantly improves efficiency, reduces administrative costs, and provides a seamless, user-friendly experience for teachers, students, and parents.
With the new digital workflow automation system now in place, the school is enjoying some significant benefits. Student enrolment and re-enrolment packs are now fully digital and sent to parents by email. Once an enrolment has been confirmed, the system automatically creates a new record in the student management system.
There have also been valuable improvements in other workflows. Staff leave applications are now handled online using a two-step approval process. A secondary workflow is then used to schedule a relief teacher during absences.
“Using the new solutions, we have also been able to automate our accounts payable process which is resulting in further productivity improvements,” said Gangadharan. “Indeed, we are finding that around 90% of parents complete re-enrolments and payments within three weeks. This is a massive improvement over the previous manual processes.”
Future Plans
Gangadharan said the staged approach to the technology rollout ensured changes were made without causing disruption to the day-to-day functioning of the school.
“We have made significant progress but there are additional opportunities we can explore with Ricoh to achieve further enhancements to our processes,” he said. “Ricoh remains an important technology partner for us, and we will continue to work closely with them in the future. The project has really been a gamechanger for us.”
