PaperTrail Gives Document Management Shared Inboxes, eForms
When requests, invoices and sign-offs stall between people rather than inside a filing system, the cost shows up fast. That is the argument Johannesburg-based Egis Software is making this quarter for PaperTrail, its electronic content management platform, which is highlighting three parts of its Document Management Software that carry the heaviest load when work backs up: group email handling, electronic forms and rule-based document routing. As the final quarter gets going and South African organisations line up for year-end closes, festive season shutdowns and the audits that land in the new year, the movement of work through a business is stretched harder than at any other time of the year.
Rarely is the problem a single document that cannot be located. The time disappears in the handovers: a client email parked in a shared mailbox with no clear owner, a paper form stuck waiting on a manager who has stepped out, an approval that only moves after a phone call. PaperTrail sets out to shut those gaps by pulling correspondence, data capture and workflow into the same secure repository that already holds the documents.
Shared inboxes without the shared mailbox problem
PaperTrail's Group Email feature is built for teams that field high volumes of customer email as a unit. Messages arrive automatically from POP and IMAP compliant mail servers, Microsoft Exchange and Lotus included, and are then shared out to team members for action. That takes away the usual headache of group mailboxes, where multiple people open the same message and none of them can tell who has already replied.
Because replies go out from inside PaperTrail, every piece of correspondence on a matter stays tracked together and is threaded automatically under one item. Email aliases can be configured as the trigger point for a workflow, so a message landing at a nominated address launches a defined process instead of sitting until someone spots it. A Microsoft add-in lets individual users push emails from Outlook straight into PaperTrail, tag them with metadata and assign them to particular users or groups. The user decides whether to send the whole email or just the attachments.
Whether it is a finance team taking in supplier statements, a property team working through tenant queries or a service desk fielding client requests, each message ends up with an owner, a history and a fixed place in the record.
eForms that collect data and approvals in one step
Sitting next to email are PaperTrail's electronic forms, which gather data and secure approvals with no paper involved. The eForms capability aims to shorten processing times, accelerate approval cycles and cut down on paperwork. Calculations and validations can run automatically, which eases tasks like claims processing and leaves staff free for the work that genuinely calls for human judgement.
Electronic forms can also stand in as a safer option than paper filing, which is always at risk of going missing. PaperTrail handles electronic and biometric signatures, automated look-ups, custom form design and PDF output for printing or email routing. Its eSignature module now extends to basic ad-hoc and form template building as well, with database look-ups and a broad set of form field options.
Routing and workflow that follows the rules
After a document or form enters the system, the next job is getting it to the right person. PaperTrail lets authorised users forward or route documents to individuals or groups, while administrators can build sequential routes or rule-based workflows that manage escalation and deliver each item to the correct user for action. Data can be exported to external systems too. Rules and workflows are set up through a straightforward administration console or a graphical workflow designer, so processes can be reshaped as a business shifts.
Taken together, these features push a document management system toward something more like an operating layer for paperwork. An email can land, trigger a workflow, pull in a form, route for approval, capture a signature and settle in the repository with its complete history attached.
Built on capture, storage and retrieval
Beneath the workflow lies the heart of PaperTrail Document Management: a secure electronic repository for electronic and scanned documents, reachable anywhere and at any hour. Documents sit within a flexible folder taxonomy and can be shared between employees and clients through collaboration features, with searching and reporting on specific documents built straight in.
PaperTrail capture solutions take care of bulk and online capture, image enhancement and full-page or zonal optical character recognition automatically. They add form and barcode recognition with automated or manual page separation, so paper that still turns up at the front desk slots into the same digital process as everything else.
Who the platform serves
PaperTrail runs across many industries. Among the organisations whose feedback features on the PaperTrail website are IHS Property Management, Triton Fleet, CBI-Electric, iStore, TWF, Old Mutual, Fair Cape Dairies and the South African Reserve Bank. Their remarks touch on things like remote working on electronic application and lease systems, quicker responses to auditors, procurement and creditors processes, and weekend support during system changes.
Those same building blocks drive a set of focused solutions as well. CreditorsHub automates accounts payable, covering everything from supplier invoice processing through to remittance and reconciliation. PeopleHub handles employee lifecycles from recruitment to onboarding while staying within regulatory requirements. LeaseHub collects documents, runs credit checks and smooths lease signing for tenants and agents, and TravelHub automates the gathering of supplier invoices for the travel industry. Every one of these draws on the group email, eForm and workflow capabilities set out above.
Flexible deployment and long-term support
PaperTrail can run on premise or be hosted in the cloud. Clients who go with hosting trim their IT investment and shift spending from capital expenditure to operating expenditure. Rather than forcing a business to bend around rigid, shrink-wrapped software, Egis Software steers clear of that approach and configures PaperTrail to suit each client.
The services on offer span business process re-engineering, business analysis and specification, solution implementation and development, user and administrator training, cloud and on-premise fully managed servers, outsourced scanning and indexing, and first, second and third level support under service level agreements. A help desk delivers 24/7 support for critical systems, with flexible options to suit each client's needs. Having built and supported the platform since 1998, the company brings more than twenty years of experience with South African document processes.
Why it matters this October
It is the run-up to December when unanswered emails, unsigned forms and stalled approvals cause the most harm, since they spill into January as a backlog right as auditors and fresh budgets show up. Organisations weighing up how they will cope with that load can see how group email, eForms and workflow work together by booking a demonstration with the PaperTrail team.
To learn more about PaperTrail and its full range of solutions, visit https://www.papertrail.co.za/.
About PaperTrail
PaperTrail is an electronic content management system produced by Egis Software, the trading name of Mailcomp (Pty) Ltd. Egis Software was established in 1998 by Alon Feldman and Troy Ferraris and operates from 138 Athol Street, Highlands North, Johannesburg. The company runs branches in Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth and New Zealand, along with strategic partners in Mauritius, Botswana, Ghana and the United Kingdom. Its product range spans document management, PaperTrail Sign, PaperTrail Contract Management, CreditorsHub, PeopleHub, LeaseHub and TravelHub, and it can be deployed on premise or hosted in the cloud.
Media Contact
PaperTrail
Email: support@egis-software.com
Phone: +27 11 880 4411
Website: https://www.papertrail.co.za