This feature, or some fields and options described, might not be available depending on your settings, security rights, or platform package.

Workflow: Using Document 360 - Front-End Scanning
 

Workflow Chart

Workflow Chart: Front End Scanning

If your agency's documents are scanned upon receipt and distributed electronically to appropriate personnel for handling, then your agency workflow uses front-end scanning.

This workflow typically entails a central scanner, as well as a specific job role that includes the front-end scanning responsibilities for the entire agency (i.e., scanning technician). Most agencies that have implemented front-end scanning designate specific document types that require scanning upon receipt.

Example: An agency's workflow requires all vendor invoices to be scanned upon receipt. However, unsolicited advertising correspondence from vendors is not scanned into the system.

The distribution (or "routing") of documents is typically handled by the same personnel in charge of scanning the documents. The recipients of distributed documents could be individual employees in charge of processing specific customer activities, or they could be department heads in charge of further routing (e.g., Personal Lines department, Commercial Lines, Claims, etc.).

After an employee completes a business transaction related to a document, he or she indexes the electronic file in association with the transaction, and then saves it to either an Activity, Note, or Vendor Invoice.

Each agency has its own unique method of distributing documents to personnel. You can incorporate elements of on-demand, back-end, and front-end scanning workflows. In the case that an individual CSR must scan their own documents at a local workstation, they might find useful certain elements of the on-demand scanning method. If your agency regularly imports many scanned files at once, you may consider useful certain elements of the front-end scanning workflow. When your agency must create business transactions for documents that are not scanned yet, you may consider useful certain elements of the back-end scanning  workflow.

The following sections explain Document 360 setup features and procedures that are most useful to front-end scanning.

    ClosedUsing Hot Folders to Distribute Documents

One possible scenario for front-end scanning requires the scanning technician to sort the files by department, and then route them accordingly. This workflow requires little knowledge on the part of the scanning technician with regard to a specific document's routing, nor to the business transactions relevant to a document.

Another scenario finds the technician more familiar with agency processes; They might group like documents together and forward those documents to a particular employee for further review.

In either case, the use of Hot Folders and the Get Documents tool is the most automated option for your agency. The technician saves each scanned item to the appropriate employee-assigned Hot Folder. Then, through use of the Document 360Get Documents feature, each Hot Folder's assigned recipient can easily import the files.

When you import documents using Get Documents, the document files are deleted from the Hot Folder locations. The Hot Folders are empty after the import process. The files are now saved either to the AMS360 database or to a designated shared folder location; for storage options, see Document 360 Setup > System Configuration section of this topic.

As a CSR or department manager, you can even set an automatic launch checkpoint for Get Documents, to check for documents throughout the day.

    ClosedScanning Technician Workflow: Setting Up Hot Folders

All employees who access shared folders on a network must be granted permission within that network to read and write to the same folder location. In the front-end scanning workflow, each network Hot Folder must be accessible to both the scanning technician saving files to the folder location, and to the employee(s) responsible for importing the files from the folder.

You must have security access to Doc360 Setup in order to set up Hot Folders.

Follow these steps to set up Hot Folders for use in the document distribution process:

  1. Open the Doc360 Setup form.

  2. Expand the Employee Assignments section to view the grid. Highlight the employee name for whom you would like to assign a Hot Folder location.

To assign Hot Folders by department, highlight the name of the department head or manager.

  1. Click Edit to open the data entry fields.

  2. Click the Browse link next to the Hot Folder Location field. A window opens, allowing you to browse to a shared folder you want to assign to this employee.

  3. Select the folder you want to assign as the employee's Hot Folder.

  4. You can also Make a New Folder, and give it a unique name - e.g., "Claims" (for agencies routing by department) or "Mary Lou Smith" (for agencies routing by individual employee).

  5. When you are finished, click OK.

  6. Click Update to add the data to the grid.

  7. When you are finished working in the Doc360 Setup form, click Save & Close.

Now that the Hot Folder is assigned, the scanning technician saves to this folder all the scanned items to be routed to the department head or employee. The employee assigned to this Hot Folder imports the files into the system through use of the Get Documents form.

    ClosedManagement System Workflow: Using Get Documents

If your agency uses Hot Folder as part of its front-end scanning workflow, then the Doc360 Get Documents feature is your primary means to import electronic files into AMS360.

Get Documents pulls files from an employee or department designated Hot Folder into that employee or department head's User Center.

The following file extensions cannot be imported into the system: .bas, .bat, .cab, .cmd, .com, .cpl, .dll, .exe, .js, .jse, .lnk, .lnk2, .msi, .msp, .mst, .ocx, .pif, .reg, .scr, .sct, .sql, .vb, .vbe, .vbs, .wsc, .wsf, .wsh.

You can enable Get Documents to automatically check for files in your Hot Folder. However, you can disable the automatic check if you prefer to import documents at will. See the Get Documents topic for more information about setting up an automatic file check, at which point the system launches the Get Documents form for you.

To launch the form and import documents, follow these steps:

  1. Open the form in either of these ways:

  2. From the Use Center's My Documents tab, click the Get Documents launch button.

  3. From any center with a menu bar, select Get Documents from the Doc360 menu.

  1. You will see in the grid the employee names for whom you are authorized to import documents. Check the Select box next to the names of those employees for whom you want to import documents.

    For information about authorizing a user to import documents for another employee, see the Out of Office topic.

You cannot select specific documents to import using the Get Documents feature. You must import all the documents for each employee selected in the grid. However, once the files are in the system, you can re-assign documents to other employees using the Document Distribution form.

  1. Click the Import Now button. The form closes, and you return to the User Center My Documents tab, which now includes the rows for each new document.

When you import documents using Get Documents, the document files are deleted from the Hot Folder locations. The Hot Folders are empty after the import process. The files are now saved either to the AMS360 database or to a designated shared folder location; for storage options, see the Doc360 Setup topic.

    ClosedUsing the Document Distribution Hotspot

An agency workflow may not require the level of automation provided by Hot Folders and Get Documents, as described in the Using Hot Folders to Distribute Documents section of this topic.

In such a case, a scanning technician uses the Document Distribution form to route scanned items to the appropriate AMS360 User Centers, from a directory location on the agency network. Additionally, the technician may optionally set up a "hotspot" on his or her User Center's Document 360 banner, which launches the Document Distribution form with one click.

    ClosedSetting Up the Doc360 Banner Hotspot

The Doc360 banner, pictured below, is located above the center menu bar in every center:

When enabled for a specific employee in Doc360 Setup, the Doc360 banner automatically launches the Document Distribution form when the logged-in employee drags and hovers a document file over the banner. This "Doc360 Hotspot" is a timesaving feature for routing documents in the front-end scanning workflow.

  1. You must have security access to Doc360 Setup in order to enable the banner hotspot.

Follow these steps to set up the Doc360 banner as a hotspot for an employee:

  1. Open the Doc360 Setup form.

  2. Expand the Employee Assignments section to view the grid. Highlight the employee name for whom you would like to assign a Doc360Hotspot.

  1. Click Edit to open the data entry fields.

  2. In the Default Hotspot Definition section, select the option Enable Doc360 Center Hotspot for Frontend Scanning (Distribution Form).

  3. Click Update to add the data to the grid.

  4. Repeat steps 2 - 5 until you have enabled the Doc360Hotspot for each employee with routing responsibilities.

  5. Click Save & Close.

  6. When the designated employee(s) next log onto the system and access the User Center, the Doc360 Hotspot launches the proper form.

    ClosedUsing the Hotspot to Distribute Documents

The scanning technician enters scanned items in the Document Distribution form, and assigns them to a specific agency employee. The employee then sees the files on their User Center, under the My Documents tab.

Depending on your agency's needs, the assigned recipient could be an individual CSR, or a department manager with extended routing responsibilities.

One possible scenario for front-end scanning requires the scanning technician to sort the files by department, and then route them accordingly to the department managers. This workflow requires little knowledge on the part of the scanning technician with regard to a specific document's routing, nor to the business transactions relevant to a document.

Another scenario finds the technician more familiar with agency processes; he or she groups like documents together and assigns those documents to a particular employee for further review.

To route documents using the Document Distribution hotspot, follow these steps:

  1. Once you have scanned the document, save the electronic file in your agency-specified directory location, and keep the folder open.

  2. In any AMS360 center, click the Doc360 banner. If you have enabled it as a hotspot, then the Document Distribution form opens. (If you have not enabled the hotspot, see the Setting Up the Doc360 Banner Hotspot section of this topic.) With the Document Distribution form open, select the document file in the open folder in your directory and drag the file onto the Document Distribution form. When you release the mouse button, the file appears as a row in the grid.

Alternately, you can drag a document file from its directory location and hover it over the Doc360 banner hotspot; as the form launches, it automatically enters the document in the grid.

You can select and drag multiple files; each file appears as a row in the grid. Be aware that all files entered on a Document Distribution form will be received by the same individual employee; a new form must be created to route docs to a different recipient.

  1. Some file extensions (for example, .gif) do not include a registered default application. When you try to enter such a file in the grid, you receive a system warning that asks whether you would like to proceed. If your agency has licensed software that can open and edit a file of this type (for example, you can open and edit a .gif using MicrosoftPaint® ), click Yes to attach the file to the Documents grid. If not, consider saving a new file for your document, as a different extension.

  1. To route the document to an agency employee, select his or her name from the Assign To list. You can also enter information relevant to the pending business transaction, if necessary. This information is not used to process or file the document; however, it may be useful as resource information for the Assigned To employee.

  2. Click Edit to open data entry fields for a specific document in the grid. You can optionally enter index information at this time. Index information can also be entered later by the employee responsible for the related business transaction.

  1. Enter a meaningful File Name that identifies the document in the system.

  2. Enter a Security Class for the document. The default selection is determined in Doc360 Setup.

Be aware that for any classification other than Unrestricted, the recipient of the document must have proper Security Group authorization in order to process the document. See Workflow: Set Up Doc360 Security for more information.

  1. Click Update to enter data in the grid.

  2. Click OK. The form remains open for the next batch of files to be distributed.

  3. When you are finished using Document Distribution, click Close to close the form.

  4. When the recipient next refreshes their User Center, the new files appear under the My Documents tab.

    ClosedProcessing Documents

To clear an unprocessed document from your User Center My Documents tab, you must process it by taking one of these actions:

For more information about how to work with Document 360 files, see the Workflow: Working with Document 360 Documents topic.

Whether you are authorized to take certain actions upon a specific document depends on two factors: your employee security group setup, and the classification status of the document itself. For more information about Document 360 security, see the Workflow: Setting Up Document 360 Security topic.