Business Case

An Enterprise solution was designed using OpenText Intelligent Capture technology and has since turned the work that was previously done by four regional document scanning centers now into one. All new account, order processing, transfers, and account maintenance functions were driven through workflow. Requests received in paper format were scanned and triggered multiple concurrent workflows. Requests received by phone were entered in on-line forms triggering the appropriate workflows. Applications can now be processed in 2-4 hours. Finally, by reducing the amount of paper involved in the application process, BMO reduced its storage costs, improved the security of the application process and improved the accuracy of the applications.

ARC used OpenText Intelligent Capture, a customizable document capture solution, to create a system that uses advanced capture software technology to process web forms, along with paper and web applications. BMO required the solution to reduce high volumes of paper across multiple locations and quickly, accurately and securely process confidential customer information for online trading account applications.

One of the most beneficial aspects of the solution is the ability to automatically trigger an event to approve a customer for trading. This has significantly reduced the manual labor historically involved with the approval process. Customer satisfaction has greatly improved as the time for approval of trading accounts has been significantly reduced. This benefit resulted primarily from automated functionality replacing human intervention in the front-end capture process where paper is converted to digital images. Under the new model, customers visit the BMO InvestorLine web site and fill out their online application. Once completed, the customer electronically submits this form. An account is subsequently created in the primary business system, and a unique bar code is generated.

The system process also keeps a detailed audit trail of all activities related to a batch of documents. The use of ODBC Export, a command used to export data, enables the process to capture a set of data elements/events required for audit and/or reporting purposes. Biographic data such as Scan Operator, Scan Date, and bibliographic data such as Account Number, Last Name and Batch Number is exported to an Oracle database.

For Management Reporting purposes, the Oracle store is accessed via any ODBC reporting tool: Excel, Crystal Reports/Business Objects, Cognos, etc. The scope of products/services for this solution includes: software supply, hardware supply (and consulting), business requirements and analysis, functional/technical design documentation, development and integration services to install and customize the capture software, implementation services to plan and roll out the solution for operational use, training and documentation for both end users and technical personnel, along with post-implementation technical support.

Business Solution

BMO InvestorLine’s core business is an online investing, and this involves a lot of processing activity around applications, trade orders, changes, and transfers for customer accounts. Historically, the business unit had to deal with high volumes of paper, manual processes (with resulted in misplaced documents and labor-intensive efforts), high storage costs in prime rent districts, slow processing of customer applications, and multiple offices across the country performing the same function.

"One of the most beneficial aspects of the solution is the ability to automatically trigger an event to approve a customer for trading".