Page 42: of Marine News Magazine (December 2014)

FMT Embraces ECM Florida Marine?s decision to move into electronic records technology was in part prompted by the sheer volume faced by Hidalgo?s Compliance Department. With Florida Ma- rine?s 80 tugs and 200 barges pulling or pushing petroleum products through the country?s most challenging rivers and channels, Compliance responds to a  ood of records requests from client auditors and government regulators. It was expected that converting those rooms full of paper records into electronic images would be an enormous time saver because those images could then be instantly accessed from anywhere from a centralized computer server. However, the system also came with added software fea- tures that Carlton was eyeing when originally negotiating the RIO contract with national Laser che reseller Com- plete Paperless Solutions. For example, the system?s Work-  ow module offered the company the capacity to automat- ically forward all those Compliance Department records to auditors and regulators upon request. No more pulling, copying, scanning, emailing or snail-mailing paper  les for Compliance Department staff. ?We had no idea that we could so reliably automate multi-step administrative func- tions,? Hidalgo said. ?It gave us a whole new prospective on what this technology can do for Florida Marine.? That perspective can best be summed up as the differ- ence between electronic records management, the tech- nology Florida Marine was originally looking to adopt, and enterprise content management, the technology now being rolled out throughout the entire company. It?s the latter concept that Complete Paperless Solutions, (CPS) introduced to Florida Marine, Carlton says. Instead of just turning paper records into electronic im- ages for increased ease of access, enterprise content man- agement uses software to move those digitized documents throughout an organization, turning the manual passing of paperwork from person to person to the computerized  ow of information from decision-maker to decision-mak- er. It not only allows for email alerts for those decision makers, it has security features that can be automated to accommodate changing access requirements, automated indexing for ease of  ling when those electronic images are archived, and automated document destruction schedules at the end of the required lifespan of those archives. Beyond Compliance: logistics & operationsAs the new system successfully navigated the channels in Hidalgo?s Compliance Department, it was expanded next into the company?s Fluid Cargo Department. Florida Ma- rine specializes in transporting oil and gas industry-related cargo, so nearly every moving part and  owing  uid on each of the barges and tugs it operates is monitored around- the-clock. As those tugs and barges pass through the most crowded shipping lanes in the country, their movements are also closely monitored. Inspection reports on all aspects of those operations are a daily routine that is now increas- ingly being automated at Florida Marine. ?If you do in- spections on boats now, they automatically get routed to the appropriate people without someone having to make the decision of who gets what,? Carlton says. ?We?re no long relying on somebody physically routing these records, the system does all the routing and  ling for us.? Taking advantage of other software modules in the new system, all the forms those inspections  ll are now available on tablets carried by ship staff or port captains, eliminating another enormous source of paper from Florida Marine?s operations. This is opening the door to taking the nation?s third largest in-land tug and barge services company com- pletely paperless, in what is one of the world most paper-laden industries, Carlton says. ?We used to have cabinets and cabinets full of paper. We were killing trees by the thousands,? he says. ?Now we have all the forms electroni- cally, weather on computer or mobile device. They are all right there. No more printing them out and carrying them around.? That?s why Carlton wants the system installed compa- nywide as soon as possible. Florida Marine?s training de- partment and its vessel maintenance yards are being sized up for the system, as are accounts payable and personnel. Deck hands, tankermen, and captains are all expected to make use of the system. The speed of the roll out has been greater than either Carlton or Hidalgo expected, and train- ing has been training required for of cers and staff in each of the departments. Carlton credits Complete Paperless Solutions with its ability to get department heads comfort- able enough with the new system to move their staff onto it and start building work ows of their own. CPS credits Florida Marine with understanding early the potential of the system and being aggressive in roll- ing it out once they felt comfortable using it. ?It?s unusual to see a project move so fast, but they are pretty doggone good over at Florida Marine,? says CPS president Tom Ziencina. ?Caution is important when making a move like this but when Florida Marine got the hang of it, they had the institutional knowledge to rapidly expand it through- out the company getting a much quicker return on their FLEET MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE42 MNDecember 2014MN Dec14 Layout 32-49.indd 42MN Dec14 Layout 32-49.indd 4211/25/2014 11:09:12 AM11/25/2014 11:09:12 AM