Digital archive: the key to Metro Mondego's success

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Document management is one of the critical points in Public Administration. In a sector where there are strict procedures and very specific approval standards, which involve many interlocutors and different approval levels, it is very easy to lose control and track of processes. Digitization has emerged as the solution that best meets the demands of the sector, namely through digital archiving tools.

Metro Mondego is one of the national public institutions that has invested most in digitalization, and document management is no exception. Pedro Silva, CFO of Metro Mondego, explained to us the advantages of digital archiving tools for public institutions. Discover the added value that the Filedoc digital archiving solution has provided to the institution in this interview that we share with you.



PRIMAVERA: At Metro Mondego, as a public institution, the processes are kazakhstan whatsapp number database and very demanding. How did Filedoc help with document management?

Pedro Silva: Metro Mondego is a company that has had document management software since 2003 and, therefore, the existing experience made Filedoc's role difficult. Documenting all correspondence and the decisions and options taken by the company, reinforced by the fact that it is a public company, is an essential issue and, therefore, document management has simplified tasks, such as searching for relevant information, as well as reducing the risk of losing or misplacing documents.

However, internal processes began to become complicated precisely when we entered the scope of the State's budgetary consolidation with the reclassified public entity classification and, effectively, from 2018, when it adopted the SNC-AP. The additional accounting of the appropriation and commitment introduced complexity into the tasks and processes that needed to be systematized and simplified. Therefore, we did some research and Filedoc ended up being the solution.


PRIMAVERA: Considering that these procedures are very demanding and rigorous, how did Filedoc help with document management?

Pedro Silva: Filedoc represents our third phase in the evolution of document management. The first phase represents the moment when we began the process of digitizing all the documentation that entered and left the company, as well as that which was produced internally. The work was based on paper, and consisted of producing a digital archive through the digitization of documents. It facilitated the process of document research, a frequently used task, and reduced the loss of original documentation.

In the second phase, we were able to streamline some financial processes through financial software that allowed us to allocate scanned documents, such as invoices. Here, we were able to introduce an invoice confirmation process for those responsible for expenses. However, this meant that we had to duplicate files, because they were separate software programs that did not communicate with each other.

Filedoc fulfills our third phase in the evolution of document management, achieving the desired requirement of obtaining agile and completely dematerialized processes.

This high level of dematerialization of processes, estimated at around 95%, is achieved through integration with the PRIMAVERA ERP.
Of course, printouts continue to exist, especially because there is documentation that must exist physically, because for tax purposes the physical archive is mandatory, but I can say that there are fewer and fewer of them.

It is in fact with Filedoc and PRIMAVERA that we were able to take this important step.


PRIMAVERA: With this digitalization, what have you actually gained?

Pedro Silva: We have saved money on certain tasks. We have stopped duplicating documents (Correspondence, Financial, Contracts, Human Resources, Meetings, etc.). In some cases, there were even triplicate documents. Now this task is unique. There is only one file, one document.

At the same time, it allowed us to start keeping a more serious record of emails. It's not that it wasn't already done, but because it wasn't as agile and was sometimes forgotten. Since email is an increasingly used tool for dealing with important matters, especially since the number of times that responding to official letters is limited to sending emails is increasing, because in Filedoc this process is agile, it reinforced what we already wanted to do. That is, recording important emails in a simple and practical way. Ultimately, this translates into the simplicity of a supplement provided in sending the email to Filedoc, controlling this sending to avoid duplication. Then there is a very useful feature that allows you to associate documents. For example, in an email replying to an official letter, they can be associated with other existing documents, facilitating the process of future research and obtaining the relationship between documents. Research is a delicate matter that is not evident at the time when we remember the existence of the documents. The problem arises when we want to find a certain type of document and we no longer remember how it was archived. This is where this document association feature will prove to be an added value.

Another feature introduced by Filedoc, an unknown need, is related to the circulation of correspondence for acknowledgement, signature and response. Realizing that a certain document received is intended for the person responsible for following up, it is often necessary to send the document to other people. This is where the circulation "for acknowledgement" becomes relevant and agile in internal operations, as can be easily seen. These are previously unknown features that translate into improved internal operations.

Regarding the dematerialization of processes, it is important to note that this dematerialization is effective, because digital signatures exist and are accepted for public procurement purposes. This was a difficulty that we had been facing for some years and that is now being resolved with Filedoc. That is why today we can upload expenditure information to the public procurement platform as a basic document to start the procurement process. This document is signed digitally, after having passed through the departments and employees involved in it, it has not been and will not be printed, it is registered and without any paper record. Until now, we had to go from office to office until we had the document in its final version, duly signed, having to scan it and then submit it to the public procurement platform. The efficiency gains are clear.

Another very functional feature is the way we now handle sending official letters. Whenever possible, we have adopted the method of sending them by email. The reasons for this are the increased savings in paper and the significant time saved in getting the document to the recipient. It has gone from taking approximately 1 week to being immediate. This is efficiency.