Industry: Logistics | Product: Adobe LiveCycle Output ES | Adobe LiveCycle Designer ES
DP World is the largest marine terminal operations business in the world. Moving huge containers around the world is a logistical complexity and a position of considerable responsibility. The processes within their business are crucially reliant on exchange of information and to help smooth these procedures the organization looked to standardize PDF documents and automate distribution of these documents.
A range of sophisticated IT systems are utilised to effectively and efficiently run the operations of DP World’s businesses. These range from email and intranet solutions to Financial Systems and Terminal Management Systems that track the movement of containers in real-time.
There are a number of points in the typical shipping business process where information must be exchanged with DP World’s customer base –for example the sending of invoices to customers for logistics services and damage reports when a container has sustained damage during the logistics operations.
The existing DP World systems only supported the generation of documents that could be mailed by post to customers causing in delays when communicating with customers.
DP World needed a technology platform that would integrate with existing systems to automatically generate customised documents that could be automatically delivered to customers by print or email depending on the customer’s preferences.
Adobe LiveCycle was a clear choice - not only would it sufficiently deal with the requirement for flexibility on electronic or printed documents, but it the documents developed could be integrated with the DP World’s current operating systems. Moreover the process could be automated.
DP World worked with Avoka to deploy PDF document standards for the automatic generation and paper/email distribution of customised documents for customers such as Invoices, Credit Notes and Incident Reports.
A feature was enabled within Adobe LiveCycle so that DP World’s existing data and rich content such as digital photos within the PDF documents, therefore generating batch and ad-hoc, comprehensive documents customised for each DP World customer.
Adobe LiveCycle Designer was facilitated to create each document template and Adobe LiveCycle Workflow was developed to automatically merge Customer data in an XML format (and optionally digital images from MS SharePoint) with a Document Template to create a PDF document for the customer. Then, based on customer preferences in the XML data, the document was either sent to the printer closest to the customer’s address or automatically emailed to the customer.
PDF copies of all documents sent to customers are stored in the SharePoint repository.
DP World can now deliver customised documents to customers in printed or electronic form, depending on the customer’s preferences using a single PDF based solution.
Electronic delivery of invoices assists with accounts receivable processes as mailing delays are no longer experienced.
Plus, the automatic storing of all customer documents in the SharePoint content management system means that copies of documents can be easily recreated as required providing better customer service and a fully auditable process for customer correspondence.
