Peters & Co. Limited is a Calgary-based independent investment firm which has specialized for more than 30 years in investments in the Canadian oil and natural gas and oilfield services industries.
Peter’s & Co. Benefits:
- Business Continuity: Access to vital documents even in the case of a disaster
- Fully Integrated with Mutiview Financial System
- Paperless: saves paper and eliminates space wasting storage and filing systems.
- Improved Compliance: Automatically tracks the status of a record, related records and activity.
Peters & Co. recently needed to ensure compliance with business continuity regulations.The new regulations required Peters & Co. to have access to vital business documentation at all times while maintaining confidentiality, even in the case of a disaster. They turned to the FileNexus Document Management System to provide the solution.
“We’re just so happy to have a solution that provides us with the business continuity capability we need, and a centrally managed document management system that users can access from one application.”– Janet Manske, Information Technology Manager, Peters & Co. Limited
Approximately five years ago, Peters & Co. began using an accounting software suite of applications from Multiview Corporation. Multiview Financials enhanced Peters & Co.’s accounting department’s ability to produce and distribute important financial information to key stakeholders. Multiview’s solution included the ability to scan accounting related documents and file them electronically for easy retrieval.
Over time, Peters and Co.’s requirement for document management capabilities expanded dramatically from an accounting specific niche to more of an enterprise wide solution. Early in 2005 Peters and Co. began to look for a solution to help them comply with pending legislation around corporate practices and business continuity requirements. They needed a solution that could capture not only scanned data, but also information from all sources that contribute to the record management requirements of the organization.
“We needed a document management solution to give us easier, faster access to vital data for business continuity and regulatory purposes. We wanted a solution that would allow us to eliminate the investment advisor copy of the new account application form.” – Ursula Holmsten, Controller & Principal, Peters & Co. Limited
The “paperless” FileNexus solution went live at Peters & Co. in April 2005. Now, qualified personnel can instantly search FileNexus for client documents using any index parameter they have decided to file them by – for example, client, date range etc. This feature is a real asset for internal analysis purposes, since it helps personnel find critical documents quickly and easily. With the company’s previous system, personnel had trouble finding specific files at times because they were being re-filed improperly. However, with FileNexus all documents are saved in a secure, compressed digital format on the network – so there are no problems with misfiled physical documents.
Another benefit from the new solution will be the ability to respond quickly to requests from auditors. For example, if an auditor needs to see information on a particular client from a prior year, staff can easily retrieve the information and view it at their desktop computer. Just like using a Web search engine, employees can search by any desired index and/or actual content to find the requested information. Since FileNexus can read data directly from other software applications and databases, in this case the ExeClear real time trade processing system, indexes can be populated automatically and retroactively. This will help Peters & Co. save valuable resources by cutting down on the search time, and enabling qualified personnel to focus on tasks more important than rummaging through filing cabinets.
“FileNexus has the ability to interface cheque and accounts payable voucher information subsequent to a document being imaged. This is a great operational efficiency improvement as we no longer have to wait the two to three week window before an invoice is paid.” – Ursula Holmsten, Controller & Principal, Peters & Co. Limited
FileNexus also gives Peters & Co. greater visibility into its client documents, providing the framework for a complete audit trail as well as insights into any type of security breach. To aid the compliance department, the system is set up to automatically send e-mail notifications to both the appropriate investment advisor and compliance officer when a client authorization form approaches its mandatory two-year renewal date.
Even in its early implementation stages at Peters & Co., FileNexus has helped the company meet both U.S. and Canadian business continuity regulations, increase overall efficiencies, and improve service levels to clients and auditors. For example, once a document is stored to FileNexus, a copy can be retrieved, analyzed and managed any way the user wants – but the original may not be altered or deleted and, since FileNexus automatically tracks all revisions and user actions, this makes for a powerful historical audit tool. Maintaining client confidentiality and database integrity has always been of priority at Peters & Co. and the implementation of FileNexus will only enhance these important aspects of its business.
Down the road, there are plans to archive all e-mails to FileNexus, enabling compliance to run e-mail queries and retrieve e-mails related to a particular company and/or broker. As regulations and compliance issues become more comprehensive and rigorous, this tool will become more important for businesses within the financial services industry.
Peters & Co. also plans to capture its internal monthly accounting files and tax reporting electronically to allow for subsequent electronic retrieval without having to access hard copy records that are stored at an off-site facility – as was done in the past. Using FileNexus, information required for auditing purposes will be both secure and much easier to retrieve.
“We are excited about implementing additional FileNexus features and capabilities as we move forward. We expect to see future cost savings thanks to increased productivity stemming from our ability to retrieve information faster and more efficiently from a secure centralized system using FileNexus.” – Ursula Holmsten, Controller & Principal, Peters & Co. Limited
For more information on Peters & Co. Limited: www.petersco.com
About FileNexus
The FileNexus Document Management System gives organizations, both large and small, the ability to capture virtually any type of document from any source (i.e. paper records such as maps, drawings, manuals, electronic files such as host generated reports, client statement streams, IVR recordings, etc.), index and compress them for secure archival and future recall—providing a single cohesive repository for all document management, workflow, archival and business continuity needs.
For more information on how FileNexus can improve your business efficiency, please visit www.filenexus.com, or write to sales@loristech.com.