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Advanced Management
Technology, Inc.
Overview
Advanced Management Technology, Inc. (AMTI) is a premier provider of comprehensive technical solutions to public and private sector clients. Founded in 1987, AMTI has grown to over 415 employees. The company’s core capabilities fall into three areas: Program Management Support, High Performance Computing/High End Computers, and General IT Services including Helpdesk, Network Administration and Application Development.
AMTI’s primary customers are FAA and NASA although the company also provides support to several other agencies including TSA, DHS, National Science Foundation, Coast Guard, DOJ, and Air Force. AMTI has also performed work internationally for Bolivia, Armenia, and the Republic of Georgia.
AMTI is a Metastorm customer using the software internally and a Metastorm Partner, offering the product to its customers.
Challenge
AMTI is a distributed organization with 68 offices across 60 cities throughout the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. The company was running its business by way of manual methods and was faced with typical problems associated with paper-based processes, including lost paper-work, delays in processing, and poor record keeping. In order to support its remote personnel, AMTI turned to Business Process Management (BPM) technology to help the company build an automated support system and facilitate transition to an automated process environment.
When selecting a BPM vendor, the company conducted a review of available technologies to find the best fit to meet its needs and integrate with its existing infrastructure. Metastorm was an early leader in the BPM market and was able to offer a full set of capabilities including rapid development and fast deployment.
AMTI selected Metastorm because the product would be fast and easy to implement and would also integrate easily into the company’s existing systems. From that point, the company was on its way to becoming an automated organization.
Solution
Metastorm BPM was quickly deployed and is now a key element of the company’s corporate functions that support both employees and customers. AMTI uses Metastorm internally and has established a number of automated processes for purchasing, travel and support. All employees can initiate a process, while management and approval of those processes resides with 15 to 20 people. Internal users rapidly adopted the new automated processes with high satisfaction.
Metastorm BPM is currently integrated with the company’s accounting system, HR system, and self-serve intranet. AMTI was recently acquired by Tetra Tech and its accounting system will be replaced within the next year or two by Oracle. Once this takes place, AMTI will update its integration to link Metastorm BPM to the new Oracle platform.
AMTI has also deployed Metastorm at the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Headquarters Office of Security where it now provides automation of processes that require input from security personnel along with personnel from other DHS functions such as Human Capital, Facilities, and Helpdesk.
Results
One of the company’s main goals was to increase the productivity of its existing staff so that the company can grow without increasing staff overhead. Using Metastorm BPM, AMTI has met this goal and has realized an increase in overall employee productivity. Employees now spend less time working on administrative tasks and more time on their core work functions.
AMTI has realized numerous benefits as a result of using Metastorm BPM – including faster processing times, fewer data entry errors, improved traceability, and increased user satisfaction. For instance, AMTI has been using its electronic purchase request (ePR) process since April 2001. To date, AMTI has used ePR to process over 4,400 purchase requests totaling almost $40 million. AMTI’s average time to approve a request has dropped from almost two weeks to approximately 1.25 days as measured from the time the purchase request was created to the time it enters purchasing. Simultaneously, the ePR system eliminates approximately 95% of the documentation errors and provides complete, auditable documentation for all transactions.
Additionally, AMTI was able to realize a $400,000 discount for one of its Federal Government customers. A vendor was offering a 10% discount on a $4 million dollar software purchase if the government could place a Purchase Order in their hands within 72 hours. The process was further complicated by the customer being on the West Coast while AMTI Headquarters is in Arlington, VA. AMTI was able to process the PR, compile and attach all the requisite documentation, receive the required customer approvals, and place the PO in the vendors hands within 48 hours. The Metastorm ePR process was instrumental, enabling the transformation of a manual, paper-intensive process into an electronic, automated process flow that allowed information to pass between remote sites instantly.
Additional benefits obtained by the company include an immediate reduction in the need to distribute forms, elimination of the need to fax and/or mail paper, immediate or near-real time feedback when a request is submitted, the ability to support personnel distributed across the country efficiently and effectively, and improved satisfaction level of users who can now see the progress of their request in the system.
AMTI is continuing to automate additional processes as the company strives to become a more efficient organization.
“Metastorm BPM has met and exceeded our needs and empowered our employees with the right tools to be more efficient.” stated David Holliday, Chief Technology Officer for AMTI. “The proof of the power of automated business processing is seeing one work first-hand. Once you participate in a well-designed, automated business process you will wonder why you ever did it any other way.”
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