Introduction

Item processing costs are increasing, the Fed has consolidated sites for check processing, and the Check Truncation Act has implications that will affect many Banks item processing business. AFS understands the challenges facing today's item-processing managers, and has designed CheckTrack PLUS to help them manage their bank's item processing operation. This workflow management, and production control system is currently installed at more than 25 locations in the top banks in the U.S. reducing costs, streamlining operations, and enabling support for compliance initiatives.

CheckTrack PLUS tracks units of work as they move from branch offices to bank processing centers. At the processing center, CheckTrack PLUS monitors the timeliness and progress of work from the point of receipt to high speed processing, and all the way through to balancing and dispatch.

This powerful tool gives the production manager the essential real-time information to evaluate the workflow of the entire operation, and provides an up-to-the-minute status of all deliveries with a warning for late and missing work, and CheckTrack PLUS uses best-in-class barcode technology to streamline the receiving and prep functions. The automation of the logging process can be integrated with an interface to the check capture system to provide a systematic link from the manual handling of work to high speed processing.

Benefits

CheckTrack PLUS provides many benefits to the bank that substantially increase operational efficiency lowering costs. The benefits range from streamlining manual logging functions to the benefit of access to management information that can be used for resource planning, production control, and customer service. Benefits include:

	Improved productivity
	Manual operations within check processing are becoming more complex with consolidations, mergers, and new technology. CheckTrack PLUS increases the productivity associated with the logging function as well as customer service and research functions. AFS has integrated barcode, optical character recognition (OCR) and magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) capabilities in CheckTrack PLUS enabling faster data entry, look-up and reporting of current and historical information.
	Efficient transportation management
	Banks need accurate and timely performance information to manage relationships with outside vendors and internal couriers. The scheduling facility within CheckTrack PLUS can define couriers in different ways. For example, couriers can be defined as either internal or external, or they can be grouped together by company. The system also tracks individual drivers responsible for certain delivery routes, and has additional reports that provide banks with meaningful data to analyze all aspects of the courier operation.
	Improved branch performance
	The distribution of volume from branches is a major element in the performance of today's large-scale check processing operations. To achieve optimal distribution of work, the release patterns of each branch must be monitored throughout the day. CheckTrack PLUS monitors both the volume and quality of deliveries from branches. Reports in the system enable banks to create and manage Service Level Agreements with their branch offices related to the release of items. The volume of each delivery is tracked so that CheckTrack PLUS identifies the branches that send higher percentages of work during later peak processing timeframes, which costs the bank money in float, clearing fees and missed deadlines. The quality of work is also tracked in CheckTrack PLUS so that a 'report card' for branches can be administered.
	Real-time exception notification
	The bank's operations staff is responsible for monitoring the timely delivery of various types of work from it's branches and direct customers each day. Manual methods of accounting for work involve risk, and do not keep pace with the bank's informational needs. CheckTrack PLUS automates the receiving process for all types of work and provide immediate notification of missing or delayed work.
	The CheckTrack PLUS workstation records the arrival of all work to the operations center, and indicates any units of work that are missing, late or expected in the future. This method of Exception Notification provides real-time information regarding the status of all deliveries, giving the operations manager the ability to act on discrepancies and resolve them quickly.
	Priority processing
	CheckTrack PLUS enables maintenance of a database containing Special Handling Messages for work from any source based on the type of work or the time of day. These messages can be customized to meet bank needs. For example, messages can be used to inform the receiving staff of high dollar items contained in a certain package. As bags of work are entered into the system, it will automatically display the appropriate messages.
	Improved quality tracking and reporting
	With competitors that can readily match price changes and product enhancements, banks can distinguish themselves through quality of service. CheckTrack PLUS provides the facility to track and report on the quality of a customer's work and the bank's processing. This information is available to customer service staff as the work is processed, enabling banks to provide meaningful, accurate, timely, extensive and pro-active customer data.
	Enhanced customer service
	The databases in CheckTrack PLUS can warehouse data about correspondent banks and other customers that send work to the operations center. The data in CheckTrack PLUS is extensive in scope and is easily accessible. Customer questions related to the arrival of work or the proper crediting of deposits have traditionally been handled by searching through manual logs or courier manifests. These research efforts can yield questionable information, or none at all. CheckTrack PLUS supplies this information on demand through online searching and reporting features.
	In addition to helping answer customer questions, CheckTrack PLUS can supply supplemental data about your customers. Quality data and exception data can be used by the check processing manager to be more pro-active in serving the customer and understanding how customers, individually or grouped together, affect the operation.
	Enhanced management information
	Managers need information to make informed decisions concerning budgets, site consolidations, merger planning, and personnel requirements. CheckTrack PLUS provides transactional and summary reports and graphs that cover an array of informational needs from receiving data to workflow measurement. The system uses a report writer feature enabling the design and creation of reports for bank specifications on an ongoing basis.
	Improved workflow reporting
	Using its tracking workstations and the interface to the check capture system, CheckTrack PLUS monitors the entire flow of work from the point of receipt. This reporting enables management to identify bottlenecks and accurately staff the operation.

Features

The streamlined logging functions, interface capabilities and comprehensive reporting add up to a system that provides substantial features to the operate and manage a bank's item processing line of business.

Features can be configured to match the processing and business needs of an operation, some of which include:

	Automated logging
	CheckTrack PLUS uses receiving modules to log and track work into and through the check processing operation. The system uses Automated Data Collection (ADC), such as barcode scanning devices, to replace manual logging functions. The system can be configured to accept a variety of inputs such as branch, customer, item count and dollar amount. Also, CheckTrack PLUS can be implemented to provide point-to-point tracking between various steps in any operation.
	Online status of arrivals
	The receipt data captured is continually validated against a database of scheduled arrivals. CheckTrack PLUS monitors the status of all arrivals, and when an exception occurs, such as an incomplete route or a missing branch, on-screen messages provide details of the exception. The system has real-time data that can be viewed from any workstation, and provides up-to-the-minute status of all deliveries that were made, missed, and pending.
	Reporting module
	With more than thirty standard reports, CheckTrack PLUS provides detailed and summarized information on courier performance, branch release patterns, missing/late work, volume patterns and workflow measurement. Every report in CheckTrack PLUS comes with customizable parameters that enable the user to generate reports for any date/time period, sources of work, route/courier, work types etc. In addition to the many standard reporting options in CheckTrack PLUS, a Report Writer provides the user with even more access to data and the ability to script reports.
	Interface to Check Capture System
	One of the features that make CheckTrack PLUS unique is its interface with the check capture system. By extracting data from the capture system, and integrating the data with receipt information in the system, CheckTrack PLUS can report on all units of work from the point of receipt through to the balancing function. The data from the capture interface enables extensive reporting on volume of work as it progresses through the operation.
	CheckTrack PLUS reports exception conditions, such as work received but not captured. The workflow monitor, an on-line display, provides a real-time view of the processing stream that aids in the identification of bottlenecks and provides capabilities to measure the resources required to complete the day's processing given certain deadlines.
	Flexible, configurable options
	CheckTrack PLUS operates with different receiving modules, report scripts, and database options. The flexibility of the system allows for customizable features that are suited to specific operating environments and allow for growth in the use of the system for non-standard tracking such as lock-box, cash vault, mail, tapes and other non-check items.
	System security
	CheckTrack PLUS has security levels that determine the access granted to each employee for the various functions in the system. The security levels in the system are configurable so that the security level of each function in the system as well as the employee access can be designated. Encrypted passwords provide an additional security.

Reports

The cornerstone of the CheckTrack PLUS system is the reports and the easy access to management information. AFS places considerable emphasis on how to use the data in the system to make the operation more efficient and to educate check processing managers on how to manage the operation as a business unit.

Reports in CheckTrack PLUS include those that provide valuable information regarding many aspects of transportation, receiving, volume distribution, quality and workflow.

	Distribution Report — This report contains detailed information on all arrivals, and identifies the percentage of work received from each branch on each of their scheduled runs of the day.
	Missing Arrival Report — This report utilizes the CheckTrack PLUS database of scheduled arrivals to report on any delivery that is not received for the day. The report can be produced at any time during the day and there is also an on-screen 'hot-key' to view this data.
	Workflow Processing Report — Enables the check-processing manager to view the entire operation, and evaluate the timeliness of processing of various functions. Illustrates the average elapsed time for units of work to move through steps in the check-processing department.
	Quality Report — CheckTrack PLUS summarizes the occurrences of quality problems with branches and other customers. The volume received is also displayed to make this a valuable branch-reporting tool.
	Route Distribution Report — Displays the arrival patterns of items and dollars within the context of the existing transportation network. This report is used by the transportation manager and the check-processing department to evaluate the efficiency of transportation and in the planning and monitoring of site consolidations.
	Courier Performance Report — This report is used to manage the effectiveness of the internal and external couriers that are responsible for the delivery of item to the check-processing site. This report is used to monitor each courier's adherence to Service Level Agreements with the bank.
	Workflow by Category Report — Displays the volume of work received in the check processing area by work category. This report shows the overall volume and volume by type, broken into half-hour segments. The data can be used for resource allocation and planning.
	Workflow Backlog Report — Shows the volume of work that was available to be processed at various check processing functions and the work actually processed during the matching timeframe. This report assists the check processing manager with efficient resource allocation and planning.