Current and Recent Chapter Meetings and Topics
UPCOMING MEETING
Thursday December 3, 2009
9:30 am to 1:30 pm
PSE&G
5 Century Road
South Plainfield, NJ 07080
(908) 222-2306
Agenda
• We will start the day at the PSE&G facility and then go the South Plainfield Elks Hall for the meeting and lunch.
• TOUR: PSE&G is a major utility/remittance processor. Pat Naples has agreed to provide a tour of their remittance facility.
• Meeting will take place at the South Plainfield Elks Hall - blocks from PSE&G. Address is 1254 New Market Avenue.
• Additional information will be provided by PSE&G on how they process 50% of their daily volume with one employee and other efficiencies learned and practiced at this facility.
• Bo Minogue (of Mavro Imaging) will provide the current trends in Metrics and Process Efficiency. Bo is an expert in scanning and process improvement.
• Networking Lunch - the DelVal TAWPI Board is represented
by software, hardware, retail, wholesale, utility, remittance, scanning,
ARC, Check 21, process flow, etc... with Pat Naples, Bo Minogue and the
Delaware Valley TAWPI Board, we offer the opportunity to meet and discuss
what is on your mind.
Directions
Tour at PSE&G @ 9:30 AM:
Location: PSE&G
5 Century Road
South Plainfield, NJ 07080
(908) 222-2306
Directions from NJ Turnpike, Exit 10:
• NJ Turnpike (North or South)
• Take Exit 10 for NJ-440E toward I-287/Perth Amboy/Metuchen
• Continue toward I-287 North
• Take Exit 4 for Durham Avenue toward S. Plainfield
• Turn right at Durham Ave
• Take the 3rd left onto Co Rd 603/Hamilton Blvd
• Turn right at S/ Clinton Ave/Co Rd 663
• Turn Left at Century Road
• PSE&G is at the end of block on left.
Meeting at South Plainfield Elks @ 10:30 AM:
Location: Elks, South Plainfield
1254 New Market Ave.
South Plainfield, NJ 07080
Directions from PSE&G (3 minutes/0.99 Mile from Tour Location):
• Exit Parking Lot to end of Century Road.
• Left onto S. Clinton (0.7 mile)
• Right onto New Market Ave (0.2 mile)
• Elk’s is on the Left
To register, click here.
Previous Meeting Summaries:
October 30, 2008
J&B Software, Blue Bell PA, PA
Bob Young, DVC CHapter President, welcomed the attendees. He thanked J&B Software for hosting the meeting, reviewed the agenda and then asked each of the attendees to introduce themselves. Herb Thiel thanked Bob Young the retiring President for his dedicated service to the Chapter and presented him with a retirement gift.
Rich Miller of IBML and George Santos of Kodak provided very interesting presentations about what their companies offer in the line of scanning. After a brief break, the meeting resumed with a tour of the J&B facility.
The meeting concluded at 12:30 p.m. with lunch.
June 19, 2008
Direct Fulfillment, Robbinsville, NJ
Bob Young, DVC Chapter President, welcomed the attendees. He thanked the Direct Group for hosting the meeting, reviewed the agenda and then asked each of the attendees to introduce themselves. He reminded the attendees that the Annual TAWPI Forum & Expo at the Contemporary Resort at Disney World in August is shaping up to be a great show. Attendees then introduced themselves. Bob stated the Chapter will be holding an election at the October meeting and asked anyone interesting in serving to contact a Board Member.
The first presentation was made by Nick Manocchio from the NJ Division of Revenue . He indicated the team when it was formed in the mid1990’s processed work for 3 departments: Tax, Motor Vehicle and Labor. Presently they serve 16 departments within the state government handling $27B out of $33B in revenue. Nick stated the Division of Revenue offers the following: business vision, service first, sustainability, scalability, flexibility, standardization, efficiency and expertise. They currently have in excess of 2 billion images on line. 60% of all NJ tax filings are electronic which has given the team the opportunity to offer its services to other groups.
Jim Moore from IBM/FileNet gave the next presentation on understanding the value of Enterprise Content Management (ECM). Phil stated the critical points in ECM are to capture, manage, store, preserve and deliver. He suggested everyone ask the following questions: is the information available, is it being retained for the correct time period (there is a potential cost and exposure if this is not the case), is employee productivity being maximized and are regulatory, legal and internal requirements being met.
After a brief break, the meeting resumed with an overview of the Direct Group by Matt Graham and Ryan Molino. Matt provided an overview of the Direct Group which was founded in 1995 and has 4 locations in NJ. The firm offers the following services: Database Marketing Services, Fulfillment Services, Print Vendor Capabilities (6M full color letter size sheets daily), Personalization Services (17M+ 2 up letter size sheets), Mail Handling (1.5B pieces in 2007) and Insertion. Ryan then related some specifics concerning the Robbinsville operation and took the attendees on an informative tour of the fulfillment operation.
Jeff Lee, DVC Board Member, presented Matt and Ryan of the Direct Group a gift in appreciation for hosting the meeting.
The meeting concluded at 12:30 p.m. with lunch.
October 17, 2007
Wachovia Bank, Philadelphia
Bob Young, DVC Chapter President, welcomed the attendees. Bob thanked Wachovia for hosting the meeting, reviewed the agenda and then asked each of the attendees to introduce themselves. He reminded the attendees that TAWPI National has a couple of very informative conferences scheduled for later this year in St. Pete and Miami FL.
The first presentation was made by Rich McCallister from A2iA. He reviewed the latest developments in recognition software for hand written and machine printed characters. Rich indicated his company combines artificial intelligence with image analysis. He reviewed the 4 modules his company offers and gave a demonstration of how the software is adapted in each of the countries they offer their product. He stressed that the A2iA solution is incorporated into other vendor solutions. It is not available to end users directly.
Jim Everitt from Fairfax Imaging was the next presenter. He reviewed the background and the reason for the Check Clearing Act of the 21st Century. Jim reviewed his firm’s product offering and expressed his belief that the government is lagging between corporations in adopting Check 21. He indicated the x9.37 formatted files are secure and offer greater productivity and flexibility. A discussion ensued about the future implementation of Check 21, ARC, etc. Jim stressed the Fairfax Imaging product is offered directly to customers unlike A2IA.
After a brief break, the meeting resumed with a tour of Wachovia’s Wholesale operation. Marty Pine to site manager lead the impressive tour through the operation.
Rich and Jim were presented gifts in appreciation for their informative presentations. Marty Pine was given a gift in appreciation of Wachovia hosting the meeting and tour.
The meeting concluded at 12:30 p.m. with lunch.
June 13, 2007
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield
Pat Trombino, Director – Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, welcomed the attendees at 9:45 a.m. She turned the meeting over to Bob Young, DVC Chapter President for this joint meeting with the NY Metro Chapter. Bob thanked Horizon for hosting the meeting, reviewed the agenda and then asked each of the attendees to introduce themselves. Mark Brousseau discussed TAWPI’s Payments and Forums Processing Councils. Mark also handled out the brochures for the Forum and Expo in Boston on August 12-15.
The first presentation was made by Harvey Spencer of Harvey Spencer Associates. He reviewed the benchmarking results from the recently completely TAWPI Forms Processing and Data Capture Study including statistical data from 197 US based operations.
An impressive tour of Horizon’s processing site ensured. Pat Trombino mentioned that staffing has been reduced from 600 to 170 in the past 6 years. All items must be processed on the day of receipt.
The next presenter was Mark Kielman from the Cleveland Federal Reserve who provided an update on the changes taking place with payments. He indicated that over half of the Fed’s check processing sites have been closed. Approximately one third of all items clearing through the Fed are now electronic.
Harvey and Mark were presented gifts in appreciation for their enlightening presentations. Pat Trombino was given a gift in appreciation of Horizon hosting the tour. There was a random drawing for a free Forum and Expo Pass. Individuals were required to be National member to win. Jeff Lee’s business card was drawn by Mark Brousseau. Congratulations Jeff!
The meeting concluded at 12:30 p.m. with lunch.
April 25, 2007
The OPEX Corporation
Bob Young, the Delaware Valley Chapter President, welcomed the attendees at 9:45 a.m. and thanked Opex for hosting the meeting. He pointed out Opex was the 2006 recipient of TAWPI’s Hall of Fame Award. Bob reviewed the agenda and then asked each of the attendees to introduce themselves. Steve Csogi, the DVC Treasurer, reviewed the Chapter’s 2006 Financial Statement. The membership in attendance unanimously approved the report.
The first presentation was made by Bob Balotsky from USDataworks. Bob discussed the current state of payments in the US and provided his assessment on how continued declines in check volumes will impact paper processing costs. The next presenter was Laura Lee Orcutt of Wells Fargo. Laura Lee’s presentation was titled "Payments are a Changing". She explored how technology and innovation are changing the payments landscape. Both presentations are available on the DVC webpage.
The speakers were presented gifts in appreciation for their informative presentations. A gift was presented to Al Stevens in recognition of Opex hosting the meeting. After a short break, a tour of the Opex headquarters and production facilities ensued. The attendees had an opportunity to see entire production process from raw material through final on site testing.
The meeting concluded at 12:30 p.m. with lunch.
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December 1, 2006
Philadelphia USPS Facility
Bob Young, the Delaware Valley Chapter President, welcomed the attendees at 9:45 a.m. and thanked United States Postal Service for hosting the meeting. He reviewed the agenda and then asked each of the attendees to introduce themselves. Current and future DVC Directors in attendance were introduced. Bob thanked Joe Roose the retiring Treasurer for his dedicated service to the Chapter and presented him with a retirement gift.
Susan Dudley of the USPS provided an update on the suggestions made by the Remittance Mail Advisory Committee (RMAC) earlier in the year. She reviewed the communications, performance metrics as well as new products & services being considered. The next update open to everyone will be at the Postal Service headquarters in Washington DC in February. Remittance Mail accounts for $17B in revenue.
Ken Jones and Henry Herrera from the USPS followed with an informative presentation on mail fraud. Ken reviewed the history of postal inspectors as well as their responsibilities. He also reviewed the most common origins of identity theft. Henry reviewed some actual examples of activities recently undertaken by postal inspectors.
All three speakers were presented gifts to express the Chapter’s appreciation for their enlightening presentations.
An hour and a half tour of the new postal facility followed a break. DVC members were very impressed with the technology on display.
The meeting concluded at 12:50 p.m. with lunch.
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July 26, 2006
United Recovery Services
Cherry Hill, NJ
Bob Young, the Delaware Valley Chapter President, welcomed the attendees at 9:45 a.m. and thanked United Recovery Services (URS) for hosting the meeting. He reviewed the agenda and then asked each of the attendees to introduce themselves. Current Directors as well as any 2007 – 2008 Nominees were introduced. Jon Colpitts conducted the Chapter’s annual election. The new slate of Officers and Directors was unanimously approved. Bob thanked Joe Roose, retiring Treasurer, for his dedicated service to the Chapter.
Two exciting networking opportunities were discussed. Amber Watson, President of the Tri-State Chapter discussed a 3 hour cruise around Manhattan on Sept. 6. The ship leaves Chelsea Piers in lower Manhattan and the $130 per person fee includes food and beverages. Jeff Lee spoke about the DVC Day at Monmouth Park on Friday, August 18. We will have our own infield picnic area. Admission and lunch are free for DVC members who register by August 15. Non-members are $10.
Bob introduced Mark Cinotti of United Recovery Services and Bob Duffy, Vice President of Paradigm Solutions. They reviewed Business Continuity Preparedness in the post Check 21 era and discussed the methods of performing Business Impact Analysis. Mark and Bob related some of the lessons that have been learned from recent natural disasters.
The meeting resumed after a break. John Kincade, Vice President of J&B Software and DVC Board Member related the new strategy his firm has implemented for contingency planning. A tour of the site followed.
Mr. Young presented gifts to Mark and Jim to express the Chapter’s appreciation for their informative presentations. He also presented one to Joe Davis of URS for hosting the meeting.
The meeting concluded at 12:15 p.m. with lunch.
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April 11, 2006
Verizon
Cranford, NJ
Bob Young, the Delaware Valley Chapter President, welcomed the attendees at 9:45 a.m. Bob reviewed the agenda and then asked each of the attendees to introduce themselves. He pointed out the Board Members in attendance and then read a letter from Oscar Squire, DVC Vice President and TAWPI National Chairperson, who was unable to attend. The memo was designed to update the DVC membership on the new strategic plan for TAWPI National. Bob asked for DVC members to volunteer for a focus group conference call to review the revised strategy.
A tour of Verizon’s operation ensued including transports and Opex IEM ARC, the working of administrative returns, on site shredding, the Opex AS3600i as well as roping and zoning.
After a break, Bob introduced Jim Kalinski of Checkfree. Jim mentioned people still like to control their checks and asked when and if the decline in check volumes was going to level off. He stated at the recent TAWPI RPC meeting in Phoenix it was mentioned Image Exchange would take off in 2006. The one thing not to overlook is the volume of IRDs continues to grow with 1.6B items ARCed in 2006. Jim indicated consumers have accepted the Opt Out process given the relatively low number of customers choosing to be excluded from the process. The definition of business checks based upon the presence of an aux-on-us in the MICR goes into effect 09/15/06 as does the $25k threshold. Jim referenced the Regulation E Amendment to eliminate the signature requirement and Back Office Conversion (BOC).
Mr. Kalinski stated Checkfree offers ARC processing as a hosted service offering. They offer a per transaction pricing model and also markets the sale of ARC software to Financial Institutions or companies that run the firm’s PEP+ ACH software. Jim outlined ARC capabilities including ARC eligibility decisioning, reformatting ACH file creation, returns and database updates.
Bob Balotsky of US Dataworks (UDW) then went to the podium. He reviewed some company information: established 9 years ago and Amex was their first client in an RCK environment. Their second customer was the US Treasury to reduce float on checks deposited in overseas bases. Bob indicated US Dataworks ARCed approximately 50% of all ARC items in 2005. He referenced an industry wide admin return rate vs. a UDW system average of .08% vs. .03% with UDW’s best client.
Bob then provided his historical perspective on ARC. In the early days, the volume was low and we went from two pass to one pass to zero pass. There was apprehension over the anticipated level of customer Opt Outs and administrative returns. It has turned out these became non-issues. Currently, in 2005 there were 1.6B items ARCed out of a total of 4-6B. NACHA is driving change with the clarification on the business check issue and BOC. In the future, UDW is looking toward an intelligent clearing engine where the customer doesn’t care where it came from. Bob envisions this not just for ARC and will determine what makes the most sense for the customer. Going forward, Mr. Balotsky sees combining optimal workflow with optimum clearing workflow.
Mr. Young presented gifts to Bob and Jim to express the Chapter’s appreciation for their informative presentations. He also presented one to Brian McGlynn for hosting the meeting and coordinating the refreshments.
At the end of the meeting the Chapter had a drawing for a free Forum and Expo pass. The lucky winner was Trish Wolf of CDS. Congratulations to Trish!
The meeting concluded at 12:30 p.m. with lunch.
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November 17, 2005
The Direct Group
Swedesboro, NJ
Bob Young, the Delaware Valley Chapter President, welcomed the attendees, introduced the Board members in attendance and reviewed the agenda. He thanked the Direct Group for hosting the meeting and sponsoring the lunch. Bob asked all attendees to complete the DVC survey to assist in planning next year’s activities. He mentioned the Chapter is considering a networking event after the spring meeting.
Bob introduced Chris Ryan, the President of the Direct Group, for a brief introduction. The tour was moved up in the agenda so the attendees could see the operation without associates being on lunch. The Direct Group offers a full suite of direct mail services from prepress, print and personalization through lettershop, commingling and mail. The Direct Group processes an average of 5 million pieces of mail every shift, 5-7 days a week. Nearly 40 roll-to-roll high-speed laser-imaging systems feed more that 100 inserting devices.
Joel Hoback from Carreker gave an informative presentation on Check 21/Image Exchange. He mentioned there were a few early adopters with low volume with a focus on forward presentment. He reviewed some expectations from a 2004 BAI study that included faster funds collection, reduced transportation costs, new product offerings and more efficient processes. Some surprises included: a slower than expected rollout, legal concerns, regulations that were too vague, paper in many cases moving as well as image, a infrastructure not conducive to Image Exchange (IE), new infrastructure built for image but falling behind and solutions without a complete view of requirements.
Joel indicated there were a number of networks to use: SVPCo, Viewpointe, Endpoint Exchange, the FED or direct send. The inherent questions are which one to use, how do I settle and what happens when something goes wrong? He stated that the initial customer experiences were low volume, account level exchange, back office deficiencies, successful forward presentment of IRDs, matured settlement through NACHA, Image Quality was not a nightmare and returns remained manual.
Joel reviewed some statistics on IRD creation: FED 1.8M/day, EDS 1+M/day and other such as Fiserv. His opinion is some firms have no business printing checks because checks & balances are not in place. He referenced the extraordinary balances the DVC members observed on the Direct Group tour.
On the exchange side, SVPCo is doing 240k images/day. Viewpointe’s volume is low but on the rise and Endpoint Exchange with a focus on small banks is live but has relatively small volume (8M in Sept.) He mentioned that the average value of an IRD fell from $17,575 in February to $9,360 in August. He indicated the Federal Reserve projects 100k new items/day through the end of 2006. By 12/06, 20% of the FED volume will be IRD or IE.
As for the future, Joel envisions a disappearance of the silo approach for payments as everything converges. Offerings will address multiple payment types; day 2 functions will be in line, near real time with maturation of vendor co-existence.
Click here to view or download Joel's presentation
Due to the length of the tour, it was agreed that the Remittance Mail Postal Advisory Committee update would be held over until the next meeting.
At the end of the meeting the Chapter held a drawing for $100. The lucky winner was Joan Argentino of Verizon. Congratulations to Joan!
The meeting concluded at 1:30 p.m.
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September 15, 2005
Opex Corporation
Moorestown, NJ
Herb Thiel, Opex Product Specialist, made a brief presentation on what
he learned at the Dale Carnegie sessions
he had attended earlier in the year. Herb attended once a week sessions
for 12 weeks. He indicated Dale
Carnegie improved self-confidence, communication, people and leadership
skills as well as attitude. Herb
mentioned several of the people in his group had received promotions shortly
after attending. He suggested
icebreakers such as where do you work or live or asking someone what they
think of the weather.
Brian Ashforth from CPT Intelligent Technologies reviewed the latest developments
in forms recognition. Brain's
presentation was based upon a case study of Dr. Leonardís Healthcare.
It is a catalog company processing 100k
handwritten forms per week. 75% of the items contain a check. He characterized
their forms as unfriendly image
forms that were time consuming to input. Slow customer service delayed
check deposit. Now using 6 AS3600íis
and CPTs Opex Bridge software the firm can communicate between various
systems. Dr. Leonardís has
automated input reducing staff in excess of 60%, improved customer service
and automated check deposit while
eliminating 5 people in this area.
The next presentation was made by Jim Moore, Kirk Stewart & Phil Weiss
of FileNet. They discussed Enterprise
content management. FileNet serves 81 of the Fortune 100 deploying intelligent
Internet forms, records
management and e-mail management. As a case study they presented statistics
on the NJ Division of Revenue
that handles virtually all-incoming cash to the state. They have been able
to deposit checks quicker, provide
refunds faster and effectively leverage technology. The Division imaged
182M documents containing 1.8B pages.
Phil stated processes should be consistent, compliant, simple, easy to
manage, integrate seamlessly with
business systems, real time, process quickly and easy to change
David Hattan and Bryan Bruton of eGistics made the final presentation.
They primarily provide archive for
financial purposes, loan operations and healthcare applications. David
stated firms have the following archive
options: build in house, buy & customize or go to an Alternate Service
Provider (ASP). Bryan expressed his belief
that the ASP value proposition improved productivity, increased customer
satisfaction, reduced risk and
eliminated hardware/software costs. Bryan reviewed several case studies
including a large Wireless company
that was providing courtesy credits in excess of $1M per month when customers
disputed their contract. eGistics
imaged and cross-referenced the contracts vs. account numbers so reps could
easily refute customer claims that
they had signed a different contract.
There was a brief tour of always-impressive Opex facility in Moorestown,
NJ. During lunch the Chapter held a
drawing for complimentary Chapter membership for the next year. The lucky
winner was Laura Thomforde of New
Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Group. Congratulations to Laura! The meeting
concluded with lunch at 12:30 pm.
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April 21, 2005
J&B Software
Blue Bell, PA
Bala Balasubramanian, President & CEO of J&B Software discussed
the technology evolution in remittance
processing in the past 30 years and shared his views for the future. He
described the shift in the industry from
hardware to software integration. Bala mentioned that almost all remittance
processors now have image systems and
some have second & third generation systems.
Bala expressed his belief that cash is the most efficient means of making
a payment but it requires a face-to-face
presence. Credit cards while widely accepted typically costs the merchant
2% which is expensive. Wires (EFT) are
efficient but costly at $15-$20. He stated his belief that checks will
remain a favorite payment vehicle for the
foreseeable future.
Mr. Balasubramanian indicated hub and spoke technology would likely dominate
future remittance configurations.
This will lower mail & check float costs while maximizing the use of
expensive assets. This also promotes the use of
remote data entry and existing bandwidth. He stressed the need for "bullet
proof" security and more competent
software to identify duplicate transactions.
J.P Jolly, Director - Global Payments for Citigroup addressed changes in
the payment industry. He stated that paper
checks would continue to decline by 10% per year through 2010. He indicated
the changes were due to the following:
- Technological Change
- Increased Automation
- Declining paper check volumes
- A 4% growth in non cash payments
- New standards
- SwiftNet - the interbank communication standards
- Banks have been forced to become more efficient
- Customers are benefiting via lower prices and new opportunities
Mr. Jolly indicated many tier 2 banks are learning to live with lower check
revenue and may outsource check
processing to tier 1 banks. He expressed concern that fraud many increase
with IRDs.
There was a brief tour of JB's facility in Blue Bell, PA.
The Chapter then held the drawing for the complimentary TAWPI Forum & Expo
pass valued at $1,000. We
congratulate Mary Jacquette from Sovereign Bank who won the raffle.
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November 18, 2004
Verizon Corporation
Cranford, NJ
The annual business meeting for the Delaware Valley TAWPI Chapter was conducted with the election of Officers. The slate of officers as recommended by the nominating committee was unanimously elected. The annual business meeting was overshadowed by the news of the passing of our chapter president, Ginny Read, the previous day.
Following the business meeting, presentations were given on Check 21 and IE by a representative from JPMorgan Chase and Amber Sunseri of Mellon Bank. Amber also reviewed the work of the RPC Operations subgroup dealing with forwarding items, returns as well as storage and destruction.
The presentations were followed by a tour of Verizon's Remittance Center.
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July 14, 2004
OPEX Corporation
Moorestown, NJ
LUNCH WITH THE EXPERTS : This was our most well attended meeting ever. The distinguished and varied backgrounds of our panel of experts addressed a wide variety of questions from the audience. The questions ranged from check conversion to bulk mailing issues.
Moderator John Kincade - Account Executive with Image Remit
John has over 20 years experience in the remittance processing industry. He has worked for Unisys as National account executive. With J&B Software he managed the Lockbox line of business and finished his career at J&B as VP of Operations.
Panel:
Kathi Plymouth - Remitco. Kathi is the Director of Product Management
for REMITCO, a division of First Data Corp. She is responsible for the
management of REMITCO's product lines that include coordination of the
development agenda for various emerging payment initiatives like image
archive, check conversion and truncation. Kathi is on the Steering Committee
and serves as the Business Issues Workgroup Leader for the TAWPI Remittance
Processing Council. She has been a Certified Cash Manager since 1977.
Mike Tallitsch - Wausau Financial Systems. Mike has been in the financial
industry sector for 10 years. He actively manages development and strategic
planning initiatives for WFS Optima3 ImageRPF remittance, ACH and ATM Deposit
Balancing solution product lines as Product Line Manager for Remittance
Solutions. Mike is a Steering Committee member of TAWPI's PRCC ACH Council
and has developed coursework and taught pre-conference training for Key
Concepts and Advanced Concepts remittance courses at TAWPI's national forum.
Bill Dwyer Sr , Marketing Specialist with Direct Data. Having been in
the printing & mailing industry for 35 years Bill is familiar with
postal regulations for both 1 st class and standard mailings.
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March 11, 2004
PPL
Ninth Street
Allentown, PA
Basic Concepts in Form Design, Forms Processing and Document Management for Image Processing - In today's day to day business environment, correspondence, forms, photographs, etc become difficult and sometimes impossible to introduce into your current workflow. Herb Thiel, Product Specialist with OPEX Corporation presented the basics in Forms Processing and Document Management.
Exception Mail Solution - Oscar Squire from PPL covered exception mail payments and the solution PPL put in place to reduce the burden of processing these items. Some examples of exception mail payments would be, check only, multiple stubs/checks, check and list, correspondence enclosed with the payment, etc. In a high speed high volume operation, a single stub and single check is the expected mail payment format. This format greatly minimizes operator intervention to process these payments. Exception mail payments require much more operator attention due to the variety of unexpected payment formats received. Exception mail payments therefore cost more to process per item than the expected normal payments. PPL recently added a solution which builds on the relationship with its partners at OPEX and Wausau Financial Systems to address the issue of processing exception mail payments.
Oscar Squire is Supervisor of the Remittance Processing Center at PPL, an energy company providing electricity and gas service to 1.4 million customers. A tour of the PPL processing center featuring the use of OPEX 3600i equipment was very informative.
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October 30, 2003
Prinexus
4 Applegate Drive
Robbinsville New Jersey
Topics:
1. Kathy Plymouth of Regulas provided an update on ACH Process and Rules.
2. The New Jersey Division of Revenue processes a wide variety of documents for many state government agencies including Taxation, Motor Vehicles, Department of Labor, and Consumer Affairs. New Jersey is the only state that has centralized its processing operations to such a degree within one agency. To handle the demands of each client agency, they utilize remittance processing systems, full page document imaging systems with both OCR/ICR and Key From Image, as well as traditional data entry. Color scanning is also being used to image personnel records.
Although the processing of these documents does not differ to a large degree from other private sector applications, more data capture is required. Processing tax returns is like sending out a blank credit card statement or utility bill and asking the customer how much they charged on their credit card last month or how much electricity did they used.
Ruth Kelly, Assistant Director of Processing Operations, Steve
Crescenzi, Chief of Processing, and Phil Mugavero, Chief of Data Conversion
gave a presentation showing
how your
government documents are processed.
Following the speaker session, tours were offered by Prinexus of their Fulfillment Center.
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July 22, 2003
Unisys Remittance Processing Center
1085 Andrew Drive
West Chester, PA 19380
Speakers:
1. Mary-Anne Young - Unisys, Service Delivery Manager discussed "Setting
up Workflow in a Remittance Processing Shop from a Staffing Prospective"
2. Kymberly Morris and Greg Flick discussed "Setting up a Remittance
Processing Site From the Ground Up….Including Choosing The Site,
Laying Out the Shop and Modeling the Shop"
A tour of Unisys Remittance Processing Site which included a synopsis of the equipment and work done at this site was very informative.
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March 27, 2003
OPEX Corporation
305 Commerce Drive
Moorestown, NJ 08057
Ms. Kathy Plymouth, Product Manger, Regulas Corporation.
Topic: Overview of Check Conversion
What is check conversion, workflow implications; Why are Remittance providers
offering this process; Current Trends. Ms. Plymouth's expert understanding
of this evolving subject provided the audience a current understanding
of the ACH process
Mr. Al Stevens, Chairman of Opex Corporation
Topic: History and Latest Industrial Advancements in Mail Extraction
Mr. Stevens' first hand knowledge provided a unique history
of the evolution of the equipment that is currently used in today's mail
room.