Industry: Energy
Synopsis of Services Provided
iKAN Virtual Document Center Scan Capture – to scan and categorize run tickets, which are receipts used in product transportation from well storage to market.
What the Company Does
Linn Energy is one of the top 15 independent exploration and production energy companies in the United States. Today, Linn Energy is a multi-billion dollar firm with approximately 1,000 employees in more than two dozen offices across America. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, the company’s core geographical areas of focus include the Mid-Continent, Permian Basin, Hugoton Basin, Powder River Basin, Williston Basin, Michigan and California.
The Business Challenge
Linn Energy needed a way to improve their ability to capture information from run tickets, which are receipts turned in by private trucking companies when they move product from stored tanks located out in the field to market. Run tickets contain vital information about the transaction, such as volume drawn, temperature, and pressure. Before automation, the run tickets were stored in regional office in-boxes. Recalling a run ticket for audit purposes or other reasons created a significant problem, and disagreement ensued regarding whether the tickets should remain in local storage or be shipped to corporate for archival. Important business were not easily accessible and management felt vulnerable with information spread across office locations.
The iKAN Virtual Document Solution
With the help of iKAN, the company determined that on-line storage and retrieval via document scanning was the appropriate solution. The iKAN Virtual Document Center scan/capture capability proved to be an agile solution to handle the requirements of remote scan/capture for run tickets. It included the installation of a Fujitsu FI6140Z scanner in each remote field location along with the iKAN Scan/Capture software. The iKAN Scan/Capture software was integrated with existing Linn Energy line-of-business applications, including their ProCount accounting system, Enertia, IBM FileNet, and Microsoft SharePoint. The scan/capture process proved to be user-friendly and robust enough to support a wide variety of form formats, ticket sizes, and varying image quality. Through iKAN’s quality product and in-house training, the scanning of tickets is now a batch process and the data collection required for each ticket is a minimal key entry operation.
Results
By scanning run tickets at remote office locations and storing the images electronically in the Document Management System, both the corporate and satellite offices had ready access to key business information. Management solved its records retention problem and enhanced overall business operations. A centralized electronic document solution resulted in better inventory control, affording the company the ability to take advantage of daily fuel price fluctuations instead of waiting for paper documents to arrive days later before action. This outcome significantly enhanced the company’s profitability while providing strong business transparency and visibility.