Pension Fund Invests in Metastorm Business Process Management Solution with Results in Weeks

Business Wire, Feb 24, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

COLUMBIA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 24, 2003

Metastorm and Partner ImageWork Deliver on Client Requirements

for Fast Deployment, Integration and Ease of Use

The 1199 National Benefit and Pensions Fund (NBPF), working with ImageWork as its systems integrator, has selected the Metastorm business process management (BPM) system to automate and control the complex, multi-step processing of more than 5,000 monthly applications.

As one of the fastest growing union pension funds, New York-based NBPF provides benefits to over 150,000 active and retired members. Following mergers with two other unions, NBPF recognized the need for better control of the increasing paperwork involved by improving internal processes.

"Administration involves keeping track of the tens of thousands of documents that our members submit in order to process their pension benefits," said Roderick Gorham, Director of NBPF. "As we grew in size, it became more difficult to maintain the mountain of paper work. Staff resources were needlessly diverted to the filing and retrieval process, so we thought we needed a document management system. However, after reviewing our options, we decided on using the Metastorm BPM system as the best solution to this problem."

"Fast deployment, integration and ease of use were three requirements during our initial analysis, and Metastorm fit right into our infrastructure. The software was configured and running flawlessly in a matter of weeks, and we managed to integrate our BPM solution with an imaging application - an extra benefit," said project manager DeShoran Smith, Manager of Systems Integration at NBPF.

Previously NBPF used a completely paper-based system in which folders could average 20 documents each. ImageWork leveraged the Metastorm BPM technology to build a solution that now allows hundreds of users to process applications, estimates, recalculation, and reconciliation online. With immediate access to all forms and information, users can add notes, sort, search and store files electronically, thus saving storage costs and office space.

"Especially when systems, processes and cultures come together after a merger, it can be difficult for organizations to maintain customer service expectations and operational efficiency," said Scott Hughes, VP Americas Operations at Metastorm. "Our BPM system helps financial services organizations like NBPF make this transition and sustain the new level of efficiency, as well as find other ways to improve performance."

"As a highly flexible and scalable BPM platform, Metastorm is right for NBPF. It shows the what, when, where and why associated with inefficient processes, and how to fix them," said Kevin Hansan, CEO at ImageWork. "The other advantage was there was no major training required, which made for a faster deployment and easy user-acceptance."

NBPF also is using Alchemy as its back-office system and Cardiff for forms scanning, integrated with the Metastorm platform.

About Metastorm, Inc.

Metastorm (www.metastorm.com) is the leading provider of applied business process management (BPM) solutions to global 2,000 companies. Flexible, scalable and compatible with legacy systems, these vertical solutions empower business-level users to optimize sophisticated end-to-end business processes across the extended enterprise with near-immediate and trackable ROI.

About ImageWork

ImageWork(R) Technologies Corporation (www.imagewk.com) is a leading provider of document management solutions for organizations bounded by paper and paperwork. Since 1991, ImageWork has been focused on Replacing the Paper in PaperWork(R) for government and commercial clients. ImageWork automates people-intensive and paper-based processes that divert employees from their higher-value activities. ImageWork has offices in White Plains and Albany New York.

Photos available upon request.