Document Receipting supports the processing of offline lodgements by registry staff. It enables the separation of the receipting of the documents and payments, the scanning of the documents and the data entry, followed by the standard review process.
For most jurisdictions the goal is that their customers lodge their regulatory forms online, the practical reality is that they still need to support the ability for filings to be made via offline channels, e.g. mailed in or presented at a front counter.
In some Verne implementations, the volume of offline lodgements is anticipated to be relatively high. This could be for a number of different reasons. For example:
- Low level of access to internet capability and services.
- Customer preferences.
- In jurisdictions with high volumes of transactions, even a small percentage of offline lodgements will create a significant workload.
Document receipting enables registry staff to meet these customer expectations and to minimise the workload on registry staff tasked with processing offline lodgements.
From a customer perspective, document receipting can significantly minimise the waiting time for walk-in customers. Customers simply lodge their paper applications, pay any associated fees and then receive a receipt as proof of lodgement and payment. More importantly, customers do not have to wait for their application to be processed in its entirety.
Document Receipting Quick Guide
A filing document presented for lodgement will fall into one of three categories; Perfect Application, Application Needs Additional Work or Incorrect Application. The first five steps are the same for all categories.
All Applications
Customer:
- Step 1 – Mails in or presents at the counter the paper filing or scanned forms
Registry Staff then:
- Step 2 – Barcode/document reference attached to any paper filing’s documents;
- Step 3 – Receipt the document using Lodge Documents creating a document bundle for a filing, e.g. Register a Local Company;
- Step 4 – Scan each paper document and store on a repository – outside Verne;
- Step 5 – Upload each of the scanned filing documents into Verne using Manage Bundle, which produces a Data Entry Task (DET) in the Work Queue;
Perfect Application
- Step 6 – Open the Data Entry Task, to enter the paper filings information into the online form for the filing, e.g. Register a Local Company;
- Step 7 – Submit online filing. Now the paper filing is just the same as any other online filing and if it requires approval its Review Task is added to the Work Queue;
- Step 8 – Open the Review Task, for it to be approved, rejected or returned.
Application Needs Additional Work
Within document receipting the application/filing can be returned to the customer at one of two points:
- Step 6 – Data Entry Task – using the Return Form (incomplete) option;
- Step 8 – Review Task – using the Return Form option.
If the customer wishes to resubmit the application the process starts at Step 1 but with a resubmission application key and the required revisions provided by the customer.
Incorrect Application
Within document receipting the application/filing can be rejected at one of two points:
- Step 6 – Data Entry Task – using the Reject Form option;
- Step 8 – Review Task – using the Reject Form option.
Rejection is final and a new application/filing must be presented if the customer wishes to proceed.
Document Receipting High Level Process
This section describes the end-to-end business process of how registry staff can handle offline filings using the standard Verne document receipting module.
Stage 1. Receipt Paper Application
| Step # | Step Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | Enter details about the Company and Application Form | Registry staff looks at the forms provided by the presenter and enter key information to start receipting of a new bundle. Details about the bundle includes whether this is a resubmission or a new application, what company this application relates to – new or existing, selection of an existing company, selection of an application that is being lodged. Each bundle in the lodgement is equivalent to a Verne Business Service. |
| 1.2 | Enter return details | Return method and processing time details are entered with any required notes/comments. |
| 1.3 | Upload soft copies or register all paper forms/documents relating to this application | Each bundle in the lodgement is equivalent to a Verne Business Service that may have one or more associated paper documents. The document(s) required for the selected business service will be presented on the screen. Registry staff can either take soft copies provided by the presenter and upload immediately or they can take paper forms and attached barcodes to them, subsequently scanning the code into the system and forwarding the paper for further scanning. |
| 1.4 | Enter additional details for fee calculation | Where selected business service has complex fees that depend on the data provided on the form, the staff will need to enter the required parameters prompted by Verne. In some rare cases, fees can be manually overwritten by authorised staff. If the same presenter wishes to submit more than one application, then staff will add the current bundle to the lodgement and create a new bundle, starting from Step 1.1. |
| 1.5 | Enter presenter details | The presenter details will need to be entered. The staff will need to enter at least the presenter name and either email address or mailing address. Verne can be configured to allow the capture of organisation details and/or individual details. |
| 1.6 | Review lodgement and Submit | Prior to submitting the lodgement, the review screen is displayed. The review screen provides a summary of all details entered by the receipting staff and those fees calculated by the Document Receipting module for review. Staff will be able to navigate back to any of the details entered above and modify if required. When all details are confirmed staff submits the lodgement. When fee applies, Verne will interface with the payment system, either Verne payments module or another third party system. |
Stage 2. Payment
Payment process in the standard implementation is using Verne payment product however the process can be customised to use an external payment system.
Stage 3. Scanning of the Paper Forms
The lodged offline documents are scanned by a third party outside of Verne. The filename of the scanned document will contain a barcode number that was attached to the paper form in step 1.3. Verne uploads and matches the scanned document output with the document record created at step 1.3. This is a background process that runs at a configurable frequency. Document Receipting will check that the number of pages scanned matches the number of pages of receipted documents.
Once the document is uploaded and linked, related document record status is updated to ‘Completed’
The related Bundle status will be updated to ‘In Progress’ status if at least one document in the bundle has been scanned and linked, and to ‘Uploaded’ status once all of the documents that belong to the same bundle have a status ‘Completed’.
Stage 4. Enter Data for Paper Application
| Step # | Step Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 4.1 | Select Data Entry task from the Work Queue | Verne creates a Data Entry Task for each of the bundles in the lodgement. Document Receipting allocates the Data Entry Task to the team that is configured for each Business Service. The task can be picked up from the registry staff member’s work queue for Data Entry. The Back Office can also manage workload by performing management actions such as: allocate task to another team; assign the task to an individual; Return Form (if incomplete); Reject; Delete Form. |
| 4.2 | Select Data Entry task from the Work Queue | The data entry personnel will review the attached documents and enter relevant data into the business service online form. If during data entry staff discover that required information is missing or incorrectly provided, they can Return the form to the presenter or Reject. Otherwise, when data entry is complete, they can submit the form. If the form is returned, then re-submission can happen via offline channel again (on paper) or it can be done online, provided the feature “switch paper form to an online form” is configured to suit client’s requirements and turned on. If the corresponding business service requires review, then Verne will create a Service Review Task and allocate the task following workflow settings for this service. Otherwise, the service will be auto-approved. |
Stage 5. Review Application
| Step # | Step Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | Select Service Review task from the Work Queue | The review personnel will review online form and if it adheres to all required standards, they will approve the application. Otherwise, they can Return the form to the presenter or Reject. If the form is returned, then re-submission can happen via offline channel again (on paper) or it can be done online, provided the feature “switch paper form to an online form” is configured to suit client’s requirements and turned on. |
