Tangent Systems Helps Disabled American Veterans Organization Collect Donations

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Hoffman Estates, Ill. — Disabled American Veterans (DAV), a non-profit organization dedicated to building better lives for the nation’s disabled veterans and their families — relies on the gifts of its millions of contributors nationwide to continue serving its members. To do so, Cincinnati-based DAV sends out 60 million pieces of mail a year to solicit donations, and receives 10 million responses.

Until recently, DAV was manually processing those 10 million annual responses, a procedure requiring more than 17 distinct operations. In April 1997, DAV decided to upgrade its gift processing operations. With the help of consulting firm Deloitte & Touche LLP, DAV installed an automated solution that greatly improved the time and efficiency of their gift processing operations, reducing by almost half the number of workers needed to process checks. At the heart of the solution is Tangent Systems’ DocuTran¨ remittance processing software, which performs the critical task of taking the static, paper-based information on the check and remittance and transforming it into dynamic, digital information DAV can use.

“Even though we’re a non-profit organization, we face the same competitive pressures as for-profit companies,” said Anita Blum, DAV comptroller. “Donors give money to well-run, efficient organizations that focus their time and money on their mission, not administration and overhead.

Our new gift processing solution certainly gives us a competitive advantage, both in terms of soliciting donations and in delivering more and better service to our members.”

Complex, high-volume application

DAV has a unique method of processing its gifts. Unlike a classic remittance application, in which the remittance statement is enclosed with the check, DAV uses the back of the return envelope itself as the remit advice.

“It’s an unusual way of collecting gifts, but our envelopes are closely identified with DAV,” Blum said. “When people see that envelope with the blue diamond, they know they are contributing to us.”

The unusual method of capturing remittance information created a need for DAV to find a transaction processing software vendor that could handle such a request. Tangent System’s DocuTran remittance processing software is specifically designed for complex, high-volume applications such as DAV’s.

DocuTran is a versatile Windows NT-based software solution built on a parameter-based design that allows for easy and quick customization — without incurring the high costs of custom code programming. The scalable and transport-independent software processes a variety of documents, including remittances, order forms, coupons, stock proxies and sales drafts.

The Implementation

DAV’s solution begins with inserting incoming envelopes into an Agissar APS-45 mail sorter, which sorts the mail according to a variety of criteria, such as method of payment, whether or not the envelope contains correspondence, etc. Then an Agissar mail extractor removes the contents from the envelope and cuts the envelope on four sides.

Next the items are placed in an Opex COMPASS which orients the checks and the back of the envelope into the appropriate position before being deposited into one of two BancTec E-Series transports for capturing, processing, validating and encoding the check.

Each day, DAV processes an average of 52,000 items, capturing the check and back of the envelope on the first pass, verifying the balances, and then running the checks through the transport on a second pass for encoding. Tangent’s DocuTran controls all of the functions on the BancTec transport. In addition, DAV is taking advantage of Tangent’s Customer Notation Detection module, which automatically detects name and address corrections and white mail notes to improve donor service and reduce the cost of undeliverable mail.

“Tangent Systems understood our needs and quickly implemented a solution,” Blum said. “Now we are able to deposit our donor contributions faster and put the funds to work providing service to disabled veterans.”

About Tangent Systems

Tangent Systems Inc., headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Ill., specializes in the development of software solutions designed to process high-volume and unique or complex paper-based transactions. Founded in 1984, Tangent is well known for its proven and flexible DocuTran software, which is used on more than 200 systems worldwide and has earned a reputation for quick and reliable implementation. In addition to software, the company also provides on-site training, application maintenance support and software customization tools. For more information on Tangent Systems Inc. or any of its solutions, call 847/882-3833 or visit www.tangent-systems.com.