History
Causeway was founded in 1993 by its current Managing Director who, having spent over 20 years in the computer industry working on the hardware and software sides, realised that little or nothing was being done about the integration of applications running on mainframe, departmental or PC based systems. This was also the advent of ‘Word Processing’ but all of the systems were stand alone.
Causeway’s first product, our ‘Letter Processing system’, provided this integration. The user of a mainframe system could from the same screen call up a range of standard letters, retrieved from a departmental ‘Word Processing System’, the client name and address was automatically retrieved from the mainframe application database and merged with the letter. Even the fact that mainframe data in those days was capitalised was handled. The user could edit the letter if necessary producing a fully tailored letter quickly and efficiently. No longer was it necessary to hand draft a letter and send it to the typing pool.
Mole Valley District Council were the first customer to purchase this system and the success of this lead to the development of a ‘Document Tracking System’. A considerable amount of space was taken up within the council with the storage of correspondence. The creation by Causeway of an ‘Imaging system’ allowed documents to be scanned and stored electronically. Older images were stored and automatically retrieved from an optical jukebox. The imaging system was integrated with the Document Tracking system allowing users to view documents without having to search for the file. The space originally taken by the roller racking was re-allocated and leased to the County Council Highways staff. An archiving system was developed to allow reports to be stored and retrieved electronically. The Imaging system was enhanced to include the storage, retrieval and management of invoices.
The Document Tracking system was constantly developed adding new features and modules to create a full Electronic Document Management system. As other forms of correspondence began to be used more new modules for email and front office were added. A Document Retrieval module was added to allow the client’s own Website controlled access to documents held within the Document Management System. We are delighted that Mole Valley District Council continue to be a customer.
A new ‘Customer Relationship Management system’ was developed to assist in the migration from a department based to a customer oriented. This CRM system was designed to be used in face to face communication with clients at front desk or Help Shop locations, by telephone in Call Centres or via the Web. The CRM system fully integrates with the Document Management system allowing the user to retrieve all relevant correspondence and to pass uncompleted tasks to the relevant person. Information contained within other application systems can be obtained using our range of integration tools. In the Call Centre our CRM system was linked with the telephone system so that the caller telephone number was used to identify the caller and present their details to staff. Further integration was introduced to allow appointments to be made with Microsoft Outlook. A Mapping Module allows for staff to locate an event, such as an abandoned car, using Google Maps.
Many clients are not able to use ‘working hours’ or wish to communicate at times suitable to themselves. A ‘Self Serve’ module was introduced to allow these clients to communicate via the web. Our Forms design tool was enhanced to not only create Electronic forms for our CRM and DMS systems but also to create web forms. A client can make an enquiry or report an event using these EForms with the information being automatically passed to DMS for back office processing. This ‘Self Serve’ module can also utilise our Mapping module to locate events on a map. Clients have also the facility to track their enquiries.
New developments will include: an enhancement to ‘Self Serve’ to allow Agent or Contractor secure access to the organisations systems and a mobile ‘app’ which can be used by outbound staff.