Let's look at the issues encountered by an international electronic components producer and supplier. The company is one of the biggest electronic component suppliers in the world, with a presence in more than 150 countries and cities worldwide, including major clients and partners in Mainland China and throughout Asia.

Same as companies of any scale, when the company receives a purchase order from a client, no matter the purchase order and the bill of lading are paper or electronic document, it immediately faces the tremendous paper consumption and tedious manual work required to process these documents. This is because document format received from different business partners are often not comply with that used in its own system. Thus, manually input of data is inevitable. Not until the data entry process is completed, they cannot proceed to the next steps: confirming the booking and arranging delivery to the client.

Data entry is a time-consuming and error-prone process affecting the company's operating efficiency, and service quality seriously. There's also the hard fact that the large-scale consumption of paper involved is not environmentally friendly. As the company continues growing its business in Mainland China and Taiwan, the number of clients and orders also increases. To handle the thousands of orders coming from both places, the amount of paper consumed and the manual work becomes vast. Employing temporary workers to do the data entry is not a long term solution. It increases operation costs and invites errors. The situation is even worse during peak periods. The resources required to process the paper documents became a headache issue to this enterprise.

Using DTTN to exchange electronic documents

The company looked for an automatic system which would require less data entry time, help reduce manual mistakes and boost operating efficiency. To meet budget requirements, it was important that their current system would not be required to be changed or replaced.

The electronic components supplier decided to use the Digital Trade and Transportation Network (DTTN). The platform acts as a communication gateway connecting the computer systems of the company with the internal systems of all its clients. DTTN provides a direct channel for exchanging electronic documents, and solves data entry problems.

DTTN is a Government-endorsed cross-industry electronic logistics infrastructure. It provides an open, neutral and secure platform for exchanging electronic documents. It converts different kinds of documents to the particular electronic format used by any other company. DTTN offers a single connection between the computer systems of a company and its partners without the need to change their existing system. As soon as the DTTN gets information on the system configuration and the relevant document types used by the host company and its partners, they can customize a solution that makes all documents comply with the systems used by its clients.

As the electronic components supplier is focusing on developing its business in Mainland China and Taiwan, the first stage of the DTTN implementation is for the company to link with its partners in Shenzhen, Anhui, Wuhan, Shanghai, Tianjin and Taiwan. Whenever its partners send business documents like purchase orders or invoices to the company, the document first goes into the DTTN platform. DTTN will transform the documents regardless of the document format used, to the specific format used by the company, and then send the transformed document to the company's system directly. The staff will at the same time receive a notification acknowledging receipt of the document and can take appropriate action. The company no longer needs extra manpower for data entry. It saves time, boosts efficiency, avoids manual mistakes and cuts paper consumption.

The DTTN greatly enhanced the linkage between the electronic components supplier with its partners in Mainland China and Taiwan and resulted in a win-win situation with more business opportunities and competitive advantages. With the reduction of paper consumption and lower operation costs brought by the DTTN, the company is now simplifying its supply chain process. Currently, the company's partner in Shenzhen is also using DTTN for sending delivery notes and handling packaging process.

Supporting over 80 business documents

The DTTN supports documents not only on purchasing process, but also all processes along the entire supply chain, totally more than 80 major documents, including Advance Shipping Notice (ASN), Equipment Interchange Receipt (EIR) and Letter Of Credit.

Users only need to send an electronic document to the DTTN, DTTN will transform the document to comply with the receiver's system requirements and then send it directly into their system. There's no complicated installation of software or hardware; and no need to change the current system. To simplify the work flow of SME community, DTTN has designed a series of MS Excel forms for use by SMEs to exchange electronic documents with their business partners through DTTN so that they can enjoy the benefits of using DTTN without the need to heavily invest in IT infrastructure.

As a cross-industry and cross-border electronic platform, DTTN provides an integrated solution for handling business documents in the supply chain in a more cost-effective and efficient way. In using DTTN, enterprise can avoid manual mistakes, eliminate tedious paper work and reduces operating cost, thereby boosting operational efficiency and increasing profit. DTTN helps the trade and logistics community in Hong Kong take a further step towards a truly "paperless" business operation and an environmentally friendly environment.