A&P was using one human resources department at one facility to handle records management, storage, and retrieval for 143 supermarkets throughout New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. That same department was handling a nonfoods warehouse and two administrative facilities. It came down to this: Just three HR individuals were responsible for providing service to more than 28,000.

Not only was the sheer volume of HR-related records steadily growing to unmanageable proportions, but also, the company's in-house records management system was in desperate need of costly hardware and software upgrades. As an added strain on the facility's limited HR staff, in-house scanning was labor intensive and image retrieval was an extremely time consuming, multi-step process. Finally, after the prospect of creating an internal network to share documentation proved to be overly complex, it was inevitable: A&P needed to look "outside" for a better solution. They chose ASPEN 360™.

In a direct cost comparison between upgrading A&P's in-house system and taking advantage of Archive Systems' comprehensive, Software-as-a-Service solution, ASPEN 360 won hands-down-especially when considering projected long-term savings. A tour of Archive Systems' facilities revealed a level of quality, workflow, and business continuity that could not be cost-effectively replicated in house.

The decision was made: Archive Systems would provide A&P with comprehensive image hosting services, including off-site document conversion and storage, as well as the migration of the company's antiquated imaging solution to ASPEN 360. As a result, A&P now divides its HR workload among 30 individuals in three locations. Questions are answered sooner. Problems are solved faster. Key individuals can focus on maintaining and increasing operational efficiencies in other areas and providing higher levels of service to A&P employees.

Now, users instantly access employee records and view them while using the existing HR database. When necessary, A&P takes advantage of Archive Systems’ Scan-on-Demand services to quickly access documents before they are batch-scanned. This innovative solution has enabled A&P to manage employee relations in real-time, without hours or days of delay in retrieving information.

Archive Systems delivers an unprecedented level quality assurance that yields time and cost savings without occupying A&P staff. Without investing in hardware, software, or technology of any kind, A&P gained significant business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities that are inherent to the Archive Systems infrastructure.

Using ASPEN 360, A&P's HR department more efficiently processes several hundred employee records per day. The solution also offers the scalability to easily extend the use of A&P's HR database to include additional information such as job descriptions and employee reviews. Going forward, A&P can reduce storage costs by more easily tracking and eliminating unnecessary files.

A&P has increased efficiencies company-wide by extending secure, limited access to the company's HR department from all 143 store locations via ASPEN 360. This has enabled A&P's Benefits department to take advantage of secure document retrieval via this solution as well. As a result of the system's success, A&P is currently evaluating the needs of other departments to determine how they could also benefit from using the hosted imaging solution and other services from Archive Systems.

"ASPEN 360 has extended secure desktop access to employees in multiple locations, so our department can now concentrate on other critical tasks," said A&P's Manager of Associate Relations, Kathy Cerritto. "We can retrieve documents faster, and because the Web interface is so easy to use there was no learning curve. Best of all, outsourcing to Archive Systems has taken our department out of the hardware/software business."