You’ve installed Robot Reports and now you’re eager for end-users to realize the benefits of online report viewing. How do you proceed? We use the following three point program to achieve the best results: First, educate your users about how much it costs to print reports. Second, demonstrate the benefits of online report viewing. Third, implement the change gradually.
Educate Your Users about Cost
Do you and your users know how much it costs to print a report? Put together a presentation specific to your company. Consider direct costs like paper, consumable printer supplies such as ribbons and toner, and printer maintenance. Then, consider indirect costs like filing cabinets to store paper reports, floor space to house the cabinets, and report shredding and disposal. Finally, consider the human costs. How much time does the IT staff spend each day working on programming for reports, as well as sorting and delivering them? How much time do end-users spend filing new reports and retrieving old ones? When you add up these cost factors, you may be shocked at how expensive paper reports really are.
By getting involved with your end-users and explaining the costs, you may find they receive and toss reports they don’t need. It should be painless for them to give up these reports, especially if they can see them online. People often ask for reports “just in case” they need them.
In addition, most reports aren’t read in their entirety. Typically, end users need only snippets of information—they need to see certain records or totals. Robot Reports provides the functionality to give users only the parts they really need, making users more productive and money savers without giving up their beloved paper!
Demonstrate the Benefits of Online Report Viewing
Now your users can see the cost benefit, but saving money benefits the company, not them. Plus, switching from paper reports involves change. To justify the change, users need to know what’s in it for them; they need tangible benefits. Online report viewing allows users to:
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Access reports as soon as they’re processed, there’s no need to wait for hard copy to be delivered.
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Access archived versions of the same report.
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Display and sort reports the way they want to view them.
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Scan for action items and highlight them in a wide range of colors.
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Add notes to communicate with other report recipients.
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Customize report views to exclude, copy, or move columns without programming.
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Download reports into PC spreadsheet programs (no more retyping data).
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Convert reports to PDF files to send as e-mail or download to a laptop.
Implement the Change Gradually
Adopting report viewing and reducing paper is an ongoing, gradual process. Forcing a paperless environment on users doesn’t work. We recommend a four-part process for the users who are willing to try online report viewing:
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Set up users with the output option of Both (B). They will continue to receive a paper copy, while familiarizing themselves with online viewing at their own pace.
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Display the report access history to analyze online report usage. If reports are not being used or printed often, send them to the next archive stage sooner. If a user needs to access an archived report, teach them how to restore it.
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As users adapt to the new way of working with reports, gradually stop printing reports for them by switching their output option to View (V). If they still want paper, teach them to print reports on demand from the archive. They’ll soon tire of printing and retrieving reports—and only print reports when they really need them in hard copy.
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Look at report access history periodically to measure your progress toward reducing paper and see how much on-demand printing is still being done.
It’s that Simple
By illustrating the cost-savings, showing users the benefits of giving up paper, and implementing online report use gradually, you can wean a significant number of your users from paper reports and printing to online viewing.
