Client Briefs
The Situation
The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, designated a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute, employs more than 15,000 people. The institution has experienced substantial growth since 2000, with facilities that include a 475-bed in-patient pavilion, an advanced-technology Proton Therapy Center, a Research Medical LIbrary, several basic and clinical research buildings, outpatient clinic buildings and a patient-family hotel.
M. D. Anderson wanted to standardize and automate its in-person, cash-receipting system to provide improved efficiencies, greater internal controls and real-time management reporting. Through a competitive bid process, M. D. Anderson determined that CORE’s applications were more user-friendly and functional than those of other vendors. With due diligence, it determined that CORE had a successful track record over many years of delivering a quality product to their clients and engaged the company to upgrade its cashiering software.
The Solution
CORE installed a comprehensive revenue management solution for over 325 M. D. Anderson “end-users” such as clinical supervisors and patient specialists. CORE provided application design consulting, system customization, design of the interface to the center’s financial and patient ID and account systems, as well as installation, implementation, training, support and maintenance. M. D. Anderson utilizes CORE’s application for processing patient payments, with the ability to:
- Accept patient account payments, patient co-payments, and department cash collection “turn-ins” for pharmacies, gift shops, valet parking, cafeteria and coffee kiosks.
- Perform account, bad-debt and returned-check inquiries.
- Image and store insurance cards, checks and other documents for internal controls and research purposes.
- Interface and automate transaction postings with the patient billings and general accounting systems.
- Sustain business continuity in the event of network disruptions.
The Benefit
CORE delivered a product that M. D. Anderson’s users rate as 97 percent “improved” or “much improved” from previous collection processes. CORE worked to accommodate M. D. Anderson’s unique business rules and designed interfaces to its multiple patient billing systems. Now, with CORE, M. D. Anderson has maximized automation to achieve its goal of a highly efficient patient collection process.
Noteworthy benefits from the CORE installation include:
- The daily patient appointment schedule with corresponding co-pay amounts were integrated into the software for ease of use and reduced input errors.
- Qualitatively, patients receive a standard, controlled receipt format that is acceptable to the Internal Revenue Service, medical savings account and medical flexible spending account reimbursements and documentation.
- The software’s functionality and security profiles have improved discipline and control over high volume receipting and posting, the end-of-day closeout process and the audit trail, thus allowing management to have better reporting tools and stronger accountability.
The Client View
“CORE’s software applications team delivered a quality product with strong functionality and internal controls that conforms to our unique business rules.”
Brad Gibson
Director of Treasury Services
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
The College of William and Mary
The Situation
The College of William & Mary (W&M), in Williamsburg, Virginia, is the second oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. W&M’s revenue transactions include at-the-counter cashiering, check-cashing, lockbox, EDI, and decentralized departmental deposits for the main campus, the remote Virginia Institute of Marine Science campus (VIMS) and two independent foundations. Cashiers deposit state funds, private funds and gifts for both campuses and for both foundations, and grant payments into multiple accounts at multiple banks.
The College needed a payment processing system for its Bursar’s Office in order to improve service to its students and provide accurate reporting to management and to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Students were contacting the various departments with financial questions, for which employees needed on-demand information to provide answers. Their decentralized offices collecting deposits, payments, and donor gifts had to conduct transactions expeditiously, and both students and employees needed check-cashing and payment collection services.
W&M’s existing SCT Banner system did not have the functionality needed to handle these requirements. W&M found that CORE’s payment processing applications were the only Banner-compatible solutions that served its needs…and CORE had the in-depth Banner knowledge necessary to develop the system configuration and integration.
The Solution
CORE’s cashiering system was installed with a Banner interface and associated peripherals. The system, with its strong internal controls, is now W&M’s payment processing engine for performing:
- Check- and document-imaging
- Signature capture for student payments
- Departmental and other miscellaneous transactions
- Check-cashing and returned checks processing
- Cash transfers
- Credit-card processing
- Detail and summary reporting for departmental deposit transactions
- Point-of-sale transactions
- Decentralized self-service
- On- and off-line processing
The Benefit
W&M’s cashiering operations are all managed with CORE’s payment processing system. The resounding benefit is the quality of service W&M now provides its students. The staff readily responds to student inquires regarding enrollment status, financial aid, deposits, receivables and holds without the need for switching to multiple systems. The advanced functionality of CORE’s system permits:
- Identification card swiping for accurate postings
- Searches for images of checks and transaction logs
- Easy check/receipt voids
- Accurate payment posting to specific charges (Banner T-pays) with remainder posting to general balances, etc.
The Client View
“Project deliverables were on time and on budget. CORE’s responsive and knowledgeable consultants maintained the project’s functional scope and delivered the system as promised. I cannot stress enough the importance of CORE’s breadth of Banner knowledge when we went live simultaneously with both the CORE and Banner finance systems. All is working quite well for us and the enhancements CORE put into the solution during our implementation are commendable. Implementing iPayment for web-based departmental deposits is one of our future goals.”
Judy Ewart, EIS System Architect
Information Technology
College of William and Mary
The Situation
The City of Tallahassee (COT) Tax and Revenue Department installed the original BTOS version of CORE’s One-Step Payment Processing System in the late Eighties, with various upgrades implemented over the years. COT chose CORE at the time because it was the only vendor with the expertise to interface with their existing applications, and because CORE’s solution had a robust recovery system. Today, COT serves 100,000 utility customers, processing 1850 transactions through One-Step daily and $200 million in revenue annually.
To keep pace with growing constituent demands, COT needed to continue the evolution of its centralized revenue collection system. Given their longstanding successful relationship, COT once again turned to CORE for assistance.
The Solution
CORE installed the most recent upgrade of the One-Step Payment Processing System and ported over all existing system interfaces for COT’s Peoplesoft CIS for utility billing, its accounts receivables system, the Peoplesoft Financial System and parking ticket application. The new One-Step system interfaces with COT‘s bank reconciliation tables and creates a financial file of all transactions. This process fully automates COT’s cash-receipt reporting and bank-deposit reconciliation.
COT also installed CORE’s document imaging module to provide users with electronic images of payment-related documents, such as checks and departmental deposit request forms. This tool creates a better record of the payment process and improves follow-up support. Installation of CORE’s web-based Department Deposit module for managing departmental financial transactions, a component of iPayment Revenue Portal, is currently in process.
CORE guided the project from inception through to completion, modifying COT’s existing function-specific screens to a single screen configurable for multiple functions; matching existing and new functionality and managing the cut-over to the new interfaces.
With 24 users at two locations, the City of Tallahassee uses One-Step as the backbone system for processing and managing its collection revenue from all sources, including:
- Utility payments to PeopleSoft CIS (electric, water, gas, storm water, wastewater and miscellaneous taxes)
- Financial payments to PeopleSoft Oracle financials
- Accounts Receivables to Business Works AR
- Parking tickets to the Duncan Parking Ticket Solution
- Cash disbursements
- Bank reconciliation updates to PeopleSoft Bank Recon
The Benefit
The new One-Step/iPayment installation is the revenue processing center for the City of Tallahassee. It has significantly boosted the accuracy of its collections, as well as the productivity and responsiveness of its staff without the need for additional personnel.
The Client View
“I have worked with many vendors and installed many more versions of software. CORE has been with us for almost 20 years because they are committed to quality and have the ability to adapt their software to meet our ever-changing requirements. They have been our loyal business partner for many years and have always listened to our needs. I trust these folks with my job.”
Mike Meeks
Supervisor, Tax and Revenue
City of Tallahassee