Case Study: Ontario Universities’ Application Centre achieves reduced paper burden and streamlined application processing with Fortra Webdocs

HelpSystems Lessens the Paper Burden at the Ontario Universities Application Centre

The Ontario Universities’ Application Centre (OUAC), a Guelph-based not-for-profit that processes undergraduate and professional admissions for 19 universities and the Ontario College of Art & Design, faced a heavy paper burden: although applications were submitted online, supporting documents—transcripts and reference letters—often arrived by mail and had to be matched and distributed manually across a large, complex applicant pool (over 3.5 million applications in 2005).

OUAC implemented HelpSystems Webdocs and document-scanning to capture paper mail and convert spool files to PDFs, with automatic or manual indexing into a System i–based repository. The change eliminated time-consuming paper hunts, enabled fast online retrieval and automated routing without programming, unlocked enhanced reporting and applicant services, and proved easy for staff and seasonal workers to adopt—significantly reducing the organization’s paper-processing burden.

Ontario Universities’ Application Centre

Catherine Wilson

Manager