University of East London digitises workflows for optimal efficiency

With over 17,000 students from 135 different countries, streamlining workflows and improving coordination is crucial at the University of East London (UEL). In December 2020, UEL partnered with Adobe to decrease its dependency on paper and optimise the efficiency of work processes with Adobe Acrobat Sign.

“I like to read about new technology and how we can improve efficiency — how we can get from A to B quicker, faster, cheaper, and safer,” says Ionel Ursu, digital adoption and engagement team leader at UEL. “Part of my job is talking about how we can use technology to improve our day-to-day work so that we have more time to focus on improving the service itself.”

Accelerating digitisation is a huge part of the university’s Vision 2028 mission. This mission includes becoming the leading careers-focused university in the United Kingdom, prioritising innovation, sustainability, and inclusivity. UEL’s future goal of using Microsoft integrations with Acrobat Sign — and other Adobe tools — will be one of the steppingstones towards achieving this vision, helping to reduce paper usage and emissions related to shipping documents while optimising workflows and improving the student experience.

Using Acrobat Sign to streamline processes

COVID-19 highlighted the need for UEL to digitise its processes and catalysed its adoption of Acrobat Sign. Before the pandemic, there was a bit of resistance to the need for e-signatures. But as the world went into lockdown and remote working became the new norm, it was harder to receive signed documents back in a timely manner while relying on traditional postal systems.

Managing and executing student placements and apprenticeship agreements for 17,000 individuals, while also working through tenancy agreements for over a thousand rooms, is a mammoth undertaking that needs to be streamlined as much as possible. There’s also a risk that hard copy documents may get lost in transit when wet ink signatures are required, causing further delays.

The benefits and capabilities of e-signatures prompted UEL to use Acrobat Sign for the timely completion of student forms, contracts, agreements, and a range of other documents. In some cases, such as when dealing with suppliers and contractors, UEL has to manage £40 million worth of procurement contracts. Maintaining efficiency and security while processing these documents is critical.

Ursu highlights two other major use cases. “We go to academic partnerships where we have to sign memorandum agreements with institutions inside and outside the UK. We also have an international office where we have to sign a lot of documents with international students,” he says. UEL has students from over 150 countries, and works with institutions all around the world, so Acrobat Sign created an easy workflow that wasn’t restricted by distance.

Additionally, Acrobat Sign has been used to optimise efficiency at the UEL Business Centre. This is where the university provides small businesses with the office space and digital infrastructure they need to get started. The process of getting students and small businesses into the space requires application forms, tenancy agreements, and service agreements, so the use of Acrobat Sign has been pivotal in optimising this workflow.

Results

Acrobat Sign is now being used by several departments at UEL. There’s been a 119 percent increase in electronic signature usage in the past year alone, equating to over 110,000 hours saved in the end-to-end process and a total positive financial impact of over £90,000.

For Ionel, the success UEL is having with it is demonstrated by the fact that it’s been fairly quiet on the frontlines. “The fact that people haven’t been barking at me suggests it’s working well for them,” he says.

Since its implementation, Acrobat Sign has optimised workflows in several ways, from making them quicker to complete and easier to carry out, to improving the security and trackability of information.

“Using Adobe Acrobat Sign for lease and license agreements at the Business Centre has been transformational. Our previous paper-based system was a nightmare; it would take forever to get everything signed off, and we used to have piles of paperwork to have counter-signed and scanned,” says Duncan Boak, business centre manager at UEL.

“With Acrobat Sign, we can send the full pack of documents to all signatories in a couple of clicks,” he says. “The efficiency savings must be massive, and far exceed the relatively low cost of the transactions. Our clients really like it too — it makes their lives easier, and it makes us look far more professional. It’s definitely the way forward!”

Future goals for Acrobat Sign at UEL

For Ionel, the end goal is to maximise usage of Acrobat Sign. “I want it to be used for every student at UEL when they arrive. I want everything to be done through Acrobat Sign,” he says.

There are several departments Ionel sees Acrobat Sign benefiting. The ability to check documents would be particularly helpful to UEL’s international office, which has to scan a lot of passports and paperwork. Additionally, HR has plans to explore the use of Acrobat Sign to complete employee agreements, while both the legal and finance departments are keen to expand its use in their processes.

Other future use cases that the university has in the pipeline are training courses for NHS staff, timesheets for Research and Development team partners, and putting Acrobat Sign into the hands of students.

Perhaps most excitingly, Adobe and UEL are currently working through integration projects combining the powers of Acrobat Sign with the university’s existing Microsoft applications, Adobe tools, and its in-house Student Management System.

UEL plans to continue broadening its use of Acrobat Sign going forwards, bringing it into the heart of workflows and processes throughout the university.