Their mission is to spread the Gospel in Asia by going into the remote villages of thatch-roofed huts and the leper colonies in crowded inner cities. Gospel for Asia’s office in Carrollton, TX, must support this ministry in the most efficient way possible. So, when several of Gospel for Asia’s leaders saw a larger ministry using an automated remittance processing system, they wanted something similar.

But Gospel for Asia didn’t want all the equipment and costs that the larger operation has. 

“As a ministry, we wanted to do the most with the least,” says Dave Chupp, director of IT. He strives to be a good steward of the resources given him. “My role is to find areas where we can gain time and make people’s time more effective in what they are doing. Our staff people raise their own support funds, so if we can have technology streamline our work, then that is all the better. We can reach more people with the Gospel if we have more supporters without having to add a lot more staff.”

Gospel for Asia supports over 13,000 missionaries in seven Asian countries. Forty Bible schools train native missionaries for three years, and then send them out as evangelists to villages. Another 100 home Bible schools teach students. The non-profit group also spreads the Good News by printing Bibles and literature in native tongues and in sending radio broadcasts throughout Asia.

A pilgrimage for the right tools

The ministry is supported through some grants, but primarily via individual donations. Although Gospel for Asia receives 35% of its payments electronically, the remaining 65% were handled manually until a year ago. Between 650 and 1,000 transactions are processed daily, for a total monthly volume of 14,000 transactions.

Chupp had been considering an automated processing system for some time, but after seeing the larger operation, he began researching such operations in earnest.

 “I talked with many different vendors of remittance processing, both hardware and software. One objective was to find mainstream vendors, ones that are well-known and have a good track record,” says Chupp. “We wanted to get the best value that we could.”

He wanted an automated system to:

1. Read check amount (CAR/LAR)
2. Be scalable
3. Be affordable

Handling exceptions is important because many donations include letters asking for prayers, referring to a prior donation or asking other information. Gospel for Asia receives 39 to 60 exception transactions daily. That’s only 7% of its total daily transaction volume, but their impact can typically double, triple or quadruple workloads. Delaying processing may delay depositing the check, too.

Chupp wanted the courtesy check amount (numeric value) and the legal check amount (handwritten value) known as CAR/LAR read electronically to speed the remittance processing and to increase accuracy. 

Scalability is important to Gospel for Asia because this 24-year-old organization wants to grow much larger. Its goal is to train and launch 100,000 missionaries into the unreached villages of Asia. And finally, affordability is important because the organization depends on donations for its very survival. 

After researching the electronic remittance processing market, Chupp went back to his first contact: American Financial Technologies in Oak Creek, WI. It offered Gospel for Asia application knowledge and the ability to coordinate various resources of hardware and software vendors to meet the needs of its application.  

“We analyzed their payment processing requirements, determined which software components would be most beneficial for them and suggested the proper hardware that would meet their needs for the lowest cost,” says Chris Orth, vice president of sales at American Financial Technologies. 

In the hardware field, it recommended the SATO CT400 thermal transfer printer, NCR 7731 check image scanner and a Fujitsu flatbed scanner. “The SATO thermal transfer printer doesn’t require a ribbon which reduces supply and inventory costs.  With the thermal label, we also don’t anticipate running into maintenance-related issues. Its label dispenser is very efficient. The operator can retrieve a label and apply it to documentation without having to tear each label from its backing. The printer is compact, too. The SATO CT400 thermal transfer printer is so universally integratable, it allowed us to easily bundle it with other components to meet the scalability requirements in this application. It is very plug-and-play and low cost. It’s just right for this application,” says Orth. 

For software, it recommended Birmingham, AL-based Aquracy Corporation (www.aquracy.com). Its AQURIT™ family of software includes AQURIT TraqCODE for bar code printing and AQURIT TraqSCAN software for quality imaging of exception documents. The scalable system is designed specifically for non-profit organizations, community banks, credit unions, businesses and government. 

 “The AQURIT system provides features and functionality that high-end systems have, yet is scalable and affordably priced based on the application size,” says Orth. “I like its ability to utilize image capture and CAR/LAR recognition systems as well as its ability to create efficiencies and reduce labor costs.”  

The AQURIT native database storing all the remittance processing information is a Microsoft SQL Server 2000. The SATO printer running AQURIT TraqCODE and Fujitsu scanner running AQURIT TraqSCAN are both hooked up to the same PC.

Simplicity, speed and success

The automated remittance processing system works very simply.  

An Opex 50 extractor automatically opens donation envelopes. Its operator separates items with correspondence from the remittance items. The check is then placed in the NCR 7731 check image scanner that captures the check image, and reads MICR scan line information and CAR/LAR information. If the read information doesn’t match, the amount is immediately keyed-from-the image and validated by AQURIT software, which builds a unique index linking the check’s image to a bar code. If the check came with correspondence or other documents, the SATO CT400 thermal transfer printer then prints a bar code label. 

The label is easily pulled off the SATO printer (no need to manually separate it from the backing) and applied to the front or back of the associated exception document. Exception documents can then be separated from checks, allowing the checks to be quickly deposited. Exception documents are bundled and prepared (staples and paper clips removed) for image capture on the Fujitsu flatbed scanner. AQURIT TraqSCAN software captures the image and AQURIT Invoice software allows data entry. As the software captures the image, it also reads the bar code and re-associates the exception document with the check. 

Within 24 hours of receipt, the system has made the donation viewable on its web site (www.mygfa.org) to password-using donors. All the donation information is stored on DonorWare software.

Security too

AQURIT’s security is integrated with Windows 2000 security. Unauthorized users can’t even log onto the system. This AQURIT module allows a supervisor or administrator to permit or prevent users from performing various tasks and functions in the AQURIT system, including changing captured data, printing reports, deleting batches, creating archive data and accessing database tools.

Good news for Gift Entry

The new system saves Gospel for Asia over 45 hours per month on its remittance processing alone, says Stephen Schaphorst, director of Gift Entry. Instead of exceptions holding back associated checks from being deposited the same day, the new operation lets them be processed immediately. When needed, exception documents are easily retrieved using any field in the database. Under the manual system, exception documents were kept in shoebox style containers in a file room. 

“If we wanted to find a gift, we had to look for them in a roomful of shelves. Sometimes people would ask us to continue praying for what they had asked last month or about a previous donation. Then we have to go back and look. Now it is all online,” says Schaphorst.

Increased accuracy in payment processing is another benefit, as well as speed in sending return receipts. “We do it twice as fast now,” says Schaphorst. “We have much quicker turnaround; we get receipts to donors right away.” 

“The system reads the MICR line from the check and matches the donor ID number with that, so regardless of who the remittance stub is from, it enters the donor ID of who wrote the check,” says Schaphorst.

The image-based workflow reduces the amount of paper handling and that reduces the chance of losing a payment, too. In addition, the chances of a letter being misplaced are eliminated. Flexibility and management reports are other benefits Gospel for Asia enjoys. 

“This automated remittance processing system has been great, “ says Schaphorst. “Dave Chupp asked if I could imagine going back to the manual system and I said, ‘No! We like the speed and ease of processing the gifts and pulling needed information from the computer instead of going into filing rooms.”

Catch-up work parties unnecessary

The bar code donation processing system was installed in May 2002. It took about three months to fully ramp up because it changed all of the processes. The change was worth it.

“The automated remittance processing system has helped us greatly,” says Schaphorst. “We had a 14% increase in the number of gifts (donations) last year and we could handle it without additional staff. Usually we are one week behind and hold work parties to catch up. We haven’t had one since the summer of 2002 and we still have room to grow. We’re now processing mail the same day it comes in,” he says.  

The system’s efficiency also meant Gospel for Asia could transfer three volunteers to other areas needing help.

In the future

Gospel for Asia is looking at additional ways to utilize the features of the remittance processing system.  One is to develop mark sense. The program has the capability to recognize check boxes for missionary support, church building, etc., so Gospel for Asia would like to add that feature. The missionary program would also like to run literature orders through the system. Many supporters order books and videos by the founder and president of Gospel for Asia, K.P. Yohannan.  

As native Christian missionaries travel on unpaved dirt roads to spread the Gospel across Asia, their support donations are being processed in Carrollton, TX, with the same care and dedication, but with an automated bar code tracking system. Gospel for Asia firmly believes God makes the best use of what is available in every environment.