Faster turnaround time for registration of companies as well as efficiency of submission of Return-of- Earnings are some of the latest innovations the Compensation Fund (CF) has come up with in its new claims management system.

Vuyo Mafata, CF Commissioner, was addressing dozens of stakeholders at a breakfast networking session in Port Elizabeth (PE) on Saturday. He was meeting with South African Women in Construction.

Other CF � Filing benefits include streamlined processes, end-to-end referencing and reconciliation of payments, online payment mechanisms to major banks as well as improved validation of user information. In exceptional cases, we allow walk-ins to assist our clients,” the Commissioner said

The objective of the CF is to provide compensation for disablement caused by occupational injuries or diseases. It is an entity of the Department of Employment and Labour.

Among the challenges the Fund faced over the years were registration of employers, which took up to 90 days as well as incorrect reference numbers being used thus leading to misallocation of funds in the payments of assessments.

Other challenges with the previous and current system include:

Lack of automated verification and validation of information;

Lack of automation of business processes;

Challenges with the switching of batches,

Manual generation of reports;

Lack of Integration of systems (Claims and payment system);

Data Migration from the legacy systems;

Segregation of duties; and

Lack of Document Management System.

However, through the e-COID project the fund has realised improved validation of user information � faster turnaround time for registration of companies at the fund as well as efficiency of submission of Return of Earnings, Mafata said.

Other significant benefits of the new claims system were:

Faster turnaround due to efficient, streamlined processes;

Correct workflows � the right process going to the right person at the right time;

Open communication � status updates on the progress of claims;

Timeous payments to all stakeholders;

A single source of the truth � data migration from legacy systems; and

Correct data – data cleansing and enrichment.

The Fund has said less than 50 percent of employers submitted their Return of Earning. We are here to support employers in terms of compliance” he said.

Source: Department of Labour