The vision of a paperless claim process has evolved to mean different things to different organizations. In the rudimentary stages of converting to a paperless environment, many organizations simply scan documents into their claim systems, often retaining the paper to be copied, faxed, or filed, not considering how information can be more conveniently shared throughout the entire claim enterprise.

For Federated Department Stores, which operates more than 950 stores under the names Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and May, the vision of a paperless paradigm is much more sophisticated, with the ultimate goal being that a paper file is never generated in the first place. Since the early 1990s, Federated has covered its general liability and workers' compensation claims through a self-insured and self-administered program.

In the past, due to the nature of disparate systems, information often had to be keyed in multiple times, resulting in redundant data entry and the waste of valuable resources. In order to save time, costs, and labor, Federated strives toward a single-keystroke approach, meaning that information is entered only once. An individual might type in the date of injury or a claim number, but no one else would need to re-enter that data for the life of the claim.