Wichita, KS – Laserfiche, a leading provider of document management solutions, today announced that the Wichita Police Department has reached new levels of customer service for citizens and improved operational efficiency by leveraging its enterprise Laserfiche document management solution. In less than one year since implementing the Laserfiche-based accident report system, the Police Department has generated a significant return on investment measured by more than 600 man-hours saved. The City also projects that the system will generate an annual revenue of $74,000.

The Wichita Police Department is required to report to the Kansas Department of Transportation any accidents with a property loss of $1,000 or greater in value; as well as accidents involving injury or drugs. These accident reports are scanned, stored and maintained in the Laserfiche system, allowing for fast and easy reporting.

Before Laserfiche, 30-40 citizens per week lined up at the Police Records Division to request copies of accident reports. They completed a form, paid a convenience fee and waited two weeks for the report to arrive by mail. On average, it took records clerks more than 20 minutes to process each request. The department also provided copies at reduced costs to a reseller who sold them to insurance companies at a profit due to loopholes in the Kansas Open Records act. This inspired the idea of providing digitized reports directly to citizens and insurance companies, completely eliminating the middle men.

Now the Wichita Police Department has fully integrated an online accident report program that uses Laserfiche document management technology to get additional value from municipal documents.

The new accident report retrieval system (http://services.wichita.gov/accidentreports/default.aspx) securely automates the report process and has reduced front-counter requests at the Police Records Division to a trickle. When a citizen does request a report in person, clerks use the online system to find and print it in seconds.

Staff involvement has been reduced from 50-60 hours per month to nearly zero. Moreover, the Police Department charges $16 per report, with revenues going to the City of Wichita. Even though the insurance companies now also pay the $16 fee, they are enthusiastic about the online system because it delivers significant time savings to them as well, according to Cliff Thomas, imaging analyst manager for the City.

“Laserfiche enabled us to quickly and seamlessly scale up from a very basic system. It has grown to be an integral part of the work of 12 departments. The scalability enabled us to get started, win over the staff and figure out where we wanted to go on a modest investment,” said Thomas. “Our major focus is to continually look for ways to use document management technology to improve business processes and help us save valuable man-hours. This initiative has generated not only a new source of revenue for the City but also has enabled us to reallocate taxpayer money to other programs.”

By implementing Laserfiche document management solutions across the municipality, the City of Wichita has made significant strides in automating the delivery of services in recent years. The City archives, which contain more than 6.5 million digital images, are now managed in a searchable and secure repository.

“With city departments needing to keep a close eye on budgets, it’s critical to streamline processes and minimize costs where possible,” said Nien-Ling Wacker, CEO and founder of Laserfiche, Inc. “We are pleased to provide the foundation for a system that continues to deliver significant value and improved performance to the local community of Wichita. It is our hope that the successful integration of Laserfiche technology into day-to-day Police Department processes highlights the role Laserfiche technology can play with numerous city agencies.”

About Laserfiche
Based in Long Beach, CA, Laserfiche (www.laserfiche.com) creates simple and elegant document management solutions that help organizations run smarter. Laserfiche solutions are used in 21,000 government and business offices worldwide.

Posted on Sunday, May 1st, 2005 at 1:33 pm under Press Releases. You can comment on this article. trackback from your own site.