by Gene Waltz, Database Administrator, Washington County, OR
We implemented Laserfiche in 2005 because we needed an easy-to-use solution that would help staff quickly find information, regardless of format. We also liked the fact that Laserfiche integrated so easily with our other applications. The Workflow module was probably the system’s biggest selling point, though. We recognized right away that Workflow would eliminate the time lag associated with manually routing documents between departments, and would also help us reduce the number of lost and misplaced files.

We currently use Workflow to route police reports, subpoenas, and other items between our sheriff’s and district attorney’s offices, as well as to route documents (such as time cards) within the sheriff’s office itself. Workflow also helps us keep our registry of sex offenders up to date. Whenever someone scans a document about an offender, Workflow automatically routes it to the offender’s folder in the Laserfiche repository. This ensures that the file is complete and that we can always access the documents we need to determine an offender’s current whereabouts.

Because we’ve had so much success with this module, I volunteered to test the beta version of Workflow 8, and I’m really impressed with what I saw. I especially appreciate the fact that so many events can now trigger a workflow—including events that occur in other software applications. I also like how Workflow 8 can perform so many actions on a document, besides simply moving it from one folder to another. This functionality will be particularly useful in our DA’s office. I anticipate scenarios where, for example, we’ll use Workflow 8 to automatically apply a security tag to a document, based on someone’s entry in a template field. We’ll also create a workflow for our subpoenas so that, once they’re approved, Workflow will automatically e-mail them to recipients.

Workflow 8 will also solve some of the minor problems we currently experience. For example, people sometimes approve documents but then neglect to record the date, which means that we don’t get accurate results when we search for all the documents that were approved on a certain day. Workflow 8, however, can automatically time-stamp a document when it’s approved, so we’ll always have that information available for search purposes.

Ultimately, though, the biggest advantage of Workflow 8 is that it’s built on the Windows Workflow Foundation, which makes it possible to create more flexible and sophisticated workflows. This will prove very useful in our sheriff’s office, where it will help us better manage all the training sessions staff have to attend to keep their various certifications up to date. Right now, we spend a lot of time managing training records, and it can literally take days to determine who’s attended which sessions and when everyone’s due for recertification. Workflow 8 will really help us eliminate this hassle. When we scan certification documents, we’ll record the certification date in the relevant template field. Workflow timer events will then automatically check these dates, and Workflow will send staff e-mail reminders when they’re due to attend training. Thanks to integration with our training database application, Workflow will even track how many people are signed up for each class and will schedule additional classes as needed.

I’ve seen the new features in Laserfiche 8, such as the new annotation types and the multi-value template fields, and I see a lot of value in these enhancements. On the whole, though, I have to say that Laserfiche 8 is really a workflow product, and I’m excited about everything it’s going to help us accomplish.

Tags: Workflow

Posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 4:03 pm under UserNews. You can comment on this article. trackback from your own site.