The problem Rosalind Collins faced as Charlottesville, VA’s Laserfiche Administrator was not unique.

As Deputy Commissioner of the Revenue, she championed the need for a document management solution that brought Laserfiche to Charlottesville in 2000. But after years of successfully streamlining business practices in her own office and others, she was frustrated more of the city departments weren’t realizing the cost and time savings she and her staff enjoyed. Collins faced a dilemma: did she throw up her hands in frustration or would she roll up her sleeves and do something about it?

The way she tells it, she did a little bit of both: She started her own regional Laserfiche User Group.

“Having ‘fought the fight’ for so many years in my organization to gain acceptance for the [Laserfiche] project–to expand it, to get funding, to add processes–I was weary,” she admits. “I decided to just keep my little piece going and not worry about anyone else. Then I attended last year’s Conference in Los Angeles. It was such a positive experience, it invigorated me. I thought, ‘If I can’t help my own organization, I can help others and I can learn from others and perhaps their experiences can help me move some things forward after all.’”

Growing up in a family active in theater and music gave Collins a strong belief in the power of community. “I learned early on that one person cannot accomplish nearly on their own what a community of like-minded people can do when they’re moving in the same direction. If you have a shared vision for the future and strong leadership to keep things moving, you can do amazing things.”

Thus inspired, Collins asked the city’s reseller, Unity Business Systems, for help. “UBS put me in touch with other users who were starting similar regional groups, and in fact took the lead in ensuring every region in the state had a user group contact and then coordinating a regular phone meeting between all of us,” she says. Collins took the lead and set-up and publicized their first meeting last fall. Collins jokes that the promise of free food may have enticed people to show up, but the knowledge sharing and mutual support kept them talking long after the hour ended.

“More than half of the group’s total members were able to attend, which is great for a first time out,” she says. “We very quickly agreed on a mission statement and what we expected to get from the group and how frequently we wanted to meet. That way we were all on the same page as far as the group’s role and the value to each other that we can bring.” Several attendees, she says, came away with answers to questions and real steps to take to alleviate problems and overcome obstacles. She was one of them.

“I got some very good advice for exporting Laserfiche to other departments and it’s already paid off! I am happy to report several departments looking at coming on board in the next two years,” she says. What was that advice? “A wise user told me that to gain support for expanding the system to other documents, departments and processes, show them how it would work - as opposed to telling them how it could work - because the truth is that it’s much simpler than people imagine it will be,” Collins adds.

The irony being, of course, that she started the group to share her enthusiasm for Laserfiche that she felt hadn’t been as effective back home, only to wind up being inspired to direct that energy back toward home. But that, she says, is what community is all about. “Ultimately we are all a community,” she observes. “It’s a question of whether you nurture that spirit and communicate a vision that moves people.”

A self-proclaimed “Laserfiche evangelist,” Collins has been a very vocal member of the Laserfiche Luminaries community. Now she’s bringing her experience and insight to this year’s Conference as a featured speaker with her presentation “City of Charlottesville - Forming and Leading a Laserfiche User Group“ (Class IS110, scheduled for Wednesday January 14 at 10:45 am). Register here to attend.

“I’ll be sharing tips on having good meetings, how to keep the community thriving, pitfalls to avoid and a simple ‘start up’ checklist,” she says. “I hope to show people how easy it is to start a user group, so they’ll be inspired like I was. It may seem like a big job, but it doesn’t have to be and it can be so very helpful. The time you spend in setting it up and nurturing the group will pay off several-fold in the experiences, ideas and information you gain from the group.”

In fact, one of the things she’s looking forward to most about the Conference is something her fellow user groups encouraged her to do: “I had a meeting with the other regional leaders in Virginia and they actually empowered me to take some specific requests to Laserfiche staff and executives about how the company can support user groups,” Collins says. “I have some very specific and concrete ideas and requests to share.”

Tags: user groups

Posted on Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 at 9:43 am under Customer Stories, Municipal Government, State and Local Government, UserNews. You can comment on this post.