Luminary Profile: Corene “Corey” Hall
May 19th, 2009 Comment on this article
Kenai, AK, Deputy Clerk Corey Hall
Kenai, AK, a city of 7,000, may not have the biggest or most elaborate Laserfiche installation. But the woman behind the modest city’s steady, patient success managing its documents, Laserfiche Luminary Corene “Corey” Hall, knows it doesn’t have to. It just needs to be able to make a difference. And with Hall’s help, it has, slowly but surely turning what was once an unused Laserfiche system into a tool that has helped Kenai not only survive, but thrive amidst economic changes and personnel shifts.
Hall’s been Deputy City Clerk for Kenai since 2007 – coincidentally the same year the City revived its dormant Laserfiche system with an upgrade to Laserfiche 7.2. Laserfiche reseller Pam Barnes met with Finance Director Larry Semmens about having Hall process and catalog the department’s documents. They agreed the best way to bring Hall up to speed on Laserfiche’s capabilities was a nearly week-long immersion at the 2008 Laserfiche Institute Conference.
“I was still very new to Laserfiche, so most of the sessions I attended were over my head, but I learned a little something in each one,” Hall recalls. “I learned some shortcuts and tips that made the everyday part of my job easier.” She even sat in on a Quick Fields session. “I couldn’t wait to come back and use what I learned,” she says.
“Of course, that’s also when I learned we don’t have Quick Fields,” she jokes.
After the conference, what she did have was a better sense of what needed to be done back in Kenai’s finance department. Back at work, she immediately started scanning all the check voucher packets. “This has made the department much more efficient and has cut our storage space in half. All our vouchers can now be searched by vendor name, vendor number, check number or invoice number.”
Between conferences, she took it upon herself to become Kenai’s resident Laserfiche expert. “I learned more about the product by using it each day, depending on my reseller when I couldn’t understand something, and using the Support Site regularly.”
What a difference a year makes. At the 2009 Conference, she says, “I knew so much more about Laserfiche I could choose sessions that would give me a chance to preview products or components we might like to add. I attended as many labs as I could, because I know I learn best by hands-on training.”
The City’s main problem now, she says, is a 30-year backlog of Public Works, Legal and Finance department documents. “We have a room full of boxes of documents nobody dares touch.”