Although the doctors’ attention is devoted to delivering excellent patient care, they recognize that if the medical group’s finances aren’t in order, their ability to continue serving patients is compromised. Therefore, they’ve charged their business office with employing the best people, processes and technology to optimize the revenue cycle and ensure the profitability of the practice.

Recession Brings Reimbursement Challenges

“The tough economy and changing California regulations have made it more and more difficult to collect payment in a timely manner,” explains Sue Kruger, Office Manager at Tri City. “Medicare and Medi-Cal pay only a fraction of the fee for emergency services, people who’ve lost their jobs and their health insurance oftentimes can’t pay for their care and private payers sometimes drag their heels.”

She notes that the group’s physicians treat an average of 6,000-7,000 patients a month. In terms of Tri City’s revenue:

• 27% comes from Medicare patients.
• 17-18% comes from Medi-Cal.
• A little over half comes from private insurers and self-pay accounts.

“Our employees have to work much harder to collect the same percentage of payment they did three or four years ago,” says Kruger. “If we didn’t have a paperless system, we’d absolutely have had to hire more staff.”

Integrating Content Management with Practice Management

After transitioning to a new practice management system—CPU’s MED/FM—in 2003, Tri City began thinking about how to get even more value out of that system. When CPU introduced an integration with Laserfiche enterprise content management (ECM), Tri City jumped on board.

“Handling paper was a big expense that slowed our staff down,” says Kruger. “Our doctors recognized that purchasing Laserfiche would pay off in terms of staff productivity.”

J.R. Juiliano, Tri City’s IT Manager, explains, “We scan everything that’s related to patient encounters into Laserfiche. This includes demographic information, dictations, EOBs and correspondence from insurance companies.”

He notes that the hospital sends information to the medical group via an FTP site. “In the past, we just printed everything onsite.”

This, of course, was problematic on many levels:

• It was expensive.
• It was difficult to store.
• It was tough to retrieve in a timely manner.

“We have to keep patient information for seven years,” says Juiliano. “We used to rent four storage units at a facility that’s ten miles away. We kept a year’s worth of records onsite in a big filing room, but somebody had to go over to the storage units at least once a week.”

Kruger adds, “Efficient medical billing depends on keeping people in their seats so they can be productive. Manual tasks like retrieving paper records just aren’t the best use of employees’ time.”

Today, Tri City automates the document capture, indexing and filing processes with the following tools:

• Laserfiche Snapshot converts the electronic documents from the hospital’s FTP site into TIFF images and processes them using Laserfiche Quick Fields, a high-volume document capture and processing tool that automatically extracts metadata from the documents and files them in the Laserfiche repository—no printing or scanning required.
• Laserfiche Quick Fields also scans and processes paper EOBs and correspondence from insurance companies. Using optical character recognition (OCR), Quick Fields converts the scanned images into editable and searchable text, extracts metadata and files the documents in the repository.
• Laserfiche Import Agent captures and processes electronic faxes.

Verifiers, coders and payment entry staff work with dual screens, so they’re able to view a document on one screen while performing data entry into MED/FM on the other. With the MED/FM integration, documents are automatically attached to the appropriate patient records in the practice management system. When employees type a number into a specific field in MED/FM, Laserfiche opens the corresponding document. This ensures that employees don’t have to launch Laserfiche or toggle between screens to retrieve the documents they require.

Kruger explains that the integration keeps her staff in their seats. “Laserfiche makes our staff so efficient that we haven’t had to hire more people. In fact, we haven’t even replaced everyone who’s left.”

Visibility = Productivity

Documents—whether scanned or electronically imported—are time-stamped when they enter the Laserfiche repository so that the management team can measure staff productivity. Kruger explains, “If something comes in at eleven but doesn’t get finished until 4:30 pm, I can go to the person and ask, ‘What were you doing for those five and a half hours?’”

Juiliano appreciates how easy it is to run and store reports in Laserfiche. With Laserfiche Audit Trail, a monitoring and reporting tool, Tri City can create summaries of all actions taken on a particular document or record, making it much easier to prove compliance with HIPAA. “We can see who changed what when, where and why,” he explains.

In terms of other types of reports, Juliano says, “We run a lot of reports—collections reports, month-end reports, weekly reports. Even if we don’t run the report in Laserfiche, we store it there, which makes it easy to access and compare historical data with present trends.”

Lisa Newland, Tri City’s Assistant Manager, notes that the group’s RAC audits have gone smoothly thanks to Laserfiche’s instant search-and-retrieval capabilities. “Being able to instantly pull the information the RAC auditors want to see makes life so much easier than digging through filing cabinets or storage boxes.”

All in all, says Kruger, “Laserfiche is a great product. I don’t know how we ever got along without it.”

Moving Through Fields

When filling out electronic forms, moving quickly from one text box to the next can become tedious and inefficient if you have to click inside the successive text box each time. Typically, you can press TAB and the cursor will automatically move to the next text box. When working with fields in Laserfiche, pressing TAB moves the cursor to the token button, as it is the succeeding option.

To skip the token button and move to the next field so you can enter data, Press CTRL+ENTER.

Copying and Pasting Entries to a New Volume

When organizing your repository, you may need to make copies of documents and place those copies on another volume. For example, you may want copies stored on a different volume for archival or security purposes. Instead of manually copying the entries to a new location, and then having to migrate all the copies to a new volume—which is a two-step process—you can now do both in one step. Select the documents you want to copy and copy them by pressing CTRL+C or right-clicking and selecting Copy. When pasting the copies in a new location, press CTRL+SHIFT+V. The Choose Volume dialog will appear asking you to select the volume you want to copy these files to. Select the appropriate volume and click OK.

“For financial advisors, an integrated technology solution that leverages Laserfiche content and document management along with portfolio management and CRM improves productivity and enables business growth,” said Brian LaPointe, Vice President of Strategic Solutions at Laserfiche. “With an open API that makes it easy to integrate with other software applications, Laserfiche is the ECM solution of choice for RIAs across the country.”

Laserfiche will also be featured during three pre-conference panel discussions titled, “Leverage Veo®’s Open Access Capabilities—Insights from Integration Providers” in Canary 3 today at 11:00 am 1:00 pm and 2:00 pm. Other solutions providers participating in the sessions include:

• Junxure
• Salesforce.com
• PIEtech, Inc.
• Morningstar
• Ebix
• eMoney Advisor
• Advisor Products, Inc.
• Black Diamond Performance Reporting, LLC

Laserfiche provides enterprise content management (ECM) solutions that enable advisory firms to go paperless, lower the cost of compliance and automate standard business processes.

About Laserfiche
Since 1987, Laserfiche® has used its Run Smarter® philosophy to create simple and elegant enterprise content management (ECM) solutions. More than 30,000 organizations worldwide—including federal, state and local government agencies and Fortune 1000 companies—use Laserfiche software to streamline document, records and business process management.

The Laserfiche ECM system gives financial advisors the ability to simplify regulatory compliance, improve profitability and limit exposure to civil and criminal liability. It allows advisors to prepare for audits more easily and ensure compliance with multiple state, SEC and FINRA regulations—all while accelerating business processes and making staff more efficient.

Laserfiche®, Run Smarter® and Compulink® are registered trademarks of Compulink Management Center, Inc.

This ability simplifies user and group administration and maintenance in the following ways:

• It is not necessary for an administrator to create new users manually; if a Windows account for a new user has been created on the domain, that user can simply be added to Laserfiche and administered normally, without needing to tie him or her to Windows trustees.
• Administrators can add entire Windows groups to Laserfiche in one operation, rather than creating individual users one by one. If a user is moved from one Windows group to another, that change will be instantly reflected in Laserfiche as well, without need for further configuration—and in addition, if security is set on Windows groups rather than on individual users, they will automatically inherit the appropriate security settings from their new group as well.
• If a user leaves the organization, the administrator can simply remove that person’s Windows account; the corresponding Windows account in Laserfiche will also be removed.
• Furthermore, users can authenticate directly to Laserfiche based on their Windows username. They do not need to remember an additional username and password for the repository.

Security settings can be added directly to Windows accounts in the Laserfiche 8 Administration Console

Buyers Lab, Inc.
Laserfiche Announces Upcoming Product Releases at Empower 2012 Conference

The awards ceremony took place yesterday during the Laserfiche Institute Conference at the Anaheim Marriott in Anaheim, CA. Twenty-two winners across a range of industries were honored:

• Commercial: Stewart Enterprises, LA
• International Commercial: Avis Fleet Services, South Africa
• Transportation: Grand Isle Shipyards, LA
• International Transportation: Qatar Shipping, United Arab Emirates
• Energy: MXenergy, TX
• International Energy: Emirates National Oil Company, United Arab Emirates
• K-12: Adams 12 Five-Star Schools, CO
• International K-12: Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, Canada
• University: Oklahoma Christian University, OK
• International University: University of Toronto, Canada
• Community Bank: DL Evans Bank, ID
• Registered Investment Advisor: Heartland Advisors, WI
• International Financial Services: TD Financing Services, Inc., Canada
• Healthcare: Medflight of Ohio
• International Healthcare: Basildon and Thurrock University Hospital, United Kingdom
• Law Enforcement: Shakopee Police Department, MN
• Legal: Illinois Attorney General Office, IL
• City: City of Long Beach, CA
• County: Ramsey County, MN
• State: Colorado Department of Natural Resources
• Special District: Community Action of Ramsey and Washington Counties, MN
• International Government: Corporation of the County of Essex, Canada

“We are proud to spotlight the success of organizations that use Laserfiche to drive better business outcomes,” said Laserfiche Founder and CEO Nien-Ling Wacker. “We look forward to seeing the new and ingenious ways organizations put Laserfiche’s Run Smarter® philosophy into action in 2012.”

For video highlights from the Conference, visit http://www.laserfiche.com/2012videohighlights/

About Laserfiche
Since 1987, Laserfiche has used its Run Smarter® philosophy to create simple and elegant enterprise content management (ECM) solutions. More than 30,000 organizations worldwide—including federal, state and local government agencies and Fortune 1000 companies—use Laserfiche® software to streamline document, records and business process management.

The Laserfiche ECM system is designed to give IT managers central control over their information infrastructure while still offering business units the flexibility to react quickly to changing conditions. The Laserfiche product suite is built on top of Microsoft® technologies to simplify system administration, supports the Microsoft SQL platform and features a seamless integration with Microsoft Office® applications and a two-way integration with SharePoint®.

Laserfiche distributes its software through a worldwide network of value-added resellers (VARs), who tailor solutions to clients’ individual needs. The Laserfiche VAR program has received the Five-Star Rating from Computer Reseller News/VARBusiness magazine.

Laserfiche®, Run Smarter® and Compulink® are registered trademarks of Compulink Management Center, Inc.

• Laserfiche Forms, which provides a graphical user interface for creating custom Web forms and integrating them into business processes.
• Laserfiche Mobile™ for iPad, which makes it easy for employees to securely capture, view and act upon mission-critical content from wherever they are.

“In the information economy, leading organizations look for enterprise content management tools that are flexible enough to accommodate the needs of multiple departments while centralizing control and security,” said Tom Wayman, Vice President of Product Strategy at Laserfiche. “That’s what agile ECM—including Laserfiche Forms and Laserfiche Mobile™ for iPad—is all about.”

Laserfiche Mobile for iPad will be available for purchase at the end of Q1 2012. Laserfiche Forms will follow later this year. Conference attendees can schedule live demos of these products during Empower 2012. To schedule a demo after the event, please contact Sharon Chai at Sharon.Chai@Laserfiche.com.

To view Wacker’s keynote speech, visit: http://www.laserfiche.com/en-us/conference/webcast

About Laserfiche
Since 1987, Laserfiche has used its Run Smarter® philosophy to create simple and elegant enterprise content management (ECM) solutions. More than 30,000 organizations worldwide—including federal, state and local government agencies and Fortune 1000 companies—use Laserfiche® software to streamline document, records and business process management.

The Laserfiche ECM system is designed to give IT managers central control over their information infrastructure while still offering business units the flexibility to react quickly to changing conditions. The Laserfiche product suite is built on top of Microsoft® technologies to simplify system administration, supports the Microsoft SQL platform and features a seamless integration with Microsoft Office® applications and a two-way integration with SharePoint®.

Laserfiche distributes its software through a worldwide network of value-added resellers (VARs), who tailor solutions to clients’ individual needs. The Laserfiche VAR program has received the Five-Star Rating from Computer Reseller News/VARBusiness magazine.

Laserfiche®, Run Smarter® and Compulink® are registered trademarks of Compulink Management Center, Inc.

“Being a part of the Laserfiche PDP program has helped us become the CRM of choice for advisors seeking a complete document management suite, thanks to a network of more than 600 Laserfiche resellers who make sure that Junxure is part of their demonstrations,” said Greg Friedman, President of Junxure.

“Our goal at AppCrown is to make advisors’ lives easier and help them maximize their CRM’s return on investment,” said Franklin Tsung, COO/Head of Sales and Marketing at AppCrown. “By integrating Laserfiche with our solutions, RIAs can increase both productivity and profitability.”

Laserfiche provides enterprise content management (ECM) solutions that include document imaging capabilities that enable advisory firms to go paperless, records management automation that lowers the cost of compliance and workflow functionality that enables advisors to automate standard business processes.

AppCrown is a systems integrator that delivers solutions built on Salesforce.com, the world’s largest CRM provider, which currently supports more than 3 million users across 100,000 organizations around the world. Junxure is a comprehensive, integrated CRM system for financial advisors. It was created exclusively for financial advisors based on the experiences of a financial advisor.

About Laserfiche
Since 1987, Laserfiche has used its Run Smarter® philosophy to create simple and elegant enterprise content management (ECM) solutions. More than 30,000 organizations worldwide—including federal, state and local government agencies and Fortune 1000 companies—use Laserfiche® software to streamline document, records and business process management.

The Laserfiche ECM system gives financial advisors the ability to simplify regulatory compliance, improve profitability and limit exposure to civil and criminal liability. It allows advisors to prepare for audits more easily and ensure compliance with multiple state, SEC and FINRA regulations—all while accelerating business processes and making staff more efficient.

Laserfiche distributes its software through a worldwide network of value-added resellers (VARs), who tailor solutions to clients’ individual needs. The Laserfiche VAR program has received the Five-Star Rating from Computer Reseller News/VARBusiness magazine.

Laserfiche®, Run Smarter® and Compulink® are registered trademarks of Compulink Management Center, Inc.

“With IDC predicting that the volume of digital data will nearly double in 2012, organizations today need an IT infrastructure designed to empower success in the information age,” said Wacker. “Laserfiche provides agile enterprise content management solutions that help organizations harness the power of their information for controlled, rapid change in today’s fast-paced information economy.”

The “Empower 2012” Conference, held at the Anaheim Marriott through January 27, features more than 150 educational sessions on everything from enterprise content mobility to cloud deployment strategies. IT leaders from Avis Fleet Services, Molina Healthcare and the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, among others, will share their Laserfiche expertise during Success Story presentations.

Tomorrow’s keynote will feature Russell Kaurloto, Deputy CIO and Executive Director of Information Technology at the University of Southern California, and John Sifri, Information Technology Manager for the NFL’s Houston Texans.

Epson is the Premier sponsor for Empower 2012, HP is the Platinum Lab sponsor and Infolinx is the nametag sponsor. Exhibitors include Accuflex, Avolve Software, Cambridge Connections, Canon, Cities Digital, Datawatch, Dynamic Document Services, Ezescan, FabSoft, Fujitsu, Kodak, Lincware, LLC, Millennial Vision, Novusolutions, Panasonic, Plustek Technology Inc, Scanning America and United Micro Data.

To view Wacker’s keynote speech, visit: http://www.laserfiche.com/en-us/conference/webcast

About Laserfiche
Since 1987, Laserfiche has used its Run Smarter® philosophy to create simple and elegant enterprise content management (ECM) solutions. More than 30,000 organizations worldwide—including federal, state and local government agencies and Fortune 1000 companies—use Laserfiche® software to streamline document, records and business process management.

The Laserfiche ECM system is designed to give IT managers central control over their information infrastructure while still offering business units the flexibility to react quickly to changing conditions. The Laserfiche product suite is built on top of Microsoft® technologies to simplify system administration, supports the Microsoft SQL platform and features a seamless integration with Microsoft Office® applications and a two-way integration with SharePoint®.

Laserfiche distributes its software through a worldwide network of value-added resellers (VARs), who tailor solutions to clients’ individual needs. The Laserfiche VAR program has received the Five-Star Rating from Computer Reseller News/VARBusiness magazine.

Laserfiche®, Run Smarter® and Compulink® are registered trademarks of Compulink Management Center, Inc.

The Search Pane, as in Workflow 8.0, provides a variety of detailed search options, from Start Date to Entry ID, to help you find the exact workflow instances you are looking for.

The new Common Searches Pane makes searching more straightforward with a set of pre-configured searches you can run with one click. The Common Searches Pane has three categories of searches.

Default Searches

The searches in this category let you search for workflow instances that ran within the last day or the last 15 minutes.

Recent Activity: Workflows that ran in the last 15 minutes.

Today’s Activity: Workflows that ran today.

Today’s Completed Workflows: Workflows that ran today that did not end with an error.

Today’s Terminated Workflows: Workflows that ran today that ended with an error.

My Searches

The My Searches category allows you to create and save a search for future use. When you click New Search under My Searches, you can configure and save a search in the Search Pane. Your saved search will appear under My Searches, letting you run that search anytime you want simply by clicking it.

Search by Workflow

The Search by Workflow category lists all of your published workflows. Clicking a workflow’s name searches for all instances of that workflow regardless of when they ran or what version of the workflow they are.

You can further refine any of these common searches by right-clicking on the Common Searches Pane and selecting not to include running and/or completed workflows in your search.

As the second largest deathcare provider in the United States, Stewart Enterprises safeguards contracts pertaining to every aspect of funeral or cemetery services, from memorialization and property purchases to inscription details. In the past, when people passed away, contracts from funeral homes and cemeteries were permanently added to the millions of pages of records in each of the company’s regional storage centers.

Although Stewart Enterprises initially considered implementing an enterprise content management (ECM) solution in 2005, it failed to anticipate that its documents might incur damage. Unfortunately, when Hurricane Katrina struck later that year, the company’s New Orleans Records Management Center was hit and tens of thousands of documents were submerged for over a week.

“The hypothetical doomsday scenario became a reality for our organization,” says Pellegrin. “Unfortunately, we were not as forward-thinking at that time as we are now. Rather than accepting an initial ECM proposal for $175,000, we spent $1.5 million recovering and restoring our documents.”

Setting a Document Standard

Despite the loss, the disaster gave the organization the forward velocity it needed to go digital with Laserfiche ECM. “When implementing a new functional area, as soon as I put the Katrina pictures up, everyone is on board,” says Pellegrin. “When you talk about buy-in, it isn’t a hard sell.”

As a direct result of Hurricane Katrina, the company first digitized the records in its New Orleans Records Management Center. Before implementing ECM enterprise-wide, Pellegrin started discovery by physically walking through various company facilities and taking stock of employee processes, paper piles and organization structure—a preliminary step he recommends for anyone beginning a Laserfiche project.

“The sheer volume of documents involved in digitizing a record center astonished me,” he says. “Walk through a variety of departments and ask yourself, would it would be beneficial to management to see the documents and to have real-time tracking for every step in this process?”

These discoveries allowed Pellegrin to seize the opportunity to standardize records management across the company by upgrading to Laserfiche Rio. He rolled out digital archiving to the company’s other records centers in Miami, Dallas and Orlando, as well as individual facilities and corporate offices in 25 states and Puerto Rico.

Configuring Laserfiche Rio across multiple departments and integrating Laserfiche Quick Fields with the company’s contract number system and reporting systems transformed Stewart Enterprises’ Laserfiche ECM system from a simple disaster recovery plan to a flexible, yet central, point of control.

“We’re not looking at an individual person or process, we’re thinking enterprise-wide,” he says of the company’s IT strategy. “What we have noticed as a result of implementing Laserfiche is not only a more efficient process, but a structured workflow that can be implemented nationwide.”

Centralizing Contracts

Because Stewart Enterprises juggles different regulations on its contracts and facilities for every state in which it operates, Pellegrin sought a standard workflow that could track and store documents in compliance with these regulations while still offering fluid access to documentation when adjusting a client’s file.

Laserfiche Rio allowed the company to greatly restructure the contracts workflow. Using the Laserfiche SDK, Pellegrin configured Laserfiche Quick Fields to draw information between the company’s .NET point-of-sale applications and Laserfiche. This integration, along with standardized scanning methods and better quality control, led to much faster processing:

• 750 field employees now image documentation as .TIFF files onto a national network drive using Canon scanners.
• Laserfiche Import Agent then transfers those documents from the drive into the Laserfiche repository automatically, day and night.
• Laserfiche Quick Fields runs a real-time SQL search against the company’s account receivable contract system based on individual contract number.
• Laserfiche Quick Fields then indexes each document by geographic location, sorts and routes it to separate workflows depending on values identified in the SQL lookup.
• Users across the regional centers and corporate headquarters can route, process and update contracts using Laserfiche Workflow and Laserfiche Snapshot.

Prior to Laserfiche, these records centers contained vaults full of filing cabinets and shelves of manila folders that a contract research team mined during contract retrieval requests. With this system in place across all facilities, the company has already scanned more than 30 million pages from its document centers into Laserfiche’s digital repositories, repurposing filing cabinets into valuable real estate and saving thousands in paper costs. Now the company can scan, monitor and check the quality of its financial transactions, such as deposits, to better ensure compliance with each state’s regulations.

Enterprise-Sized Gains

Unlocking critical contract information from paper forms brought an unprecedented level of enterprise visibility to the company, which Pellegrin lauds as Laserfiche’s main asset. When Laserfiche Workflow creates a permanent record for storage, it also makes the contracts available for real-time access to over 1,000 employees nationwide via a Laserfiche WebLink Web portal.

Now, users ranging from executive vice presidents to customer service representatives can research the contracts and their indexes and status information with the click of the Laserfiche icon on their desktop.

“Giving real-time, simultaneous access to a variety of functional areas and hierarchies brought immediate value and efficiency to our organization,” explains Pellegrin.

For example, read-only access to contracts for the company’s audit department has eliminated travel costs during audits. The audit group may perform a facility audit without the facility knowing about it, right from their own computers.

“Laserfiche has allowed us to not only standardize our processes, but to easily monitor them as well. We now have access to empirical data about employees indicating efficiency, accuracy and completeness on a real-time basis,” notes Pellegrin.

Stewart Enterprises truly leverages the full scale of Laserfiche Rio, using it for everything from conversion and storage of microfilm records to streamlining and enhancing internal audit processes across the entire company.

“Prior to implementing Laserfiche, I was virtually in the dark with respect to ECM. I didn’t have the slightest idea of the impact this one system could have throughout the organization. We’re changing the culture of our company in a span of three to six months at each record facility.”

This year, we applaud 22 organizations across a range of industries for their creative and ingenious solutions. We invite you to join our winners as they share their award-winning ideas in the Success Stories Track at the Empower 2012 Conference in Anaheim, CA, on January 25-27.

Congratulations to our winners in each category:

Education

• K-12: Adams 12 Five-Star Schools
• K-12– International: Ottawa-Carleton District School Board
• University: Oklahoma Christian University
• University – International: University of Toronto

Commercial

• Commercial: Stewart Enterprises
• Commercial – International: Avis Fleet Services
• Transportation: Grand Isle Shipyards
• Transportation – International: Qatar Shipping
• Energy: MXenergy
• Energy – International: Emirates National Oil Company

Financial Services

• Community Bank: D.L. Evans Bank
• RIA: Heartland Advisors
• International: TD Financing Services, Inc.

Healthcare

• Domestic: Medflight of Ohio
• International: Basildon and Thurrock University Hospital

State and Local Government

• City: City of Long Beach, CA
• County: Ramsey County, MN
• State: Colorado Department of Natural Resources
• Special District: Community Action of Ramsey and Washington Counties, MN
• International: Corporation of the County of Essex, ON

Justice Systems

• Law Enforcement: Shakopee Police Department
• Legal: Illinois Attorney General Office

Thank you to everyone who submitted nominations for this year’s award. We look forward to learning about the new ways you are using Laserfiche in 2012.

There will be 25 seats in each lab that include power hookups, in addition to the 50 machines that we provide. Beyond facilitating lab participation, this machine gives you a resource to take back to your office after the conference.

If you will be using the virtual machine, it is recommended that your computer meet or exceed these specifications:

• Dual core processor
• 4GB of RAM
• 50GB of free hard drive space

Some notes about the virtual machine:

• This is a Windows 7 machine with the entire Laserfiche product suite installed.
• There are three labs that this virtual machine cannot be used for, due to our need to use licensed Microsoft software: CD211: Configuring the Laserfiche-SharePoint Integration, Part 1, CD305: Configuring the Laserfiche-SharePoint Integration, Part 2 and EDM215: Hands-On with the Laserfiche License Manager.
• The Laserfiche product licenses expire on March 1, 2012, and will not work after that date. You can change the licenses over to those from your VAR Kit in order to use the virtual machine longer.
• Unlike the virtual machines on our lab machines, this one will keep the changes you make—like a standard computer—so that you can save your work.
• Because the virtual machine is sharing resources with your laptop, RAM usage can be a bit tricky.
• In our experience, a Windows Vista or 7 laptop with 4GB of RAM should allocate only 1.5 GB of RAM to the virtual machine.
• For this reason, the virtual machine is currently set to 1.5 GB of RAM. If you have more than 4 GB on your laptop and wish to increase this amount (it uses 2 GB on the provided laptops), then you can adjust RAM allocation with VMWare Player (see screenshots below).

For more specifics on running and downloading the virtual machine, please visit the Laserfiche Support Site. If you have any questions or concerns about this virtual machine, you can email Presales@Laserfiche.com or stop by the Information Center at Empower 2012 beginning the afternoon of Tuesday, January 24.

You can catch the broadcast on the Laserfiche homepage or the Empower 2012 Webpage on Wednesday, January 25 from 8:15 am – 9:30 am PST. At that time, you’ll be prompted by a banner on the Webpage to click a link to access the broadcast.

If you’ll be at the conference, be sure the catch the speech in person in the Marquis Center South Room of the conference center. We look forward to having you!

On this new Support Site forum, your organization can solicit best practices for configuring your system directly from other Laserfiche SLG users from around the country. IT departments will particularly benefit from the group’s technical discussions and tips. Whether you’ve used Laserfiche for years or are configuring your first system, the User Group welcomes users of all levels.

Don’t wait—check out the group today, get involved and learn how others have optimized their Laserfiche systems!

Note: You must have access to the Laserfiche Support Site to participate in this group. For questions, please contact Lisa Miyake, County Government Strategist.

Attend “The Art of Enabling the Government Enterprise with ECM” on January 19 at 10:00 am PT to learn how to:

• Build an ECM foundation that moves beyond siloed applications and enables shared services.
• Cost-effectively meet SLG-specific governance, risk and compliance requirements.
• Automate cross-functional departmental applications like case management and AP processing from the comfort of native applications.
• Trade in legacy document management systems for credit toward upgrades.

Register now!

• Hotfix
• Service Pack
• Maintenance Release
• Minor Release
• Major Release

Hotfix

A Hotfix is an ad-hoc way to release high-priority fixes or fixes that are used by products with a lower volume of support requests.

• The fixes come from escalation issues and internally-discovered blocker bugs. Usually, a hotfix is associated with one or two specific items.
• Most hotfixes are cumulative, building upon previous hotfixes, and will be included in future service packs. In almost all cases, you will only need to install the most recent hotfix for a product, not all that have been released.

Service Pack

A Service Pack (SP) is a way of releasing a bunch of patches that may not be mission-critical before the next minor release. These fixes come from a high volume of requests through Support and are released regularly every two to three months.

• • Service Packs usually contain limited performance enhancements and do not contain new feature enhancements. They include patches only for the components for which we have included fixes. For Example, 8.2.1 SP included fixes for Server, FTS, Client and Admin, so only these components were listed.

Maintenance Release

A Maintenance Release is a release of an updated version of a product or set of products and provides a new starting point for all of that product’s components. A maintenance release can include all current fixes (critical and non-critical) and performance improvements.

• Generally, a maintenance release includes a minimal number of changes that could not break the current documentation or language packs. Also, it does not contain completely new dialogs or exposed features unless specifically requested.
• Maintenance releases are useful for syncing the releases of two or more products.

Minor Release

A Minor Release is a full or standard release of a product and is marked by adding a decimal number after the major release number, such as moving from Laserfiche 8.2 to Laserfiche 8.3.

• A minor release includes bug fixes, performance improvements, stability improvements, major new features, updated user interfaces and database migrations.

Major Release

A Major Release constitutes an overhaul of the entire product suite that offers updated versions of every product. For example, the release of Laserfiche 8.0 included a completely rewritten Laserfiche Server, Laserfiche Search Engine and Laserfiche Web Access products, as well as a completely new Workflow product.

• A major release occurs when a release requires a great deal of product coordination. It usually involves changes to basic fundamental tenets within the products, such as how the products communicate with each other, which can produce additional compatibility concerns.
• A major release is denoted by the first number in the product name, i.e. 7 or 8.

Check out these new tips for configuring and optimizing your ECM system today!

Strategy and Planning:

• Stretching Your Budget: Where Are the Little Efficiencies?
• New Users: Organize Your Repository with Advice from the City of Niagara Falls
• Tips for New Administrators: Your First Laserfiche Project
• Scanning Best Practices

Utilities and Code:

• Improving Your SDK Server Combo Box Processing
• Add Stamps to Your Documents in Workflow
• Configure Your Entry Ownership in a Batch
• Remove Document Annotations with Workflow Scripting
• Create a Custom Login Module for Web Access

Industry-Specific Solutions:

• Workflow Integrations Standardize Records Management Across Multiple Locations (Commercial)
• Avis Fleet Services: Creative Innovation with Powerful Integrations (Commercial)
• How to Automate Contract Management, Cost-Free (State and Local Government)
• Permitting Process: Basic Configuration
• HR Onboarding: Basic Configuration

Got something cool to share with the community? E-mail Melissa Henley, Manager of Marketing Communications, with a brief summary of your initiative.

• In the Administration Console, Folder Browser or Document Viewer you have multiple options:
  • Click the ? button in the toolbar (the Administration Console button looks different but still has a big ?).
  • Press the F1 button on your keyboard (HINT: This opens help in most software programs).
  • Select Contents (or Help Topics in the Admin Console) from the Help menu above the toolbar.

• On any dialog box, click the Help button to open information about the specific dialog you’re clicking from.

What’s the help you get?

• Laserfiche online help files are the single most comprehensive resource for information on how to use our software products.
  • Most up-to-date source. Online hosting means we can update our help files as necessary to add information about a feature or clarify anything confusing—so you get up-to-date information at all times.
  • Most complete source. Everything we know about how to use the software goes into the help files, and they often serve as a foundation for the papers and videos we create. The help files are your single best option for “What does this do?” and “How do I do it?” questions.

• INFO: Web Access 8 and WebLink 8 .MSP Files Do Not Automatically Update Files In Custom Virtual Directories.
• QUICK FIELDS 8.0.2 HOTFIX: An Unhandled Exception Occurs When Launching the New Session Wizard in Quick Fields 8 When Laserfiche Scanning 8.3 Is Installed. The article contains an updated version of an XML file. The file can be replaced over an existing Quick Fields 8.0.2 installation.
• LASERFICHE 8.2.1 HOTFIX: List of Changes for Laserfiche 8.2.1 Cumulative Hotfix 1012879 (December 2011). The article contains several .msp files that update the Laserfiche 8.2.1 Server, Full-Text Search Engine, Client, Administration Console, and Snapshot. The .msp files can be installed over an existing Laserfiche 8.2.1 installation.
• WEB ACCESS 8.3 HOTFIX: List of Changes for Web Access 8.3.0 Hotfix 1012890 (December 2011). The article contains .msp files that update Web Access 8.3.0. This update can be installed over an existing Web Access 8.3.0 installation.
• WEBLINK 8.2 HOTFIX: List of Changes for Laserfiche WebLink 8.2.0 Hotfix 1012885 (December 2011). The article contains a file that updates WebLink 8.2.0. This update can be installed over an existing WebLink 8.2.0 installation.
• ERROR: An “Operation timed out. [784]” Error Occurs When Logging In To Laserfiche 8 Using Windows Authentication.”
• ERROR: A “Failed to connect to an IPC Port: The system cannot find the file specified.” Error Occurs When Loading the Audit Trail Reporting 8 Web Site.

Papers

• Tokens in Laserfiche Workflow. This white paper discusses tokens in Workflow, how to use tokens, how they are formatted, and how they can be created or changed with the Assign Token Values, Date Token Calculator, Pattern Matching, and Token Calculator activities.
• Workflow 8.3: Best Practices for Creating Starting Rules. In addition to general best practices for starting rules, this paper will address solutions to common starting rule problems.

Heartland is an active manager, seeking out those few companies from the broad market they believe fit the criteria of its investment discipline, embodied in Heartland’s Ten Principles of Value Investing™. This discipline is grounded in rigorous fundamental analysis, and has been exercised for over a quarter century. Each stock Heartland is potentially interested in is subject to a thorough review of multiple variables, resulting in a rich legacy of information and understanding of thousands of individual securities. This legacy also results in many pages of information and data!

In addition to research, the Firm has built a substantial file of client related material, going back to the Firm’s inception.

By 2010, decades of paper records had accumulated—much of which, for compliance purposes, required locked cabinets. “Any time we had a company visit, analyst research notes, quarterly company earnings reports, news articles or anything impacting an active company, paper was placed in a general location for administrators to file manually,” explains Mike Riggs, Senior Vice President and CTO of Heartland.

The pile of paper accumulated weekly and could require full days of filing by administrative staff. “We’d already gone through the 20 years’ worth of research, but we were still looking at 1,600 active companies for which we needed to maintain records,” he adds.

The Challenge

While the Firm had a fully developed and tested disaster recovery process for its mission-critical electronic information system, there were limited procedures in place for its paper-based stored files. “Both systems maintained single copy masters which took a large amount of floor and file cabinet space—and a lot of manual paper filing,” Riggs says. “We actually had a legacy scan-and-file system that was not being used because it added to the work load of users.”

Riggs led the Firm on a search for a more comprehensive electronic content management (ECM) system with two directives in mind—function and friendliness. As Riggs puts it, “We needed an intelligent forms processing system where we could develop a forms library to identify and process client-related paperwork, but it also had to be user-friendly.”

The Solution

In 2010, the Firm acquired a Laserfiche ECM system and began an extensive backfile conversion project using Laserfiche Quick Fields for advanced document capture. “For our client filing system, we were able to back scan all of our legacy files into Laserfiche according to form type and then organize the data according to client account code,” Riggs says. Using the Affinity integration tool, the Firm linked its CRM system to the digitized files in the Laserfiche repository using the client access code.

In the past, a sales administration representative would have to leave the phone call or schedule a call back with a client, go to the file cabinet and check out the file data. Now, with online access to the system, they can stay on the call and pull up client data using the shared client access code right from the CRM interface.

At the same time, Riggs notes, the flexibility of Laserfiche allowed him to grant remote, read-only access to staff who need to view files offsite for client servicing issues. “We have only one office but several executives who spend time at remote locations. Laserfiche gives them the opportunity to retrieve files when connected to their computers via a remote session.”

The process that saw the most operational improvement, however, was research. “We used Quick Fields to back scan our rich legacy of stock research, and we used Workflow to develop a way for research and portfolio managers to file directly to the Laserfiche repository,” Riggs says.

Here’s how it works:

• By utilizing a research template, analysts can drop files into a Workflow starting rule folder to kick off the template to select the research media type.
• Workflow then routes it to the proper security and media filing type.
• The workflow will run an SQL query to match the template security with an in-house security holding system to identify the full company name to place on file and route it to the proper Laserfiche research file folder.

“Now compliance, analysts and portfolio managers have ready access to research wherever they are, on-site and remote.”

Going with the Workflow

Heartland is now using Laserfiche and Workflow to deploy an accounts payable processing system that will scan in invoices from vendors, have operations staff identify cost centers and allocations, and then route them to department managers for approval. After the approval is routed back to the operation admin, it will then be posted directly into the accounting system for check processing.

Likewise, Riggs is also using Workflow to develop an automated system for approving marketing material that will handle markup and approval from multiple team members, as the content needs to be monitored for FINRA and SEC guidelines. “It’s a very time and paper intensive process that requires group participation,” Riggs says.

More recently, the Firm upgraded to a Laserfiche Rio enterprise system. “This allows us to have multiple Laserfiche servers, which means we have a mirrored Laserfiche server environment running at our disaster recovery site pointing to a backup copy of our production repository that is replicated to the disaster recovery site daily.” Riggs says he’s also looking forward to deploying Laserfiche Mobile to enable Heartland staff to use iPads to access data securely via Web Access.

By using Laserfiche ECM, the Firm is confident it will achieve its goal of limiting paperwork. Says Riggs, “We hope to build custom Web forms to avoid paper-based system processes that pop up as people develop templates for a variety of management tasks.”

In prior versions of Laserfiche, you could save different column layouts for different folders, but you could only save one column layout per folder. As of Laserfiche 8.3, you can save multiple column layouts as profiles, and quickly and easily apply any profile to any folder. This allows you to show the exact information you need at a particular time.

For instance, if you were managing a Reports folder, you might want to be able to switch between two column profiles, one showing the document’s author, template and creation and modification date when you are referring to and routing documents, and another showing the pages and indexing information when you are monitoring the folder for searchability.

To do this, start by configuring your columns to display the author field, template name and creation and modification dates. Then open the View menu, point to Columns and select Save Columns. Type a name for your column profile and click OK. Then repeat the process, this time configuring your columns to display the page count, OCR’ed count, document extension and indexing status.

Two different views of the same folder can provide information that is relevant at different times.

You can then quickly switch between these two column displays at any time, and in any folder, to immediately display exactly the information you want.

To do so, open the View menu, point to Columns and select Load Columns. The Choose Saved Column Profile dialog will open. Select the profile you want to load and click OK.

You can quickly choose exactly which saved profile you want to use, and view the information that you want without manually re-configuring your columns:

Note: Saved column profiles are saved on a user-by-user basis in the user’s trustee attributes. Each user can save the specific profiles they need. You can share column profiles between users by copying the appropriate column profile form the ColumnProfile subset of one user’s trustee attributes into another user’s trustee attributes, or you can share it with everyone who will use the repository by copying it into the Everyone group’s trustee attributes.

Significant recent projects include:

• The San Francisco Giants purchased a Laserfiche Avante system with Laserfiche Quick Fields and Laserfiche Audit Trail to manage leasing contracts for box seats in its ticketing office. The franchise is considering extending use to the team’s finance office by integrating with its Salesforce CRM.
• Cliniqa, a medical diagnostics supplier headquartered in San Marcos, CA, acquired a 30-user Laserfiche Avante system with Quick Fields and Audit Trail to create a controlled, auditable records library for reference and document control.
• RSI, an Anaheim-based cabinetry supplier to Lowe’s and Home Depot stores, is currently integrating Laserfiche with its JD Edwards accounting system in both its Orange County headquarters and Tijuana-based manufacturing plant.

Tom Ziencina, President of CPS, attributes the sales increases to the reseller’s ability to leverage enhancements to the Laserfiche ECM suite to win bigger and better deals. “Laserfiche has given us the tools to deliver tightly-integrated enterprise solutions to our clients and prospective customers,” he says. “Having custom scripting capabilities in Workflow specifically has created a lot of opportunity.”

Ziencina points to three East Coast healthcare agencies that have integrated Laserfiche with their payroll systems to manage 200,000 Medicare/Medicaid transactions each month. A California city that upgraded to Rio last year is currently considering a similar payroll system integration for use by its police department.

Greg Heim, Vice President of CPS, adds, “Laserfiche enables us to implement a consultative selling strategy to provide customers with the nuanced, end-to-end ECM functionality that their mission-critical business processes require.”

He cites a recent RFP in which the reseller was able to fulfill a requirement to capture and process handwritten documents by including integration with a third-party ICR application using Quick Fields’ “Custom Process” add-on. “It’s not the only feature that helped us, but it’s one of the many tools we have to be more competitive when seeking enterprise opportunities,” Heim says.

• Colorado Division of Forestry.
• Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife.
• Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety.
• Colorado Division of Water Resources.
• Colorado Geological Survey.
• Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC).
• Colorado State Land Board.
• Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB).

According to Susan Lesovsky, Application Support Manager for the CWCB, the DNR purchased a Laserfiche enterprise content management (ECM) system in 2005 to replace a legacy IBM system that lacked an out-of-the box Web interface, optical character recognition (OCR) functionality and the ability to automate business processes. “Our old system was pretty much limited to search-and-retrieval,” she explains.

She notes that a top priority for implementing Laserfiche was making it easier for citizens to stay informed about government activities. “Ultimately, our customer is the public, and our success is measured on how we provide and process information for them,” Lesovsky says.

To that end, the DNR upgraded to Laserfiche Rio in 2009. According to Lesovsky, “Laserfiche Rio has allowed us to increase the transparency of information to the public, and it’s done it in such a way that we don’t have to worry about connections or cost.”

In particular, she describes the benefits of upgrading to Laserfiche Rio as:

• Greater public access to information through the WebLink Public Portal, which provides unlimited connections.
• Scalability through unlimited servers and volume discounts on user licenses to accommodate future growth.
• The bundled functionality of Web Access and Workflow.

Laserfiche Rio Enables Citizens to Cut through Red Tape

Lesovsky notes that Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper recently called for every department in state government to reduce red tape. Good government, he says, is characterized by “efficiency, effectiveness and elegance.”

“As one of only two recommended content management systems for the state, Laserfiche epitomizes all three E’s,” Lesovsky says.

She explains how easy it is for citizens to access documents such as the CWCB’s meeting documents:

• The current year’s materials are available on the Board’s Website in a table that provides direct links to PDFs stored in Laserfiche.
• Archived materials are accessible through a custom search box (created using the WebLink Designer) on the lower right side of same page or through this link.
• The custom search box is limited to three fields (title, date range and document type) to streamline access and reduce user confusion. (Custom search components have been included throughout the CWCB’s Website to help direct the public’s search for Board-related documents.)

Colorado’s Decision Support Systems Website also includes custom search boxes throughout its Website, such as the one at the top of this page that searches according to document type and a few other parameters, while a set of “Google-like” search results based on document type displays below thanks to an encoded URL string.

“We used the WebLink Designer to create custom searches because we noticed that our users would get overwhelmed when presented with a long list of templates and fields,” says Lesovsky. “Each custom search focuses on a particular program area or topic and uses a limited set of search criteria within the associated template.”

Quick, easy and efficient searches support Hickenlooper’s goal of driving the “three E’s” into government operations. Lesovsky explains, “In the past, people had to come to our offices to request information. Laserfiche WebLink provides a simple and elegant way for the public to get immediate access to the information they need whenever they need it.”

Integrations Make ECM “Mission-Critical”

By integrating Laserfiche WebLink with other software applications, the DNR has been able to make information even more accessible. For example, by integrating Laserfiche with ESRI ArcGIS, staff can click on a stream and retrieve associated court documents, while public users can quickly access information associated with flooding and flood hazards in the state.

To see the public-facing integration in action:

• Visit Colorado’s Flood Decision Support System page.
• Click on the Flood DSS Map Viewer.
• Agree to the disclaimer.
• Click the Documents tab in the top menu.
• Enter your search criteria in the pop-up window. For example, select:
  • Group: Historical Flooding.
  • Document: Historical flood photographs.
  • Type: Photographs.
• Hit the search button.
• A new window displays the results (produced on-the-fly by an encoded URL string) in a grid format.

It’s the integrations with applications like ESRI ArcGIS that make Laserfiche “mission-critical.” According to Lesovsky, “When you integrate Laserfiche with business-specific systems, you embed it into your existing workflow processes and it becomes integral to how you operate.”

ECM Enables Electronic Forms Processing

Laserfiche Rio has been a particularly effective ECM solution for the DNR because different divisions can configure it to meet their unique needs. For example, the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) uses Laserfiche to enable an eForm application that provides an interface for oil and gas operators to enter and submit permit forms and supporting documents. There are currently six active forms and three in development.

According to Ken Robertson, Application Developer for the COGCC, “Uploaded files are stored in our production Web server. Once the operators submit the form to our internal server, we export the attachments to Laserfiche.”

He explains that the public can view the files directly from the production Web server or wait until the files are imported to Laserfiche and use WebLink to access them. Furthermore, he outlines how the COGCC has used the Laserfiche SDK to create customized Laserfiche scripts and programs.

Robertson says, “For those attachments still sitting in our production Web server, we created a Windows service to check queued files in the Web server every 15 minutes and use the Laserfiche Toolkit [SDK] for .NET to import files to the Laserfiche repository server. In the meantime, we also collect the Laserfiche reference numbers in our attachment table so that system (eForm) can provide a WebLink download page for users to view the attachments.”

He notes that there is a separate application that allows oil and gas operators to upload well logs, which are imported into Laserfiche using Laserfiche Import Agent, a tool that captures and processes electronic documents. Scanning staff members use Laserfiche Quick Fields to index other types of electronic documents.

The biggest benefit of processing permits and well logs with Laserfiche is time. Robertson says, “We used to shuffle files from one person to another until they were approved, and then we scanned everything into the system. Having the operators upload their attachments to their documents saves an average of 15 minutes of scanning and indexing time for our staff, not to mention the time saved on data entry.”

He goes on to explain that having everything available electronically at the beginning of the process allows multiple people to work on the same forms simultaneously, further reducing processing time.

“Not only do we save time,” Robertson says, “but the approval process is now more transparent for the public.”

Lesovsky adds, “Laserfiche is powerful, flexible and easy to work with. Even though all our divisions use the same system, we can all use it a little differently.”

Looking Ahead

Lesovsky is particularly excited to use Laserfiche to harvest data across organizations. She explains that the CWCB has already conducted a feasibility study and has a grant in place to make it happen.

“Colorado State University has an ECM solution other than Laserfiche but a healthy collection of water information. The Colorado Water Resources Development & Power Authority and the Colorado River Water Conservation District currently use Laserfiche, with repositories of useful water documents. By hooking our systems together and using common metadata, we’ll be able to search for information across all four entities and gain a more complete picture of accessible water information in the state.”

She says that the DNR is also working on integrating Laserfiche and SharePoint. “Most of our divisions use SharePoint for their external Websites. Right now, people have to conduct separate searches if they want to find content stored in both Laserfiche and SharePoint. What we’re looking to do is enable searches that return results from both systems at the same time.”

All in all, she says, “Laserfiche Rio is a great tool. The bottleneck now is just finding the time to make it do everything we want it to do.”

Date
Previously known as Modification Date, the Date search type now includes new preconfigured date range searches. Instead of only being able to manually enter a date range, users can select Since yesterday, This week, Within the last 2 weeks, This month and Within the last 2 months from a drop-down menu and click Search. In addition, Exactly, Before, After, and Between can also be selected if you want to enter dates manually. Opening a saved search that contains one of these preconfigured date ranges will recalculate the date range based on the current date. For example, if you save a search that used the This week date range back in November, when you open it in January, This week will be updated using the current date.

Note: These preconfigured date range searches already existed in Web Access.

Users
Before Laserfiche 8.3, to search by a specific user, you had to manually type the user’s name into the text box, which allowed for spelling errors. Now you can select the Browse button next to the text box and select the Laserfiche user or domain account you want to search for. Last Modified By is also a new option enabling you to search by the last time the specific user modified an entry.

Note: You can still enter in the user’s name manually and use wildcards if you need to.

Pages
The Pages search is primarily useful for locating documents that are not full-text searchable. Along with the options to search by page count and if the pages contain text, you can now search for text pages, image pages, thumbnails and location data by their file size in the volumes.

The company faced four major challenges:

• Storage: Lack of space in the office for filing cabinets cost the company $650 a month to rent storage sheds. Temperatures inside the sheds often topped 110 degrees, degrading documents and discouraging retrieval by accounting employees.
• Decentralized Files: Every vehicle tow resulted in the creation of documents by multiple departments, each with their own filing methods—which meant accounting employees had to contact at least three departments to complete a vehicle file. From gathering vehicle photos from the sales department and inspections from the vehicle storage facility to tracking down titles in the title department, staff spent more time searching than billing.
• Security: Transferring files among departments compromised security and led to a proliferation of outdated copies.
• Customer Service: Spread-out storage and misfiled contracts made it difficult to deliver towing contracts to customers by 2:00 p.m. on the day following a tow, as outlined in vendor contracts.

“The vehicle could sometimes be moved to another storage or auction facility, and sometimes the files would not get to the new vehicle storage location,” notes Sheila Gallegos, project manager at United Road Towing.

The company put out a request for proposals for an enterprise content management (ECM) product that could:

• Quickly and easily scan documents.
• Read vehicle barcodes and file documents with minimal human effort.
• Perform quality checks on barcoded scans.

After reviewing RFP responses, United Road Towing saw that Laserfiche could easily set a company-wide standard to transition it away from inefficient paper-based processes.

“Laserfiche was the easiest to understand and the most user-friendly by far. Quick Fields and Workflow sessions were doing most the work, instead of our staff,” says Gallegos. “Most importantly, Laserfiche was an enterprise software solution, whereas the other vendors had to piece together other products to create the solution we were looking for.”

Gallegos led a three-month installation and in-depth training process which brought 73 employees in seven departments and seven locations—as well as 23 vendors—onto the Laserfiche system.

“Laserfiche has helped us streamline our processes, and it also helps us make sure that the processes are standardized from location to location,” she says.

Giving the Green Light to Better Records Management

The first step for United Road Towing was standardizing the documentation process from the time a vehicle hitches to a tow truck to when it leaves the tow lot—which brought immediate improvements in customer service and employee efficiency.

A custom integration between Quick Fields, Workflow and the company’s towing software now takes data from vehicle barcodes, driver invoices and customer-submitted documents across many departments for cradle-to-grave records management.

Because the towing software doesn’t contain an open database, the company worked with Laserfiche to create a custom Workflow script with an HTTP post. The script automatically pulls information from the towing software to fill in additional data in Quick Fields.

As outlined below, records management is now much simpler and more consistent:

• When the company tows a vehicle, the truck driver places a barcode sticker on the vehicle to identify it in the vehicle inventory and places a barcode sheet in the storage reports.
• Storage facility staff scans the barcode sheets into Laserfiche.
• Quick Fields reads the barcodes, places the inventory number into a field and saves the storage report in the Laserfiche repository.
• The custom Workflow script runs a session that searches the towing database using the barcode. Quick Fields then fills in additional template fields with retrieved information about the vehicle, such as the vehicle’s make, model, year and VIN number, as well as customer information and invoice and payment dates.
• When all fields are complete, the Workflow session electronically files the documents by tow date.

With the automated system, the average user can process five documents a minute. Each day, the company as a whole can easily process 1,500 customer documents and 500 driver invoices.

WebLink Revs Up Customer Service

The integration has also improved the availability of customer documents within the contractual one-day grace period. Prior to Laserfiche, one employee would collect 200 documents a day from the accounting department, scan the documents into a network folder, rename all the documents, move the documents to an FTP folder and then make the documents available to customers on a Website in PDF form. This time-intensive process often resulted in late documents and $75 in vendor fines for each delayed delivery.

With Laserfiche WebLink, an automated process ensures that customers can view documents on the same day of the tow—many hours before the deadline.

• When a towed vehicle is added to the storage inventory, storage facility employees scan documents from the drivers along with customer-supplied paperwork like driver licenses into a network folder.
• From the network folder, Quick Fields brings the documents into the Laserfiche repository and identifies the documents by reading their barcodes.
• The custom Workflow session retrieves the vehicle information from the towing software using the barcodes, and Quick Fields completes the template fields.
• The accounting office then e-mails digital invoice copies to customers.
• Quick Fields files the documents and automatically makes relevant documents, such as storage reports, driver licenses, private party impounds and pre-tow pictures of the vehicles, available for customers via WebLink.
• Customers can view the files related to their tow with an assigned, secure login.

This fast flow of information empowers United Road Towing as well as the customer. The customer may view the document on the same day as the tow, and United Road Towing now:

• Saves half a pallet of paper (50 boxes) per month.
• Eliminates $650 a month in off-site storage costs.
• No longer needs to train storage employees on a formerly laborious customer service process.

“In the past, a dedicated staff person spent eight hours completing this process. Now, it only takes 30 minutes to verify all the documents that were scanned,” says Gallegos.

Overhauled Processes Bring Big Benefits

United Road Towing counts centralized data as the most basic gain from Laserfiche, which has completely eliminated the company’s reliance on a carrier to move documents from remote sites to the main office.

The rewards multiply when it comes to customer satisfaction. “Now anyone who answers the phone can answer inquiries about the status of a vehicle by doing a simple search in Laserfiche,” notes Gallegos. “We used to have to transfer calls to the storage lot where the vehicle was stored.”

The company’s five storage facilities follow the same procedures, but the company can shift tasks around depending on the available employees and their skill levels. For example, when a customer calls requesting paperwork from their insurance company to release the vehicle to a body shop or the police department inquires after proof of ownership forms, dispatch staff can now look up the related information in Laserfiche instead of relying on lot staff.

More employees can be cross-trained to complete work in multiple departments. Whenever the staff has downtime, employees input and check metadata in Laserfiche from any documents that don’t include barcodes. Recently, the company even changed its file clerk positions into quality assurance roles.

With Audit Trail, Gallegos can run a report that outlines which employees have accessed certain documents. Every month, she uses the report to check productivity and conduct any back-training
for employees based on their efficiency.

United Road Towing is close to completing an expansion to the corporate office in Illinois. Instead of spending money on overnight mailing costs, the company will now digitally send Department of Transportation documents to corporate employees via WebLink.

Other plans for growing United Road Towing’s Laserfiche system include:

• Using the Laserfiche Mobile iPad app to digitize the signed agreement binders that tow drivers currently carry in paper form. Capturing and storing the most current authorization forms will ensure that drivers remain in compliance with local regulations.
• Working with municipalities to write laws that standardize the authorizations needed to tow a vehicle and giving cities access to signed agreements via WebLink.
• Expanding the Laserfiche system to 11 additional sites to further standardize procedures and bring cradle-to-grave records management to the rest of the company.

“Laserfiche has helped to ensure that processes are consistent throughout the company while allowing us to improve processes and gain efficiencies,” Gallegos says. “It’s one of the best investments we’ve ever made.”

Conversión21
Recuperan la Historia del Estado de México en formato digital

El Universal
Digitalizan acervo cultural

Escrutinio
Aplican Universidades tecnología Laserfiche para la gestión de procesos

Assessing vendors by the strength of their offering and their strategy for the enterprise, Info-Tech Research Group Vendor Landscapes pay tribute to the contribution of exceptional vendors in a particular category. According to Info-Tech Research Group, the research is designed for organizations looking for an ECM solution that will:

• Increase the efficiency of workers that engage in repetitive tasks.
• Improve key transactional processes such as accounts payable or onboarding.
• Integrate with key line-of-business applications such as ERP, GIS or CRM.

“Laserfiche is a stalwart that is exploiting the new capabilities of emerging technology,” said George Goodall, Senior Research Analyst with Info-Tech. “It has strong alignment with Microsoft technologies, an innovative iPhone app that allows for remote scanning using the iPhone camera and an Integration Marketplace, where connectors can be purchased for a wide variety of products.”

Of the four vendors listed as Champions in the report, Laserfiche received the highest Value Score. This means that, of all the Champions, Laserfiche offers the most “bang for the buck” in terms of features, usability and stability.

“The Info-Tech Research Group ranking confirms that our focus on providing cost-effective transactional content management solutions is paying off for our customers,” said Tom Wayman, Vice President of Product Strategy at Laserfiche. “The advanced business process management capabilities and administration tools included in our newest release, Laserfiche 8.3, will enable even more organizations to increase efficiency and improve transactional processes such as case and contract management.”

About Info-Tech Research Group

With a paid membership of over 8,000 organizations worldwide, Info-Tech Research Group (www.infotech.com) is the global leader in providing tactical, practical information technology research and analysis. Info-Tech Research Group has a thirteen-year history of delivering quality research and is North America’s fastest growing full-service IT analyst firm.

About Laserfiche
Since 1987, Laserfiche has used its Run Smarter® philosophy to create simple and elegant enterprise content management (ECM) solutions. More than 30,000 organizations worldwide—including federal, state and local government agencies and Fortune 1000 companies—use Laserfiche® software to streamline document, records and business process management.

The Laserfiche ECM system is designed to give IT managers central control over their information infrastructure while still offering business units the flexibility to react quickly to changing conditions. The Laserfiche product suite is built on top of Microsoft® technologies to simplify system administration, supports the Microsoft SQL platform and features a seamless integration with Microsoft Office® applications and a two-way integration with SharePoint®.

Laserfiche distributes its software through a worldwide network of value-added resellers (VARs), who tailor solutions to clients’ individual needs. The Laserfiche VAR program has received the Five-Star Rating from Computer Reseller News/VARBusiness magazine.

Laserfiche®, Run Smarter® and Compulink® are registered trademarks of Compulink Management Center, Inc.

On the main page, in addition to links to license files and activation keys for you and your clients, you’ll also find a link to a guide to all of the resources available on the site:

By clicking on one of the product links in the left bar (e.g., Laserfiche or Workflow), you’ll find Support Site information such as Knowledge Base articles and tech papers filtered for that product. In addition, links in the page header take you to online help files and the current list of hotfixes for the product.

If there are specific materials you’re looking for on the Support Site, but can’t fine, or if there are features you’d like to see documented, please let us know at documentation@laserfiche.com.

• For Each Entry in a collection.
• For Each Row in a table of information.
• For Each User in a group.
• For Each Value of a multi-value token and/or of multiple tokens.

• Example: Jill wants to search the repository for all project proposals filed in the last week, and she wants to use the For Each Entry activity to apply metadata to each proposal.

• Example: For each row returned in a database query for new employees, Mark wants to create a new document and assign a tag to it.

The For Each activities are easy to configure, but the activities placed inside these activities often need special attention so that they will process the correct entries.

Define the Information “For Each” Processes

To configure a For Each activity, first specify which collection of information the activity will process. When you drag and drop a For Each activity on to the Designer Pane, a property box will let you define a collection of information.

• Example: With the For Each Entry activity, Jill specifies a collection of entries to process in the Entries property box. By clicking the Select link and choosing a collection of entries from the list provided, Jill configures the activity to process the search results (“Output Entries”) found by a Search Repository activity.

Define How That Information Is Processed

After selecting a collection of information, drag and drop activities into the For Each activity. Then, specify which entry the activities inside the For Each activity will act on. By default, activities are configured to act on the Starting Entry. However, in many cases, you will want them to act on a different entry.

• Example: Jill wants to assign metadata to each entry being processed by a For Each Entry activity. She drags and drops an Assign Field Values activity into the For Each Entry activity. In the Assign Field Values To property box, she selects Other Entry, clicks the Select link, and chooses Current Entry in the Select Entry dialog. The Assign Field Values activity will now assign metadata to each entry processed by the For Each Entry activity and not the starting entry.

All activities that interact with entries will have a similar property box in which you can choose which entry the activity will act on.

The For Each Row, For Each User, and For Each Value activities do not interact with a collection of entries, and you will not have the “Current Entry” option when selecting which entry the activities inside the For Each activity will act on. However, you may still want to specify an entry other than the starting entry for these activities.

• Example: Mark wants to create a new entry for each row of data returned in a database query, and he wants to assign a tag to each created entry. Mark places a Create Entry activity and Assign Tag activity inside the For Each Row activity. When configuring the Assign Tag activity, Mark specifies that the activity will apply a tag to the created entry, not the starting entry.

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• In the Administration Console, Folder Browser or Document Viewer you have multiple options:
  • Click the ? button in the toolbar (the Administration Console button looks different but still has a big ?).

    

  • Press the F1 button on your keyboard (HINT: This opens help in most software programs).
  • Select Contents (or Help Topics in the Admin Console) from the Help menu above the toolbar.
• On any dialog box, click the Help button to open information about the specific dialog you’re clicking from.

What’s the help you get?

Laserfiche online help files are the single most comprehensive resource for information on how to use our software products.

• • Most up-to-date source. Online hosting means we can update our help files as necessary to add information about a feature or clarify anything confusing—so you get up-to-date information at all times.
  • Most complete source. Everything we know about how to use the software goes into the help files, and they often serve as a foundation for the papers and videos we create. The help files are your single best option for “What does this do?” and “How do I do it?” questions.

Laserfiche 8.3 is a major release including numerous new features and significant performance enhancements that help automate transactional processes, simplify information governance and improve deployment flexibility for administrators and users.

Enhancements include the following and more:

• Versions: Versions now track content and metadata changes as a history within a single document, allowing you to review, compare and revert to older versions. Legacy version behavior from Laserfiche 8.2 and before continues to be supported in the Link Group feature, described below.
• Digital Signatures: User can digitally sign documents, indicating that documents are authentic and signed by particular people. Other users can validate signatures to verify that the contents have not been modified since signing and that a trusted root authority validated the signatures.
• Template Colors: Administrators can now associate a color with a template. Icons for documents and folders assigned to a template appear in that color in the Client and Web Access.
• Volume Checksums: Checksums allow users to verify the contents of a volume to detect tampering, corruption or data loss and notify users if opened documents do not have valid contents.
• Encrypted Briefcases: Users can encrypt Laserfiche contents exported as briefcases using AES 128 encryption, ensuring that the briefcase cannot be opened or imported into a repository without a valid password.
• Link Groups: Laserfiche 8.3 retains version groups from Laserfiche 8.2 and prior as collections of related but independent documents called link groups. Users can convert link groups to Laserfiche 8.3 version-controlled documents using our Link Group Conversion Utility.
• Full-Text Search: The Full-Text Indexing and Search Engine can now be distributed to a different computer than the Laserfiche Server for improved performance. New features also include new index status reporting, memory management and localized indexing.
• Workflow 8.3 offers a vast expansion of capabilities, with more than 60 new built-in Workflow activities including activities for PDF forms, database access and directory access, scheduled automation, workflow statistics reports, performance improvements and much more. See the supplementary announcement of this exciting release to extend the reach of business process management. Laserfiche Workflow is included with Rio and Avante systems.
• Web Access 8.3: Performance enhancements include improved handling of scanning and importing, caching enhancements, improved memory usage and more efficient information loading.
• Laserfiche Client: Users can save different customizable column displays with column profiles and easily switch between profiles without manually re-configuring them. The Laserfiche Client includes full support for new Laserfiche 8.3 features.
• Office Integration: Updated compatibility fully supports the x64 edition of Microsoft Office 2010 and the expanded versions feature.
• Web Administration Console: A new, full-featured administrative thin client allows authorized users to administer their repository from anywhere using a Web browser. Additional features not available with the desktop Administration Console include:
  • Centralized Management Dashboard: A convenient dashboard provides easy access to statistics and functions of your Laserfiche Server and Repository.
  • Integrated Event Viewer: You can now view Laserfiche-related informational and error messages from the Laserfiche Server or Search Engine computers from anywhere.
  • Availability: The Laserfiche Web Administration Console is included with Rio and Avante as part of the Laserfiche Server installation.
• Snapshot 8.3: Enhancements improve batch processing and troubleshooting.
• PhotoDocs 8.3: Full integration with version control supports the new 8.3 features. PhotoDocs also includes new options for cropping images.
• Localization: Laserfiche 8.3 provides fully integrated installation and UI localization with a complete simultaneous release of all components in Arabic, French, Portuguese (Brazilian) and Spanish. All components except Workflow are also available in Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional) and Italian.

Next Steps:

1. Read the release notes and list of changes for Laserfiche 8.3 Avante and Rio
2. Read the release notes and list of changes for Laserfiche 8.3 Web Access.
3. Visit support.laserfiche.com for videos, forums, Knowledge Base articles, and more.

This is a major release featuring product enhancements and more than 60 new built-in Workflow activities that simplify third-party integrations, offer easy customization and enhance administrative control.

Workflow 8.3 will now install without a license when configured with a Laserfiche Avante or Rio Server, eliminating additional licensing or activation steps. Workflow 8.3 is compatible with Laserfiche 8.0 and up, with some activities requiring Laserfiche 8.3.

Workflow 8.3 Enhancements Include:

• New Activities: Workflow 8.3 boasts a variety of new activities including PDF activities, database activities, directory activities, custom token activities, error handling activities and more.
• Starting Rule Enhancements: You can now schedule starting rules to run workflows on a timer and without a starting rule. New Rule Manager folders help you organize workflows and search for starting rules.
• Condition Enhancements: In activity conditions, you can access tokens from the right-hand side of a condition—allowing you to compare the value of two tokens.
• Search Enhancements: A new Common Searches Pane lets you run pre-configured searches for workflow instances with updated search options in the Search Pane. The Search Results Pane also lets you select and interact with multiple workflow instances at once.
• Workflow Statistic Reports: With this new reporting tool, you can view information about your workflows, like the average time it took for a workflow to run, in a table or a chart.
• Administration Console Changes: An expanded Workflow Administration Console lets you monitor and interact with your workflows and provides advanced performance options to ensure that Workflow takes full advantage of your system’s resources.
• Script Editor: The redesigned script editor makes creating and using tokens easier. Additionally, you can add or remove any assembly references you want.
• Usability Enhancements: Improvements have been made to the Minimap, Toolbox, Workflow Properties, Workflow Designer Canvas, print options and more.
• Configuration Manager: Configure the Workflow Server, Subscriber, Monitored Repositories, E-mail Servers and Trustee Directories all in a convenient Configuration Manager.
• Failover Clustering Support for the Workflow Subscriber: A second machine can ensure that no Laserfiche Server notifications are lost if the machine hosting the Workflow Subscriber fails.
• Workflow Architecture Changes: Architecture changes include a new Workflow Server-Subscriber relationship, SQL changes, new primary message queues, scripting changes and more.
• Supported Languages: Workflow can now run in English, Arabic, Spanish, French and Portuguese (Brazilian).

Next steps:

1. Read about known issues for Workflow 8.3.
2. See a list of changes for Workflow 8.3.
3. Visit support.laserfiche.com for videos, forums, Knowledge Base articles, and more.

Download Package

• The release consists of four packages: Avante, Rio, Web Access and Workflow. All package sizes have been condensed to reduce download time. Each package still contains the same amount of content as previous releases, but in a smaller size.
• The Avante 8.3 package now includes Client, Server and Workflow in one bundle, eliminating the need to download a separate Workflow package. Team/United customers should also use the Avante package to access components compatible with their systems.
• The Rio 8.3 package includes the standard Client, Server and License Manager, as well as Workflow and Web Access, so Rio customers no longer need to download the Avante and Web Access files to gain all features for their systems.
• Since Workflow 8.3 is compatible with all versions of Laserfiche 8.0, a smaller package is available for customers who need Workflow but are not yet not updating to Laserfiche 8.3.

Web Access 8.3 and Laserfiche Mobile

• If a customer currently uses the Laserfiche Mobile application, the Laserfiche 8.3 download will automatically update Laserfiche Mobile for compatibility with the new system.

Digital Signatures and Web Administration Licensing

• Rio customers will automatically receive the Digital Signatures feature when downloading Laserfiche 8.3.
• For Avante customers, the Digital Signatures feature is sold as a 5% add-on.
• Rio and Avante customers will automatically receive the Web Administration Console, which can be installed through the main Laserfiche Server package. The previously available Desktop Administration Console is still included in the Client installation.
• Digital Signatures and the Web Administration Console are not supported for Team/United.

Workflow 8.3 Licensing

• Workflow 8.3 is included for Avante and Rio customers. The installation detects the server type, connects automatically and will not require them to activate a license file.
• Team/United customers with Workflow must activate to generate a license file when installing Workflow 8.3.

Learn more about the new features and functionality of Laserfiche 8.3 on the Laserfiche Support Site.

In a five-minute panel discussion, Alex Wilson, PDP Partner Manager, Brian LaPointe, VP of Strategic Solutions and Steve Hackney, Senior Solutions Engineer, discuss how new product enhancements in Laserfiche 8.3 translate into immediate value for customers’ lines of business.

You’ll hear how Laserfiche 8.3 provides:

• ECM as integrative middleware for a better user experience.
• Enterprise workflow activities that eliminate the need for programming.
• Accessible and secure mobile content management.
• Extended security with VERS Certification (Digital Signatures).

Watch the video now!

Popular courses include:

BPM104: What’s New in Workflow 8.3
This course will introduce you to the new features in Laserfiche Workflow 8.3, including new activities, an expanded administration console and enhancements to the Workflow engine, among others.

BPM105: Tips and Tricks in the Workflow Designer
We’ll present tips and strategies for optimizing your Workflow Designer in this session. Attendees will also have the opportunity to give feedback on the product. You’ll learn how to:

• Use the Workflow Designer more efficiently.
• Customize the user interface.
• Build workflows faster.

BPM151: The Power of Tokens in Workflow
Discover the range of possibilities for using tokens in Laserfiche Workflow by attending this course. You’ll solve problems faster by learning how to:

• Incorporate tokens into your current Workflows.
• Redesign and simplify current processes.
• Build new processes.
• Increase flexibility of your workflows.

BPM221: Debugging Workflows
In this course, we’ll walk current Workflow users through the methods of optimizing their Workflow design. You’ll learn how to:

• Find and solve issues with your workflow design.
• Anticipate and avoid problems during the building process.
• Build activities into a Workflow design that troubleshoot it throughout production.

CD119: Laserfiche in a Mobile World
Join us for a discussion on how Laserfiche products such as Web Access Light, WebLink in mobile browsers and iPhone applications may interact with products like Workflow and PhotoDocs to make your Laserfiche information accessible beyond the office.

CD151: New Features in the Laserfiche Repository
Laserfiche 8.3 brought a host of new features to the Laserfiche Client, Web Access, Administration Console and Web Administration Console in Laserfiche 8.3. Gain insight into the changes by learning about:

• Version control
• Digital signatures
• Template colors
• Entry listing profiles
• And much more!

EDM102: Introducing the Laserfiche Web Administration Console
The new Web-based Administration Console in Laserfiche 8.3 is poised to become the primary administrative interface for Laserfiche. Learn how to incorporate its functionality into your system and access your repository from anywhere using a Web browser.

EDM303: Advanced Applied SDK
Attend to learn about the expanded applications of the Laserfiche SDK beyond basic integrations and custom programs. Two of our senior developers will demonstrate how to use the SDK to perform activities such as automatically monitoring and enhancing the health of your Laserfiche system.

EDM201: Tips and Tricks for Administrators
Already have down the basics of the Administrative Console? Learn tips and tricks for keeping your Laserfiche repository optimized and ensuring smooth administrative tasks.

EDM251: Enterprise Deployment Strategies
Gain strategies for making your enterprise deployment go as smoothly as possible by attending this course. We’ll help you ensure effective management of large user populations, high-volume transaction processing and other enterprise-wide functions through lessons learned.

Be sure to visit the conference Website for more details and the daily schedule.

Haven’t registered for the Conference yet? Click here!

Basic Workflow Design

• BPM105 – Tips and Tricks in the Workflow Designer
• BPM151 – The Power of Tokens in Workflow
• BPM152/BPM153 – Intermediate Workflow Design
• BPM202/BPM203 – Workflow Best Practices

Mastering Workflow Design

• BPM151 – The Power of Tokens in Workflow
• BPM202/203 -Workflow Best Practices
• BPM221 – Debugging Workflows
• BPM304 – Expert Workflow Concepts

Workflow Enterprise Deployment

• BPM104 – What’s New in Workflow 8.3
• BPM201 – Enterprise Workflow Activities
• BPM205 – Activity-Based Integration
• BPM207 – Enterprise Deployment of Workflow
• BPM208 – Roundtable on Workflow

Troubleshooting Workflow

• BPM204 – Troubleshooting Workflow Installations
• BPM206 – Optimizing Workflow Performance
• BPM221 – Debugging Workflows Design

Workflow Developer – Overview

• BPM251 – Introduction to Workflow Scripting
• BPM301 – Extending Workflow, Introduction to Custom Activities
• BPM104 – What’s New in Workflow 8.3

Workflow Developer – Advanced

• BPM252 – Introduction to the Workflow SDK
• One of the following groups:
  • BPM301 – Extending Workflow, Introduction to Custom Activities
  • OR
  • BPM302 – Extending Workflow, Custom Activities Part 1 (lab)
  • BPM303 – Extending Workflow, Custom Activities Part 2 (lab)

• BPM351 – Advanced Custom Activities

Sign up for your BPM courses here.

Guidelines that apply:

• The promotion applies to both Avante upgrades for existing customers and new purchases for first-time buyers.
• New customers purchasing Web Access or Audit Trail and existing customers who use Web Access or Audit Trail in their systems will receive free software costs for Web Access and Audit Trail with their free licenses.
• All customers must purchase full-price LSAP coverage for new licenses.

This promotion is open to both domestic and international customers. Contact your VAR or account manager today!