|
UserNews | November 2007 |
 |
|
In this issue, we spotlight six organizations that use Laserfiche® to solve their most pressing information management challenges. In recognition of their success, these organizations will each receive a Run Smarter Award at the 2008 Laserfiche Institute Conference, which will take place in Los Angeles from January 14-16. In addition to a conference scholarship and three nights’ hotel accommodation, each winner will be highlighted in an industry publication and will have a case study written about their innovative, efficiency-increasing solution. We’d like to thank everyone who submitted nominations for this year’s award—and we’d like to invite you to join us in Los Angeles in January to congratulate this year’s winners. Government The County of Hawaii’s Office of the Corporation Counsel serves as the legal representative of all the county’s officers and employees—a total of 2,300 clients. But with legal records dating back to 1905, and with a growing archive of legal briefs, motions, memos and letters to manage, the office struggled to keep track of its paper. Corporation Counsel Lincoln Ashida recalls that the situation was "slightly embarrassing" when he assumed office several years ago. A 100-foot-long hallway was lined with bankers’ boxes full of files, and additional boxes were housed in other county buildings—including the basement of an old hospital. Locating a legal opinion, letter or other document often involved asking a senior employee if they could remember where the item had been stored. As part of the Laserfiche implementation process, staff scanned these documents into a centralized repository. Now, staff can easily perform keyword searches across hundreds of thousands of documents—something that was impossible when the office relied on a paper-based system. Laserfiche includes a number of other features that help the office’s staff do their jobs more effectively. For example, customized template fields enable staff to record key document metadata, such as the date on which a document was approved for release and the name of the person who approved it. Electronic redaction tools enable staff to obscure sensitive information prior to releasing a document. Publishing documents to CD has proved particularly valuable in speeding up the discovery process, because the office can provide opposing counsel with trial exhibits on a single disc, rather than having to ship multiple boxes of paper files. Ashida is pleased with everything his office has accomplished. "Our office vision statement is, ‘We are the answer.’ Laserfiche has furthered this vision by helping us readily answer our clients’ questions, whether by producing an organized history of all the documents associated with a certain case or controversy, locating legal opinions concerning any subject matter, or organizing the large numbers of documents in our litigation files," he says. "Ultimately, no software, program or other tool has been as valuable to our office as Laserfiche." Back to top » Government  The City of Anaheim Public Utilities Department ensures that citizens have water and power on demand. But the department’s antiquated filing system had made accessing important information decidedly less reliable. With over 16,000 project files, each containing a jumble of blueprints, wiring schematics, job-site Polaroids and hand-written notes, finding a particular file was often a laborious, time-consuming and ultimately fruitless task. Supervisor of Records Management Ron Smith joined the City of Anaheim in 1999 and was tasked with bringing the department’s records into the digital age. Smith recalls how the hodgepodge of boxes and manila folders usually made finding a file a shot in the dark. "I’d pull these boxes out for the engineers," he says, "and we wouldn’t find what we needed. Our level of service was suffering horribly." Smith knew he had to implement digital document management to begin his mission of modernization. After sorting all of the department’s documents—from memos and work orders to maps and photos—into distinct groups, staff began scanning the items into the Laserfiche repository, electronically labeling each file by street name, job number and type of utility. Now, the city’s utility workers and civil engineers can quickly locate records using whatever information they have on hand, and then access those records directly from their desktops. Besides providing immediate information access, Laserfiche has brought a number of additional benefits. Smith reports that the Laserfiche Records Management Edition™ greatly simplifies the management of retention cycles by automatically assigning the same retention period to all subfolders within a given parent folder. "This makes demonstrating compliance much easier, because we can show where all records are stored and maintained, and what their retention period is," he says. The public utilities department has come a long way in the years since installing Laserfiche, and Smith plans to build on that success. Next on the slate is an enterprise-wide electronic records management program that will utilize Workflow™ and Import Agent™ to automatically route construction drawings upon completion, providing staff with accurate, real-time updates to critical information. "We want to leave a legacy of improvement for future employees," he says. "The new system will significantly improve and automate our business processes." Back to top » Financial Services 
Geneos Wealth Management offers estate planning, investment advice, time management systems and financial planning. With such diverse roles and an eye toward retail rather than institutional banking arrangements, Geneos needs to store, share, search and reference hundreds of thousands of client documents. In addition, the firm’s relationship to its representatives means joint ownership of the majority of client records, requiring access from multiple locations by various individuals. Geneos management looked briefly at simple scanning solutions, but these were inadequate. Geneos needed an economical way for branch offices to scan documents into a centralized repository, while fully complying with SEC regulations requiring a clear audit trail. In Laserfiche, the company found the solution it was looking for. The results have been dramatic. Remote offices can instantly send documents requiring overnight approval to the home office. The firm has eliminated faxing altogether and has greatly reduced printing and mailing costs, as well as audit preparation time. "At a recent NASD audit, we provided auditors with 80,000 pages of documents—six months’ worth of correspondence—on one CD," says CIO Dean Rager. "It took about an hour to gather the 80,000 pages and create the CD. In the past, it meant weeks and weeks of staff time." Geneos also appreciates Laserfiche’s open architecture, and IT staff have used the Integrator’s Toolkit™ to complete a number of integrations between their in-house applications and their document repository. IT staff have also worked with two major clearinghouses to establish a system for submitting paperwork electronically. "As a major broker-dealer, we route large amounts of documentation to the clearinghouses," explains Systems Analyst Sean O’Reilly. "We’ve established an electronic document link so that staff can quickly submit documents stored in Laserfiche to either house, simply by clicking a custom toolbar button. Our staff really appreciate the ability to send documents electronically rather than printing and mailing them, and this functionality has taken us a long way toward becoming a fully paperless firm, with greater operating efficiency and system integration." Back to top » Healthcare  With the goal of eliminating manual work processes, Central Oregon Radiology Associates developed an ambitious plan to digitize nearly every aspect of its operations. The plan included three key components: a picture archiving and communication system (PACS), to store and manage radiological images; a radiology information system (RIS), to manage appointment scheduling, transcriptions and billing; and a digital document management system, to store and manage consent forms, explanation of benefits forms (EOBs) and other documentation. As Marico Oliveira, the organization’s former director of operations (and current director of human resources), explains, selecting Laserfiche was one of the easiest aspects of this initiative. "Our Laserfiche reseller did a demonstration at our RIS vendor’s user group meeting, and we recognized that Laserfiche was precisely what we needed. We saw that the system’s security features and auditing capabilities would help us meet HIPAA requirements, and the ability to store documentation electronically fit perfectly with our decision to ‘go paperless’ throughout our organization." Staff now scan a number of items—from patients’ drivers licenses and insurance cards to consent forms and EOBs—into the Laserfiche repository, where they’re stored as easily-accessible TIFF files. The system’s search tools help staff to quickly locate the relevant documents when patients, physicians or insurers call with questions. And sensitive patient information is far more secure than in the past, when the organization stored its documents in records rooms and filing cabinets. Oliveira recently transitioned to a new position as the organization’s human resources director, and she notes that Laserfiche delivers the same benefits to the HR department that it’s brought to the rest of the organization. "We manage all of our personnel files in Laserfiche, and we scan payroll and credentialing documentation into the repository as well," she says. "Thanks to Laserfiche, we have less paperwork to handle, we make fewer photocopies and we spend less time searching for documents." Central Oregon Radiology Associates is currently in the process of upgrading to a newer version of its RIS software; as part of the upgrade process, they’re working with their Laserfiche reseller to integrate this software with their document repository. When the integration is complete, staff will be able to access Laserfiche documents from within the RIS application. "We can’t wait for this integration," Oliveira says. "The time savings will be enormous, especially for billing-related processes, such as looking up claims." Back to top » Education  Each day, students submit a number of documents—from aid applications, scholarship acceptance letters and promissory notes to copies of birth certificates, passports and tax returns—to the University of Utah’s Department of Financial Aid & Scholarships. Prior to installing Laserfiche, staff spent hours sorting, routing and filing these forms—and service suffered as a result. "We’d ask students to come to our office to fill out incomplete paperwork, but when they’d stop by, they’d have to wait while staff went to look for the documents we’d contacted them about," explains IT staffer Jeramy Berry. He adds that storing all of this paper required a significant amount of space, given that the university must retain documents for seven years following the student’s graduation. "Because we’d filled up our own file room, we had to store older files in another department—and we had stacks of paper all over our office," he says. The department’s IT staff began researching digital document management systems with the goal of eliminating this massive paper archive and of finding a more efficient way of routing documents among staff members. In Laserfiche, they found all the functionality they were looking for. Laserfiche enables the department to store all of its documentation electronically, while the system’s comprehensive search tools help staff quickly find what they need. Perhaps most importantly, the Laserfiche Workflow module has fully automated document routing processes, eliminating the need to carry documents from one part of the department to another. Berry estimates that Laserfiche has helped the department reduce processing time by two-thirds, meaning that students receive aid and scholarship money a lot sooner than they used to. "In the past, it would take us at least six weeks to process a student’s paperwork. Now, we can process the documents in two weeks," he says. "Thanks to Laserfiche, we no longer have to search through stacks of paper to find documents. We no longer have to manually sort documents and carry them to someone’s inbox. We no longer have to search for lost documents and misplaced files," he continues. "Most importantly, we’ve greatly reduced the amount of time we needed to process documents—meaning we can disburse money to students a lot more quickly than in the past." Back to top » Commercial  Brown Metals Company boasts the largest inventory of thin-gauge stainless steel coil on the West Coast. Thanks to an efficient supply chain and a highly-skilled workforce, Brown Metals can quickly process and ship orders of any size. But as the company grew, keeping track of order-related paperwork became increasingly challenging—and had an adverse impact on customer service. When an order shipped, the accompanying paperwork first went to the company’s accounting and quality assurance departments for review. It then went to the file room. When a customer called with an order-related question, staff had to leave their desks and visit each of these locations in turn to search for the relevant document, while the customer waited on the phone. Laserfiche has helped Brown Metals to eliminate this inefficient process. Now, staff scan order-related paperwork into the Laserfiche repository, and the Quick Fields™ module reads a bar code printed on each document. Quick Fields then uses this information to automatically populate the document’s template fields with the relevant metadata, which is retrieved from the company’s orders database. Customer service staff can then quickly locate a document using any piece of information they have, including customer name, invoice number, sales order number, purchase order number, part number or ship date—without leaving their desks. "Now, our orders are easy to locate and retrieve, and important information can be relayed to customers more quickly," says CIO Justin Lasley. "We’ve built our business on our ability to quickly respond to customer inquiries. Laserfiche helps us maintain that edge over our competitors." Lasley currently has plans to use Laserfiche to manage accounts payable documents, as well as the Microsoft® Word®, Excel® and Visio® files associated with the company’s ISO 9001 registration. No matter how much he expands the system’s use, Lasley knows there’s one thing he won’t have to worry about: staff buy-in. "When we started our initial implementation, several users were skeptical about the value that Laserfiche would bring to our business," he explains. "After they started using the software, however, these users saw its value. Customer service staff can quickly locate tracking numbers and other information for customers. Production personnel can easily retrieve order-processing instructions, which speeds the order fulfillment process and promotes greater accuracy. And everyone spends less time worrying about lost documents." |
|
| Laserfiche News | |
Register Now for the 2008 Laserfiche Institute Conference
Would you like to get even more out of your Laserfiche system in 2008? If so, please join us in Los Angeles from January 14-16 for our biggest conference ever. For the first time, we’re bringing together the entire Laserfiche community for three days of classes, presentations and hands-on labs. In addition to learning tips and tricks that will help you work with the current version of the software, you’ll learn about the new features in Laserfiche 8™—and you’ll have the chance to test this new functionality for yourself. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from the experts and discover new ways of using Laserfiche to solve your most pressing information management challenges. Please register for the conference today to reserve your spot in all the classes and labs you want to attend, as well as to take advantage of special early-bird pricing, which we’ve extended through the end of the month. Back to top » Download Our New e-Discovery White Paper  The average company generates and stores ninety percent of its information electronically. Yet recent studies have shown that a significant number of organizations have neither the technology nor a plan in place to respond to a legal discovery order involving electronic documents. We’ve created a white paper, "Using Digital Document Management to Better Meet e-Discovery Requirements," to help you understand the law surrounding e-discovery and to develop an e-discovery response plan for your organization. The paper also explains how Laserfiche can play a key role in this response plan by helping you organize your electronic documents, protect documents from alteration or destruction, and quickly locate documents that are subject to a discovery order. Please download this new white paper today to learn how Laserfiche can help your organization respond effectively to an e-discovery order—and help minimize the disruption and expense of litigation. | |
| Support | |
New Support Site Materials The following publications are newly available on the Support Site. You must have a Support Site account to view these materials. Register your new account here. New Knowledge Base Articles |
|
|
Tech Tip: Freehand and Rectangle Annotations in Laserfiche 8™ Note: In the next few issues, we’ll continue to preview new features in Laserfiche 8. Because this is a preview, note that the details and appearance of certain elements may change between now and the final release. The Laserfiche 8 Client offers many new annotation types, including freehand and rectangle annotations. The freehand annotation gives you the freedom to create any type of drawing or sketch you like. You can choose the opacity, color, line thickness and style, plus easily customize these settings from the freehand properties dialog box. You also have the option to join different freehand annotations together, if you draw them within three seconds of each other. After three seconds, the separate clicks become separate annotations. Watch the video for a short demonstration. The rectangle annotation enables you to create a perfect rectangle on any part of the imaged document. You can resize the rectangle, change the fill and line color, change the opacity and move the rectangle anywhere you please. You can also change the shape of the rectangle to either a rounded rectangle or an ellipse. These are also easily customized from the properties dialog box. Watch the video for a short demonstration. |
|
Copyright Notice © 2007 Compulink Management Center, Inc. Laserfiche and Compulink are registered trademarks, and Laserfiche Software Assurance Plan and LSAP are service marks of Compulink Management Center, Inc. All rights reserved. All other marks are properties of their respective companies. Laserfiche is not responsible for technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. If you do not wish to receive further newsletters, please click here. If you would like to opt out of receiving e-mail notification about surveys, let us know. If you would prefer the non-HTML version of the UserNews, please tell us. 3545 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90807 (800) 985-3855 Laserfiche UserNews November 2007 |
|
