In this month’s UserNews, we spotlight three Laserfiche® clients who shared their success stories with others at the 2008 Laserfiche Institute Conference. Thanks to these and other dedicated members of the Laserfiche community, more and more organizations are achieving extraordinary operational improvements every day.
When it comes to supporting the aircraft that help soldiers protect citizens, no detail is too small to record. That’s why the US Army’s Cargo Helicopters Project Management Office (CHPMO) maintains exhaustive records on every design feature, maintenance procedure and safety analysis performed worldwide on the CH-47 helicopter. With thousands of records series to follow, managing all these records is no easy task.
Nick Van Valkenburgh, information management analyst for CHPMO, is charged with maintaining order amongst the CHPMO’s files. It’s not enough to simply archive these documents, however. The US Army must comply not only with National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) regulations, but also with guidelines issued by the Army Records and Information Management System (ARMIS). But Van Valkenburgh doesn’t play the part of the put-upon records manager, for he has a powerful tool in his arsenal: a Laserfiche digital document management system.
CHPMO’s journey to digital document management began rather unusually. As Van Valkenburgh recalls, "It was what I call a ‘drive-by tasking.’ My boss walked by my desk one day and said, ‘Nick, buy a computer and a scanner and get rid of that paper. The fire marshal just cited us for having our filing cabinets blocking the aisles.’"
That simple directive kick-started a much bigger project than anyone could have imagined. "We looked at 40 systems initially," Van Valkenburgh says, "but we whittled it down to 10 based on which systems had Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) and DoD certifications." Laserfiche Records Management Edition™ (RME) not only met those two requirements, but also had the sophistication and security features needed to manage the myriad records series in Van Valkenburgh’s division.
As powerful as RME is, it was its ease of use that really won Van Valkenburgh over. Notes Van Valkenburgh, "It took only 30 minutes to install all the servers. We thought we had done something wrong, so we uninstalled it. The second time, it only took 20 minutes. Everything worked right out of the box. It was really amazing."
Gradually, staff are scanning in the contents of CHPMO’s 150 filing cabinets. Laserfiche’s flexible search capabilities have made indexing the four million pages easier than anticipated. "Given Laserfiche’s searching power, there was no need to create a complex folder structure," Van Valkenburgh says. "We don’t have to navigate through a document tree to get what we need. That’s really helped us streamline records management."
Having received excellent technical support, both from Laserfiche and from CHPMO’s reseller, Van Valkenburgh believes that support should be a major criterion when evaluating document management solutions. "You’re going to have a lifetime relationship with these folks," he says, "so make sure that you look carefully at the level of support you’ll be getting."
Despite some initial skepticism over adopting a digital business model, Van Valkenburgh has noticed his staff becoming increasingly appreciative of the benefits Laserfiche has brought. And the word is spreading—staff from other divisions are asking him how they can implement Laserfiche, too. "I’ll tell you this much," he says. "No one who’s made the switch to Laserfiche has had any regrets."
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Financial Services Firm Has Limitless Growth Potential
In the world of finance, managing even a single department’s documents can be an arduous task. When four disparate departments merge, however, managing the ensuing amalgamation of client records takes on a life of its own. For Christina Bacon, client records manager for Fortis Guernsey, taming the paper monster proved a considerable challenge. But with the help of Laserfiche digital document management, staff at Fortis Guernsey now enjoy the familiarity of their former paper-based business processes—accelerated at the speed of today’s technology.
Part of a multinational financial services firm, Fortis Guernsey formed when four separate institutions all moved into a new office building. Christina assumed the responsibility of consolidating each institution’s paperwork into a unified, enterprise-wide system. There was a catch, however: not only did each department have its own well-established business processes, but government and industry regulations dictated that each department’s documents be kept out of the others’ view.
Fortis Guernsey looked at five different solutions to this complex challenge, but one stood out immediately from the rest. "We could easily see how we would be able to connect our existing systems to Laserfiche," Christina says. "It’s like a bottomless pit—by which I mean that you can keep on expanding it." Laserfiche’s intuitive interface didn’t hurt, either. "It’s Windows®-based, so it’s very easy to use."
In many cases, optimizing business processes means persuading management to invest in technology. But at Fortis Guernsey, obtaining staff buy-in was just as important. Says Christina, "We anticipated resistance, which is why we went to each department, asking, ‘How would you set it up? How will you be searching for files?’ We wanted staff to know that this was their system, not something shoved down their throats."
To satisfy each department’s needs, Christina created a somewhat freeform, template-based organization scheme. As Christina explains, "We didn’t want to create hundreds and hundreds of folders, but we didn’t want to retrieve hundreds of documents at once, either. To maintain each department’s existing workflow, we created templates that allow staff to find files the way they normally would."
Each department’s template contains a number of fields, such as client name, account number, document type and keyword, by which staff can search for what they need. And while it may be slightly unorthodox, this approach has been very successful, given that staff can find documents using Laserfiche’s search capabilities much more quickly than they could by navigating a rigid folder structure. And it helps with compliance, too. "It’s important that trust company staff, for example, can’t view banking documents. Template-specific security ensures that different departments can’t view each other’s documents," Christina says.
In the last two and a half years, staff have scanned nearly eight million images into the Laserfiche repository. "We’ve created a separate scanning bureau," she says, "but we still see a tremendous cost savings because of reduced filing labor and storage space costs." And that’s not to mention the 80 percent reduction in paper consumption.
In addition to bringing new departments on board, Christina is set to embark on a major journey: migrating documents to Laserfiche Records Management Edition. As an international corporation, Fortis is subject to myriad records management mandates, and the retention periods for the many kinds of records it handles are diverse. Notes Christina, "Trust company records are especially complicated, because trusts can last for hundreds of years—but you can’t keep every piece of paper."
Future plans not withstanding, Fortis Guernsey staff enjoy the benefits that Laserfiche has brought every day. In fact, Laserfiche has become part of the training program for new employees. "When new staff come on board," Christina says, "Laserfiche is part of their initiation. It’s nice to show them something that they can get into straight away, with no intimidation. Laserfiche has become everyone’s everyday tool—it’s been absolutely fantastic."
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Laserfiche Locates Documents with Surgical Precision
The SurgiCenter of Baltimore—the first freestanding, multi-specialty surgical center in the country—was conceived in 1989 by a group of physicians intent on providing a better patient experience. With over 20 procedures performed daily, the SurgiCenter’s 100 doctors and 35 staff members create a large volume of information.
According to Systems Information Specialist Jeffery Johnson, relying on paper patient charts was limiting staff’s ability to share that information. "Too many people needed records simultaneously, including clinical staff, the billing department, auditors and the medical records technician," Johnson says. "Staff didn’t take the process seriously, and there were constant filing errors. And to make matters worse, we were more successful than expected—over a five year period, our case load grew from 5,300 to 8,600."
Too much success is a nice problem to have, but the SurgiCenter faced its biggest challenge in managing paper patient records. "Even before HIPAA passed," Johnson remembers, "we knew we couldn’t maintain records integrity and patient confidentiality with paper records."
Staff initially considered an electronic medical record (EMR) system, but commercial systems didn’t meet their needs. "We typically only see a patient two or three times, so we didn’t need the functionality of a traditional EMR—or the expense," Johnson says. "We knew we needed to eliminate paper, secure our records and easily locate information, so digital document management seemed to be an ideal solution.
"We selected Laserfiche because we needed a solution employees would learn quickly," Johnson continues. "We liked the quality of the scanned images, and the processing speed was superior. We also liked that we could run audit reports for accountability. Laserfiche had everything we needed."
Currently, Laserfiche helps the SurgiCenter streamline workflow throughout the life cycle of patient records. During patient registration, staff create a paper chart with a bar-coded face sheet. After the patient’s procedure, they scan the chart into Laserfiche, using Quick Fields™ and Bar-Code Recognition™ to automatically create the digital patient record and populate each document’s template fields.
The SurgiCenter’s billing department also uses Laserfiche to manage explanation of benefits (EOB) forms. Quick Fields automatically fills in the payor and date for each EOB in the associated template, which aids in tracking and retrieval. "Laserfiche has brought greater efficiencies in all departments, but especially in Billing," Johnson says. "We’ve seen much faster claims processing and collections."
Perhaps most importantly, Laserfiche helps the Center remain compliant with HIPAA regulations. "With Laserfiche, we can log records requests, track due dates and redact sensitive information, fulfilling release of information requirements. We also use Audit Trail™ to safeguard patient privacy," Johnson explains.
The SurgiCenter must also comply with Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAHC) regulations. During a recent AAHC audit, Johnson reports, "we passed with flying colors. The auditors got very specific, requesting two charts of patients who were also Wards of the State. We don’t track this information, so it would normally be very difficult to find.
"Thanks to Laserfiche’s full-text search capabilities, we located these charts very quickly," he continues. "The auditors also requested charts of cancer patients, which we found just as quickly. Needless to say, they were duly impressed."
But Laserfiche has delivered more than easier compliance and greater efficiency. "We’ve had a lot of benefits that we didn’t expect," Johnson says. "We used to have constant friction among departments who needed the same records, but with Laserfiche, everyone who needs a chart can always find it. It’s dramatically improved the working relationship between departments."
Johnson doesn’t hesitate in recommending Laserfiche to other ambulatory surgery centers. "In practical terms, we’ve reduced costs, improved collections and established peace of mind when it comes to record keeping," Johnson says. "You can’t go wrong with Laserfiche."
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Regional Training Dates Announced
Would you like get to even more from your Laserfiche system? Then please join us for one of our Regional Training Workshops, where you’ll receive practical, hands-on instruction that will help you maximize your system’s value—and work even more efficiently. You’ll also have the chance to "test drive" Laserfiche 8™ and to see how its enhanced functionality will take your organization to a higher level.
2008 regional training kicks off in Orlando, FL, later this month, with other cities—from Las Vegas to Chicago to Atlanta—to follow. You can view the full schedule on the Laserfiche Website.
This year’s regional training curriculum includes a new course on Quick Fields. This course will cover how to best use this module to automatically capture and index information for fast retrieval. You’ll also learn best practices for designing Quick Fields sessions and optimizing system performance.
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New Financial Services Educational Materials Available
Hot on the heels of our newly revised Document Management Overview, we’ve just released a revised and expanded edition of our Document Management Overview for Financial Services. This new guide explains how digital document management helps financial services firms reduce overhead costs, comply with regulations and provide higher-quality client service. It also includes an updated glossary, client success stories and worksheets designed to help you evaluate your organization’s needs and plan your Laserfiche implementation.
As a reminder, we’ve also released a new financial services white paper on compliance. This white paper provides an overview of SEC and FINRA record-keeping regulations and describes how digital document management helps firms comply with these mandates. It also includes a legal analysis, written by a prominent securities lawyer, of the issues surrounding digital document management for financial advisors.
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Laserfiche Institute Conference Makes the News
Two Southern California newspapers—the Los Angeles Times and the Long Beach Press-Telegram—recently published articles about the 2008 Laserfiche Institute Conference.
On January 27, the Times featured CEO Nien-Ling Wacker in its Business section’s "Sunday Profile" column. The article details Wacker’s experience in the technology industry, from her beginnings as a computer programmer in the 1970s to her current efforts to spread the word about the benefits of digital document management. The profile also explains that, in Wacker’s view, Laserfiche’s toughest competitor is not another technology company, but rather people’s apprehension towards trading in their familiar paper files in favor of more efficient, more automated business processes.
The following day, the Press-Telegram—itself a Laserfiche client—also published a story about Laserfiche. The article discusses the debut of Laserfiche 8™ at the conference, as well as Laserfiche’s impressive recent sales growth. As Laserfiche Senior Vice President Chris Wacker put it, "people are getting buried in paper," and, as a result, they’re turning to Laserfiche solutions at a record pace.
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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
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Tech Tip: Quick Search™
Note: In the next several 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.
Laserfiche 8 offers many new search features, including the Quick Search™. The Quick Search can be found below the toolbar and gives users the ability to quickly perform a general search, without opening the Search Pane. By default, it searches text and all fields, but users can also choose to search entry names, annotations or a combination of any of these.
The Quick Search is an OR search, meaning not all search criteria have to be met to return a search result. For example, suppose you perform a Quick Search on text and fields for the word "Shakespeare." This search will return all entries that have the word "Shakespeare" in the text, in a field or in both locations.
To perform a Quick Search:
- Type the relevant text into the Quick Search text box.
- Choose the search criteria by clicking the down arrow to the right of the Quick Search text box.
- Press Enter.
Note: If you have more than one repository attached to the client, you can choose which repository you want to search by clicking Choose Repository to the left of the Quick Search text box.
Copyright Notice © 2008 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.
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Laserfiche UserNews February 2008