SITUATION
⢠Mackenzie District Council needed an ECM system to support efficient service delivery
⢠Data security and recordkeeping requirements were top priorities
RESULTS
⢠Expanded use of Laserfiche from an electronic filing cabinet to a source of truth and workflow orchestration engine
⢠Integrations with core technologies such as the district councilās ERP enable automated solutions and increased efficiency
⢠Additional integrations and automated solutions will continue to enhance the employee and customer experience
Mackenzie District Council is one of New Zealandās 53 district councils, responsible for providing services and managing issues ranging from local infrastructure and building consents to emergency services and food safety. With this broad range of duties, the district council relies on a core group of systems to enable its staff to deliver services efficiently, while keeping data secure and addressing recordkeeping requirements.

āWeāve got a handful of core systems that sit at the heart of our ecosystem,ā said Chris Clarke, general manager of Information, Engagement and Community at Mackenize District Council. āOne of those is our ERP and of course thereās Office 365, and I would put Laserfiche right up there with those systems. We deal with a lot of confidential information and we have complex recordkeeping requirements, and now it is becoming our workflow orchestration engine. Itās one of the essential tools that all of us use on a daily basis and could not function without.ā
From Electronic Filing Cabinet to Workflow Orchestration Engine
When Clarke assumed oversight of the district councilās IT department, the organization performed an assessment of its existing tech stack, revealing significant opportunity for improvement. āInternally, at the time, Laserfiche was perceived as an electronic filing cabinet,ā Clarke explained. āBut we realized that there was untapped potential for process automation and automated workflows.ā

The team got to work on establishing Laserfiche as the district councilās source of truth for recordkeeping, and integrating it with the ERP for a critical solution that the entire organization used: time off requests. āHoliday and leave forms were the first thing we automated because everyone takes leave, and lots of people in the organization have to process leave,ā Clarke said. This deceptively small project made a big impact, transforming what once required downloading paper forms, signing them and attaching them to emails for processing, into a task that now took mere seconds.Ā
āWhen we first rolled it out, people were skeptical of whether it actually worked, because it seemed too easy,ā Clarke added. āAll they had to do was two clicks, and they couldnāt believe that was the case.ā
Leading the Way: Implementing Recordkeeping Best Practices
IT has now set its sights on transforming the rest of the organizationās workflows, taking a thoughtful approach to change management and prioritization.
āWhat weāre trying to do is change the perception that Laserfiche is another piece of business software that you just need to use because of recordkeeping requirements,ā Clarke said. āItās about winning hearts and minds, and getting things done. People are starting to think about Laserfiche now as a tool that helps with work, as opposed to yet another system to be wrestled with.ā
Clarke and his team have set their sights on systematically transforming the way the district council manages its records, with the goal of leveraging Laserfiche to automate the records management lifecycle, including retention schedules and disposition.
āWeāre doing a taxonomy review to assess our existing recordkeeping, and working through licensing, security, roles, etc.,ā said Zane Woodfield, ICT manager at Mackenzie District Council. āOne of the things that I like about Laserfiche is that we are creating a technology demarcation point-slash-security boundary from all other stuff thatās in the cloud. Now that we have set up Microsoft Entra SSO authentication and some of the foundational pieces with Laserfiche, we feel secure and safe enough to do more.ā
Laserficheās robust security and compliance tools also support the Mackenzie IT teamās mission to innovate while addressing data safeguards and critical recordkeeping needs.
āFor us to impact the organizationās records and processes, we have to have confidence that the audit trail is there; we have to have confidence that the information is going to go to the right people. We have to have all of that confidence in place ā and we do with Laserfiche.ā
ā Chris Clarke, IT General Manager, Mackenzie District Council
āHaving the right local support in place has also been a critical part of our success,ā added Clarke. āLaserfiche is a very capable and flexible product, but that can bring with it some complexity to ensure the system is configured to meet our specific business needs. Our local partner, ifTHEN, has taken the time to understand our business and our process requirements, and as a result has been able to assist us to configure Laserfiche in a way that delivers the optimum solution to our needs. Without their experience and insight, we would not have been able to effectively utilise many of the more advanced features which are now adding value to both our staff and customers on a daily basis.āĀ
The Future is Automated: Enhancing the Employee and Customer Experience
Mackenzie District Councilās IT department has laid a strong foundation for transformative change, and team members are excited to realize the potential for Laserfiche across the organization. Along with their Laserfiche solution provider, ifTHEN Limited, the team feels confident that their Laserfiche initiatives will be a gamechanger for all departments and those they serve.
āWeāre just about to embark on a project where we go out to the business and get everyoneās wish list,ā Clarke said. āWe know that list will be large, but we are hyper focused on the things that really make a difference and give us the biggest bang for our investment, as weāre dealing with public funds.ā
One significant project on the horizon is implementing a public portal to make it easier for the public to interface with the district council. Currently, the councilās website hosts downloadable forms that must be scanned or reuploaded for processing, but the IT team hopes to replace those ādumb formsā with Laserfiche Forms. āWeāre working through public iterations of forms that will truly transform the customer experience,ā Clarke said. āWeāre really excited about that.ā

Additional integrations on the roadmap will bring even more possibilities for automated solutions, including an integration with the district councilās GIS and building consent management systems to help streamline the building consent process. As the district council and IT continue to uncover new efficiencies with their Laserfiche projects, the future looks bright.Ā
āWeāve done the foundational work, so we feel weāre at the beginning of our journey in terms of leveraging the benefits,ā Clarke said. āWho knows where it will take us? One of the things that I see which is encouraging is that Laserfiche continues to evolve. We donāt know what the future holds, but Iām confident that Laserfiche will be on that journey with us.ā