3 Steps to Manufacturing Intelligence: Readying Your Business to Embrace Smart Manufacturing

Persistent labor shortages are a pressing challenge for today’s manufacturers. The industry’s current skills gap is predicted to balloon to 2.1 million unfilled jobs by 2030, which will cost employers an estimated $1 trillion per year. This makes adding automation to increase efficiencies and optimize throughput a top priority across the industry. Smart manufacturing technologies, ranging from digital twins and robots to the use of data analytics to streamline production processes, promise to ease the difficulties associated with the current labor shortage. But automating factory floor operations isn’t simple. It requires massive investments in equipment, data infrastructure and employee training.

Manufacturers may be eager to embrace smart technology innovations, but leaders in smaller firms may struggle to understand where to begin. Meanwhile, larger enterprises are often inhibited by organizational silos or a need to prove short-term return on investment (ROI) when end results may be months, if not years, in the future. Implementing the right data strategy and enterprise architecture can make it possible to overcome these obstacles.

Many manufacturing firms — especially those with complex compliance requirements — create and process large volumes of documents to support their operations. To avoid redundancies and inefficiencies, they need to leverage automation to create a single source of truth and align workflows across the entire organization. This sets the foundation for digital transformation. The right data management strategy successfully melds data across diverse business processes — from sales and inventory management through logistics and quality assurance — into a unified informational backbone. With this data strategy in place, manufacturers will be prepared for success in smart manufacturing.

What is Smart Manufacturing?

The National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) defines smart manufacturing as a set of fully integrated, collaborative systems that respond in real time to meet changing demands and conditions in the factory, in the supply network and from customers. Realizing this vision requires harnessing digital technologies to realize greater efficiencies than are possible in traditional production processes. Machines and operators should be sharing information about performance, efficiency and maintenance needs on an ongoing basis to maximize agility and minimize unplanned downtime.

Becoming “smart” means embedding sensors in production equipment to gather data about operational status and performance. But it also requires an infrastructure for sharing, processing and analyzing that data. Taking advantage of the cloud’s near-infinite scalability makes it possible to manage the enormous volumes of data involved.

A mature smart manufacturing ecosystem involves much more data than what’s output by operational technology (OT) systems and sensors, though. It should also incorporate product designs, sales information, logistics tracking (for both finished products and materials), financial results and more. Thinking holistically about all of this data is the secret to successfully advancing your organization’s smart manufacturing maturity.

This playbook will give a three-step roadmap to ready your organization for smart manufacturing. Standardizing document and data management paves the way for digitizing business processes across the organization. This will ultimately allow you to glean value from the smart systems on your factory floor faster and more easily.
  • Step 1: Assess and Strategize
  • Step 2: Design the Right Data Architecture
  • Step 3: Build Out Integrations

Want to learn more? Download the full ebook: 3 Steps to Ready Your Business for Smart Manufacturing.

eBook: 3 Steps to Ready Your Business for Smart Manufacturing

Digitizing and Integrating Client Information at Idaho Department of Correction

SITUATION

• 2,000 staff responsible for individuals across nearly two dozen facilities
• Needed a way to streamline information management

RESULTS

• Saved considerable costs by no longer paying for physical storage or shipping files between facilities
• Increased accuracy while mitigating lost or outdated information

Spanning facilities across the state, the Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) represents nine prisons, five community re-entry centers, and seven district probation and parole offices. Its mission is to “create a model correctional system that provides equitable access to programming and opportunities that reflect a community experience, foster connection and restore victims of crime.”

With a litany of documents, different business systems and overall legality playing major roles at the Department of Correction, IDOC needed a “system of systems” to support its complex information management needs. 
IDOC

Laserfiche fulfilled many of IDOC’s initial requirements, and today the organization continues to work with Laserfiche and solution provider MCCi to leverage its integration, forms and automation capabilities to streamline information flow and improve workflows while finding new ways to better serve its thousands of staff and the people in their care.

A Standardized and Integrated Approach to Client Information

Housing approximately 8,000 incarcerated individuals, IDOC is accountable for managing people convicted of felony offenses and sentenced to prison, probation or a period of “retained jurisdiction.”

IDOC also oversees approximately 24,000 individuals on probation/parole, and supervises those living in the state’s communities, offering education, treatment and re-entry services to assist in lowering relapse behavior.

About 2,000 staff are employed at IDOC spanning its three divisions (Prisons, Probation and Parole, and Management Services), with roles including security positions such as correctional officers, and non-security positions such as teachers, human resources, mental health clinicians and more.

IDOC’s complex operations require the organization to house information in multiple Laserfiche repositories, the main ones being human resource files, investigation files, policies and SOPs (standard operating procedures) that are public and available to staff.  

To facilitate the efficient flow of information throughout the organization as well as with external providers, IDOC has built a solution that leverages a Laserfiche API integration with its internal client management system (CMS). Because the CMS is only available to staff on the internal network, IDOC uses the API to enable external providers to submit data through Laserfiche Forms, which then get reviewed by our providers internally.

“The value provided by this integration is huge for us,” said Cassie Lint, project manager at IDOC. “With this integration we’re able to save staff time by automating notes and data entry, plus assist our external IDOC partners by enabling auto-filling of publicly available information on forms as they are filling them out.” Meanwhile, as data is submitted to IDOC, Laserfiche helps to standardize the input, making the data easier to find, use and report on.

Enhancing Data Management

The approach to continuous improvement has also led IDOC to digitize its medical records for management within Laserfiche repositories. “We are working with multiple departments to make sure documents are imported correctly and have the correct metadata attached to them, so that when they get filed into the client and resident management files, they are easily relocatable by OCR text or the metadata associated with those files,” said Lint. 

The benefits IDOC has experienced have been immediate. “We no longer have to pay for physical storage, shipping of the files between facility locations, documents getting lost or even misfiled — even digitally,” she added. “OCR enables us to search on text recognition. If a document is misfiled, we can still locate it and re-file it. In physical files, if something is in the wrong folder, we may never find that information.”

Digitizing medical records in Laserfiche also eases the process when clients move to different facilities, which previously required the transport of boxes to different locations, which introduced additional cost and the risk of misplaced or unauthorized access to information. 

“Laserfiche enables us to restrict portions of client files to only those who have the appropriate permissions to access,” Lint said. “We utilize forms for access requests and integrate with our IT support system to create tickets as needed once access requests have been approved.”  

As IDOC looks ahead, there are numerous plans for broadening Laserfiche’s use. The first will be implementing records management with IDOC’s documentary repository systems. IDOC is currently in the discovery phase of determining the record custodians and retention requirements to better manage document lifecycles. 

“It’s important to not host information and documentation that is out of date,” Lint said. “Not only is that documentation no longer valid or useful, but it could also be returned for a subpoena or e-discovery or a public records request. It could increase risk of litigation or misunderstandings, or discovery of information that is no longer pertinent to the client or resident.

Laserfiche will help IDOC to automate the processes around records management lifecycles, which are dictated by federal, state and local government recordkeeping requirements.”

The Future of IDOC: A More Connected, Automated Organization

IDOC continues to look for new ways to innovate processes and information management. As part of its 2024-2027 Strategic Plan, it aims to leverage technology to reduce manual data collection burden on staff and increase time savings. 

Lint explained that she sees opportunity in potentially working with local counties to integrate their Laserfiche environments with IDOC’s, enabling better communication and minimizing duplicate data entry, or the need to fax or email documentation.

Additionally, IDOC has plans to replace an in-house built web application — that requires a special database — with Laserfiche, creating even more efficiencies and cost savings. “We can take advantage of the API integration with our client management system, and reduce the amount of support and technical requirements that the in-house web application needed,” Lint said.

Ultimately, Lint sees in Laserfiche a system that takes care of the many manual and granular tasks that IDOC employees should not have to spend time on — instead, they should be focused on the mission of creating safer communities and increasing the success of the individuals under IDOC’s jurisdiction. 

“Laserfiche enables us to develop processes so they’re super easy to relate to and use, and then have the back-end load take care of all the heavy details that the end user doesn’t need to know or interact with,” Lint said. “It just takes that burden off employees. And Laserfiche makes that easy to do.”

Grand Prairie ISD Saves Over 12,000 Hours Annually with Laserfiche Document Management

Situation: Grand Prairie Independent School District (GP ISD) struggled with a slow, paper-based process for managing student documents. Students accessed documents in one system, while the district needed to retain documents in a secure repository. Staff were printing files, then manually scanning them into the repository, leading to substantial labor costs and delays.

Solution: GP ISD implemented Laserfiche to digitize and streamline information handling workflows. Special education diagnosticians instantly capture and upload files into the Laserfiche repository, without manual scanning.

Results: The solution streamlined student services, saving the district over 12,000 hours and thousands of dollars annually.

It has been extremely helpful in moving processes along — business processes, absolutely, but also student services processes.

— Dianna Drew, Executive Director of Technical and Digital Solutions

Laserfiche Transforms Digital Capabilities in Australia’s Archdiocese of Perth

SITUATION

• Proactively responding to Royal Commission recommendations, the Archdiocese needed modern methods to enhance and streamline information management.

RESULTS

• Used Laserfiche technology to digitize and preserve historical documents
• Safeguarded the Archdiocese’s rich history while seamlessly integrating contemporary records for future efficiency

Located in Western Australia, the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth is a nearly 200-year-old religious organization with strong roots in the community. It consists of 110 parishes, 26 agencies and organizations, and about 70 schools. The Archdiocese is based in Perth, the capital city of the State of Western Australia.  

As a large and historic religious community, the Archdiocese manages a vast flow of information across its many services. To improve its processes, proactively safeguard its community by following Royal Commission recommendations, and streamline operations, the Archdiocese partnered with Laserfiche to implement a secure and robust records management system.

Transforming to Digital

Odhran O’Brien serves as the Director of the Archives and Information Governance Office, whose mission it is to oversee, preserve and make accessible the archives and digital information throughout the Archdiocese. When O’Brien was appointed in 2016, he and his team of seven individuals discovered the organization was managing information, particularly digital information, in inconsistent methods, that do not follow industry best practice. “Previously, information was siloed, and people could not access information from other departments. We felt we needed a high-level strategy to change that and bring the organization into the future,” said O’Brien. As a result, they created an Information Governance Strategy, focused on managing the Archdiocese’s digital information in a consistent manner across all its many agencies, parishes and organizations. 

O’Brien and his team set to work right away finding the technology that could safely handle and store the information they planned to include within a records management system, some from nearly two centuries ago. Having worked with workplace technology provider Ricoh Australia for over a decade, the Archdiocese team partnered with the organization to find and implement the perfect solution. Laserfiche’s capabilities made it the obvious choice. “We’ve got records dating back to the 1840s. We’ve got sacramental information (information about people getting baptized and various sacraments within the church), but also all the business records of the organization, again, going back to the 1840s,” O’Brien shared.

The Archdiocese was able to easily and quickly use Laserfiche’s technology to digitize the abundant mix of historical documents and archive them within Laserfiche’s records management system. Additionally, they implemented a way for contemporary records to feed into the same system, enabling all documents to be organized and stored together in one, secure location.

A Single Source of Truth

Since turning to Laserfiche, the Archdiocese has experienced numerous benefits, especially when it comes to having one designated home for all information across the organization. “The primary benefit has been the fact that we now have a single source of truth for our 200 employees in our major administration center,” said O’Brien. “We’re also using automation throughout our 110 parishes. So, all the inquiries they receive for religious services, education and charitable requests are automated, allowing them to serve the community much more efficiently than they ever have in the past.”

O’Brien highlighted the significant benefits Laserfiche has brought to the Archdiocese and the community it serves: “Digitizing our information has not only enhanced our administrative creativity but also greatly increased our efficiency. What used to take weeks to find can now be accessed in real time.

“For example, by using Laserfiche, our Safeguarding Office has noticed that their small team of four people, serving tens of thousands in our community, can streamline workflows and improve accessibility to information. This efficiency not only allows the team to provide accurate, up-to-date information to stakeholders, clients, and the community but also frees up hundreds of hours per year for important safeguarding support with the Perth Church community.”

Laserfiche has also streamlined how the Archdiocese handles a wide range of inquiries, from religious sacraments to school enrollments and charitable support. O’Brien noted, “Laserfiche enables us to quickly and accurately direct individuals to the services they need, whether it’s for homelessness support or financial relief.”

Laserfiche provides nationwide accessibility, enabling historians, scholars and family members across Australia to easily request and access ancestral heritage and stories. This improved access accelerates research, supports publications, and enriches family trees. O’Brien added that since implementing Laserfiche’s search functionality, his office and small team have successfully fulfilled hundreds of requests each year.

Still to Come

Looking forward, the Archdiocese plans to expand its successful use of Laserfiche to other areas within the organization. One major aspect will include automation. “We’re hoping that a number of our large parishes and charities’ service and information requests will be completely automated through Laserfiche. So, they’ll be able to use all the services they provide, whether it be community services or simply religious services. People will log on to a website, access Laserfiche Forms, and those processes will go through automatically,” said O’Brien.

The Archdiocese also has plans of broadening Laserfiche’s reach in general and to include mobile options, such as an app, within the next two years. O’Brien shared, “We certainly hope we’ll move to a cloud-based solution so it can be implemented more widely. Currently, Laserfiche is implemented across both the Archdiocese of Perth and one of our neighboring archdioceses. So, that’s roughly an area the size of Spain or France. We’re hoping that we’ll continue to be able to expand that out further.

”The Archdiocese is committed to staying at the forefront of technology, with Laserfiche integral to its future plans. “What excites me most about our ongoing Laserfiche project is its potential for the future,” O’Brien said. “Embracing AI ethically and further automation in an easy UI and UX for staff, volunteers and stakeholders will enable us to enhance our services and more effectively support the community we are dedicated to serving.”

Laserfiche Transforms Orano Operations with Records Management and Process Automation

SITUATION

• Hundreds of records created weekly
• Storage requires complex compliance requirements
• Manual processes led to bottlenecks, errors and delays

RESULTS

• Standardized transparent records management enabled faster document retrieval and enhanced regulatory compliance
• Laserfiche automated workflows accelerate processes and increase productivity enterprise-wide

Orano is a recognized international operator in the field of nuclear materials. The company’s offerings include products and services throughout the entire fuel cycle, including the design, certification and production of casks, as well as the associated transport, with the highest level of risk control.  

The company records every aspect of operations, resulting in the creation of hundreds of records weekly, including technical files, purchase orders and contract-related documents. Meanwhile, all documentation goes through constant review and approval, and everything must be stored in accordance with regulatory compliance requirements.

“Because we’re in the nuclear industry, document oversight is extremely important — so we undergo lots of audits and have to be able to find data,” said Gloria St. Denis, records management consultant for Orano. Fortunately, the complex information infrastructure and processing involved with Orano’s daily operations is made simpler with Laserfiche, the company’s records management and forms processing solution. “My background is in records management, however, Engineering is my biggest client at the company. They want to do things that make their life easier. And for a lot of that, there is Laserfiche.”

Since implementing Laserfiche, St. Denis estimates that information management and automated business processes have been made between 10-50% more efficient. In some cases, the impact has been even greater.

“Laserfiche has saved us from a lot of issues and errors,” she added.

Building a Single Source of Truth

Laserfiche serves as the content repository for some of Orano’s most important information. The standardization that Laserfiche has provided solves a number of information management headaches for St. Denis and the organization, such as:
  • Inconsistent metadata: Lack of standardized data entry practices can make searching for specific documents difficult
  • Version control issues: Multiple copies and versions of documents lead to confusion and potential use of outdated information
  • Process fragmentation: Manual processes for document submission and retrieval delay workflows

Due to the sensitivity and importance of the company’s products and services, the organization requires all information that is defined as a record to be held in dual storage. This includes the Orano Policies and Procedures System (PoPS), which Laserfiche keeps up to date with the latest versions of documents.

“We use transparent records management to manage PoPS, so that those who manage the procedures and policies can see the history of the information, but the rest of the organization only sees the latest and greatest version,” St. Denis explained.

Beyond PoPS, Orano uses Laserfiche to manage information and streamline processes in other areas of the business, including:
  • Cost control
  • Document and records management
  • Engineering
  • Fabrication project management
  • Information services
  • Licensing
  • Procurement
  • Project management
  • Quality services

Simple online forms now enable employees to submit a new record, to which a standard template and metadata are applied. Additionally, Laserfiche’s OCR capabilities support the system’s abilities to provide the information that people need with a simple text search.

“Laserfiche does a great job of OCR,” St. Denis added. “It captures all the information we need from the documentation, making it easier for people to find what they’re looking for.”

As a result, staff can now find any engineering record, design record, purchasing record or any other customer or vendor documentation in just a few keystrokes, regardless of the information’s origin. To make information searches even easier, St. Denis has set up customized webpages and search forms using Laserfiche.

“With a transparent records management strategy, we’re going beyond thinking of Laserfiche as just a place to put electronic documents,” St. Denis said. “We organized and standardized everything. That made it simpler.”

Optimizing Information Flow

St. Denis has also introduced process automation to streamline the flow of information and accelerate reviews and approvals.

One of the most impactful Laserfiche solutions has been the Approved Suppliers List (ASL), which was previously managed through a Word document. “We built a Laserfiche Forms process in front, and within 15 minutes, that approved supplier is on the Approved Suppliers List,” St. Denis said. The previously manual, cumbersome process typically took between two to three weeks. “These automated processes enable us to communicate certified suppliers to our organization quicker. Ultimately, we can get back to the client sooner.”

Process automation also extends to the Approved Supplier Maintenance process, better enabling the organization to maintain traceability of documents and any changes, while still supporting the integrity of the ASL.  

Other processes have simplified and accelerated collaboration across the enterprise, even across global regions. The Shipping Release process requires multiple sign-offs on multiple documents — with an average of three signatures per document. Previous to automating, employees would physically walk forms around or send them through email; when signatories were in different countries, delays were not uncommon. “We were able to get the average time it takes to do a shipping release from three business days down to one to two hours,” St. Denis explained.

Similar efficiency gains have been seen in the processes for:
  • Document control
  • Reserving a document number
  • Data update requests
  • Computer program error reporting
  • Design change requests
  • Quality procurement documentation approvals
  • Unplanned design engineering work approvals

Using Laserfiche’s intelligent capture, transparent records management, and complementary process automation capabilities, Orano has seen the benefits of faster information retrieval, enhanced regulatory compliance, and increased productivity across the organization.

For St. Denis, Laserfiche has augmented her ability to support the organization’s business goals. “I love that I — as a records professional — can create solutions and there is a lot less involvement required from IS/IT,” she added.

6 Ways the Right Records Management Solution Can Streamline Financial Services Operations

By Joman Kwong, Strategic Solutions Manager at Laserfiche

With various regulations in place that stipulate how and when financial institutions collect, keep and dispose of customer data, back-office employees are often left to manually manage large volumes of records. Complex and tedious tasks of this nature can bog down staff and take away time that should be dedicated to more valuable activities. Fortunately, leading records management solutions can address regulatory requirements while also supporting streamlined experiences for both staff and customers.

Pinning Down the Pain Points

Every customer account includes large amounts of sensitive data and information. Many financial institutions struggle to manage costs and regulations while maintaining that level of data accessibility and security. But when it comes to record handling, any breakdown within these categories could be costly in both the monetary and reputational sense.

Data shows that financial institutions experience the second-highest average cost per data breach. The average $5.97 million loss would be detrimental to any business, and for organizations in the financial sector — which are built on the foundation of customer trust — the added reputational damage would be even more devastating. Record disorganization and misuse can lead to fines as well as put institutions at operational and regulatory risk when the next audit comes around.

Additionally, not only will dispersed information frustrate employees who are tasked with locating records, it will also have an adverse effect on the customer experience, where confidence and trust are paramount. With advanced and easy-to-use records management solutions available, there’s no reason to risk penalties or overburden your employees with scattered records and stacks of paper.

Leveraging the Power of Records Management

An excellent records management solution is a key part of this modernization journey. Content services technology is highly beneficial, streamlining operations across business units and simplifying larger strategies.

Here are six key advantages of converting paper or digitized records to an improved centralized information and records management platform:
  • Reduce operational costs. There’s only so much space to store physical records — when information is instead kept and protected in digital vaults made specifically to house sensitive information, organizations can eliminate space as well as storage costs.
  • Improve data accessibility. Having enhanced visibility into recordkeeping significantly reduces the time spent searching for and requesting access to information across core business applications. Records management solutions allow organizations to sort folders and files in the hierarchies and groups that work best for their needs, thus optimizing productivity. Integrations can further improve visibility and streamline information sharing across the organization.
  • Support business continuity. To reduce friction for employees, records must be easily accessible at any time and from any location, especially given today’s distributed workforce. However, convenience must not come at the expense of security. Records management solutions offer security tools in a scalable, resilient database.
  • Address compliance requirements. Industry compliance rules can often shift unpredictably — records management solutions empower pivotal adjustments to address emerging regulations.
  • Support audits. Audits are huge undertakings. Records management systems offer robust features like audit trails, tagging, document history, and system activity, which help simplify the process.
  • Improve customer experience and drive faster revenue generation. Today, customers expect seamless, digital, and quick services. The faster customer service representatives can access the information they need, the quicker customers can do business with the institution, ultimately accelerating revenue generation.

Cleaning Up the Digital Realm

Investing in centralized content services technologies should improve experiences for both employees and customers while boosting the bottom line. A single source of truth eliminates pesky guesswork and makes it easier for back-office employees, legal personnel, and customer service representatives to leverage information across business systems.

Digitized records have, for the most part, replaced paper documentation. However, the old disorganization habits have transferred to the digital realm. Luckily, records management technology is a breeze to set up, use and maintain, empowering financial institutions to focus on what matters most: customers. For more information about records management and to see it in action, check out the webinar “Streamlining Records Management for Banks and Credit Unions with Laserfiche” and more curated resources on our financial solutions page.

Security in Laserfiche Cloud

This Certification Series provides a comprehensive foundation in Laserfiche security principles and best practices. It is designed to help learners manage permissions, apply access rights correctly, secure repository environments and automated processes.

Recommended For

Administrators and users responsible for securing repository access and managing project resources.

Topics Covered

  • Understand repository security concepts such as groups, inheritance, and scope
  • Distinguish between feature rights and privileges
  • Administer entry access rights for users and groups
  • Apply the principles of scope
  • Create and manage teams and projects with assigned resources

Included in these Certification Paths

Assessment Details

You’ll be assessed on: understanding security concepts, managing rights and access, and using security reports and tags.

You need a score of 80% or more to successfully pass. There is no time limit to complete the assessment and you have unlimited attempts.

What Certification Series to take next?

Records Management in Laserfiche

This Certification Series helps learners manage records lifecycles from start to finish and stay compliant with retention and disposition requirements. It covers records concepts, retention schedules, records objects, search, reporting, audit trail, file plan, and workflow automation.

Recommended For

Records managers, department managers, and users responsible for classifying records or implementing retention schedules.

Topics Covered

  • Define records management concepts and lifecycle phases
  • Translate retention schedules into records management objects
  • Retain metadata from records
  • Find records eligible for cutoff
  • Close, reopen, hold, cutoff, and dispose of records
  • Run records searches and reports
  • Use Audit Trail and file plans
  • Automate records management properties with Workflow

Included in these Certification Paths

Assessment Details

You’ll be assessed on: managing records lifecycles, applying retention and disposition rules, and reporting on records activities.

You need a score of 80% or more to successfully pass. There is no time limit to complete the assessment and you have unlimited attempts.

What Certification Series to take next?

Learn More

Explore additional learning opportunities on our Learn & Support page, discover the benefits of Aspire, or learn more about the Laserfiche Certification program.

Enhancing Public Service: A Look at Rancho Cucamonga’s Streamlined Public Record Requests

The city clerk’s office for Rancho Cucamonga, California at one point was facing significant challenges when it came to records requests, with looming deadlines to fulfill requests and documents that could be anywhere – a physical file scanned into Laserfiche, a digital record buried in the Accela platform or lost altogether. However, the city’s situation changed thanks to a clever IT solution that transformed their public record request process.

In this post we’ll dive deep into the story of Kramer Sanders, an IT Applications Analyst for Rancho Cucamonga, and his team’s journey to streamline public record requests.

From paper to digital: a data management challenge

In 2014, Rancho Cucamonga embraced the digital age by launching Accela, a program that revolutionized building permit generation by leveraging GIS technology (built on Esri’s ArcGIS platform) and public data. This was a significant leap forward from their paper-based system, but it wasn’t without its challenges.

In the initial rush of excitement, the city made a crucial decision – they’d accept both physical and digital documents. While this seemed convenient at first, it created a hidden time bomb. Physical documents found their way into Laserfiche, a document management system, but digital documents remained scattered within Accela’s platform.

Fast forward a few years, and the city started facing the consequences. Public record requests became an administrative nightmare. Whenever a tight deadline was looming, clerks had to search through two separate systems, unsure where the requested documents resided. This inefficiency wasted valuable time and resources, creating frustration for both city employees and the public.

“Imagine getting a request that you have 10 days to figure out…where these records are coming from,” explains Kramer Sanders. “You’re not gonna be familiar with it. You’re probably gonna pull someone that is and it ends up taking a lot more time.”

Enter Velosimo and the power of automation

Kramer Sanders and his team knew they needed a solution. Their goal: consolidate all building permit documents into a single, easily searchable location. The answer came in the form of Velosimo, an integrated software as a service (iPaaS) platform. Because both Accela and Laserfiche offer compatibility with iPaaS platforms, Sanders was able to enable seamless communication between these applications through Velosimo.

With these integrations in place, an inspector could complete a final building inspection using the Accela mobile app, that triggers a pre-programmed workflow. This workflow then utilizes Accela scripting (powered by JavaScript) to automatically copy all associated digital documents from Accela.

These documents are then routed to a designated folder within Laserfiche. Every night, another automated workflow starts. It meticulously sorts the documents based on a logical system – street address and number.

Even more impressive is that the workflow doesn’t just move documents, it enriches them. By pulling metadata, or descriptive information about the content, from Accela, the system adds valuable context to each document within Laserfiche. This metadata becomes a powerful tool for future searches, making it significantly easier to locate specific documents.

Accomplishing goals in finding new efficiencies

The impact of integrating Velosimo was nothing short of transformative. It wasn’t just about convenience; it was about a fundamental shift in how the city handled public records.

After a successful implementation, the team embarked on a massive project. It migrated all remaining digital documents from Accela, dating back to 2014 — approximately 600GB of data, both compressed and uncompressed. This mammoth undertaking ensured all building permit documents resided in one central location – Laserfiche.

The payoff was immediate and measurable. City clerks and building administrators could now locate documents with ease. Gone were the days of frantic searches through two separate systems. This translated to a dramatic 50% reduction in processing time for public record requests.

“After talking through with many of them, it’s actually cut their time to serve public records requests in half,” says Sanders. “Huge for us.”

This efficiency boost not only saved the city valuable time and resources, but it also improved public service. Residents could now receive timely responses to their requests, fostering a sense of trust and transparency between the city and its constituents.

Beyond Rancho Cucamonga: lessons learned and the benefits of Collaboration

Kramer Sanders’ story is more than just a success story for Rancho Cucamonga. It’s a powerful case study showcasing the transformative potential of technology in streamlining government processes. The key takeaways are clear:
  1. Embrace automation: Repetitive tasks are ripe for automation. By leveraging tools like Velosimo and scripting, cities can free up valuable employee time for more strategic endeavors.
  1. Consolidate and centralize: Fragmented data storage creates chaos. Centralizing documents in a single, searchable location like Laserfiche empowers employees and fosters transparency, as Sanders highlights: “So now the city clerk and building admins can actually easily go through and find all these documents.”

  2. Metadata matters: Enriching documents with metadata makes them significantly more valuable. This allows for efficient searching and retrieval, saving time and effort in the long run.

The story of Rancho Cucamonga is also a testament to the power of collaboration. Kramer Sanders’ team, along with Accela and Velosimo, worked together to find a solution. This collaborative spirit extends beyond the immediate project. By sharing their experience, Sanders and his team are sparking a conversation within the broader municipal IT community. Their story serves as an inspiration for other cities facing similar challenges with document management and public record requests.

Here are some ways other municipalities can learn from Rancho Cucamonga’s experience:
  • Conduct a thorough needs assessment: Before diving into solutions, take stock of your current document management landscape. Identify pain points and areas ripe for improvement. This will help guide your search for the right technology and approach.
  • Evaluate existing technology: Don’t underestimate the power of existing systems. Explore integration possibilities between your current document management system and other relevant platforms, like building permit software. You might be surprised at the hidden potential within your existing infrastructure.
  • Embrace open standards: When choosing new technologies, consider solutions that leverage open standards. This allows for greater flexibility and future-proofing, fostering easier integration with existing systems.
  • Seek out partnerships: Collaboration is key. Look for technology vendors and partners who are willing to work with you to find a solution that meets your specific needs. Don’t be afraid to explore open-source options as well.

Kramer Sanders’ message is clear: there’s no need to fully reinvent the wheel. By learning from Rancho Cucamonga’s journey and adopting a strategic approach, other cities can achieve similar success stories.

Inspiring government to be future-forward

The story of Rancho Cucamonga clearly demonstrates how technology can empower governments to serve their citizens more effectively. By embracing automation, data centralization, and collaboration, cities can transform the public record request process from a frustrating chore to a seamless experience. This, in turn, fosters transparency, builds trust, and paves the way for a more efficient and responsive government for all.

Further reading

Eager to learn more about how Laserfiche can improve the everyday operations of government agencies and organizations? Visit our government solutions page.

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