Hyland Software's Document Management Blog

The White House on Records Management: ‘We Can’t Wait’

// November 29th, 2011 // No Comments » // Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Affordable Housing, Back Office, Document Management, Enterprise content management, Federal Government, Finance & Administration, Government, Health & Human Services, Human Resources, Justice & Public Safety, Public Works, State and Local Government // Terri Jones

“Records management can’t wait,” President Barack Obama told the federal government agencies yesterday, via presidential memorandum. It’s likely the federal government could learn a lot from state and local government agencies who have already embraced records management. Maybe you can, too.

The president hopes to transform federal agencies and create more transparency. How this will happen is captured in a White House blog post titled “We Can’t Wait: Bringing Records Management into the Twenty-First Century.”

It is a great post, but I believe it’s possible many readers will overlook a small – but important – phrase:

“…The [Records Management] Directive will focus on maintaining accountability to the American public through documenting agency actions; increasing efficiency (and thus reducing costs); and switching, where feasible, from paper-based records to electronic records.”

In those few words highlighted above, the enterprise content management (ECM) community rejoices. Why? Because ECM is a valuable tool for government, and it is an investment that should be made at every level of government, even in this time of severe budget reductions.

You see, the flexibility of a good ECM solution means the solution can become a tool for many government departments and initiatives. Understanding this, thousands of cities and counties across the country have already embraced electronic records and ECM, and have used the solution to meet a number of needs. We can see the result:

• Reduced costs. From eliminating paper and file cabinets to the costs of storing and moving files.
• Reclaiming staff time. No more searching for files, no lost documents, no filing, printing or photocopying.
• Speeding up government. Workflow automation shaves days off of processes; physical paper files replaced with electronic allow more staff to simultaneously access information.
• Connecting documents and data. Easy information retrieval helps make the transition from paper files to electronic records easy and intuitive for users, and requires little or no staff training.

At the same time, the ECM investment lays the foundation for meeting transparency and open government initiatives, while realizing all of the lowered costs and efficiency government organizations need to survive. So, access to records can take place through a website or a kiosk or a computer station at an office, improving constituent service while reducing the staff time needed to fill requests.

The good news for federal agencies is that they need look no farther than the counties and cities who have invested in an ECM solution. Other counties and cities who are considering an ECM solution can similarly find ideas and proven value thanks to the examples of their peers.

Current government ECM users show that creating transparency is just one of the benefits of moving to electronic records. So, while federal agencies may make this transition to meet a presidential memorandum on Open Government, their efforts could end up improving government operations, reducing costs and reclaiming staff time for the important work they do. The proof is in the results of cities and counties who have already moved to include ECM as one of their IT tools.

Part II: Bringing the work to the worker (in government)

// September 14th, 2010 // No Comments » // Document Management, Enterprise content management, Government, Public Works, State and Local Government // Kaitlin McCready

I caught up with Fran (again, don’t judge my video skills), who works in the IT department at a city in the western U.S. I wish I had chatted with her before adding the last post – she was all about offline ECM capabilities!

Off camera, Fran mentioned many, many more field workers that could benefit from offline capabilities. In particular, she serves the Parks and Recreation department, so the first two that came to mind were the people who make inspections, such as to playgrounds, as well as the tree trimmers.

Great stuff from the public sector, and thanks to Fran!

Bridging oversight: it’s all about integrated workflow – the integration imperative for government document management software (part III)

// July 1st, 2010 // No Comments » // Government, State and Local Government // Terri Jones

Process.

It’s not a word that comes up as often as “paper” when talking about document management and enterprise content management (ECM). But the reality is, document management is often less about the documents and more about the processes. And just like the documents are better off integrated with the data, so are the processes. Here’s what I mean.

Workflow is the state-of-the-art, fool-proof bridge to automatically eliminate the "oversight” in data systems.

I used to be a project manager in government. There were many times that I had about 70 projects in the works, and all in different stages. Some of these projects were really struggling. In the government world, a floundering project meant that the community just couldn’t get it going for any number of reasons. This also meant that the funding for the project was not getting spent as our federal funder would like.

My natural reaction to these projects? Give them the bulk of my attention to get them moving. But what about my other projects? Well, the sad fact was, if I did not receive new correspondence, e-mails or documents from them, I would lose track of what was happening, and maybe even miss a compliance task.

Then, it happened. One of my colleagues forgot a very important compliance task. The result: we had to PAY BACK the federal government for the funding we had spent on a project.

The problem with all of this goes back to the lack of integration. Our databases only had places to record WHEN things happen. There was no way to ensure that things DID happen. No reminders to staff that they hadn’t received documents or missed key tasks. And no way for managers to keep track of all the projects of their five-plus staff members.

See what I mean by the process problem when data and processes aren’t integrated?

Once the missed compliance task incident occurred, I took action. It became an absolute must that we integrate our document management’s workflow component with the data. Here’s a quick view of how it worked.

The integrated software – document management and the database – created an automated workflow when a new data record was created. Throughout the project, it automatically sent the right people e-mail notifications – if there was a deadline coming up, if documents were missing, etc. And, if I forgot something, workflows would escalate reminders to my manager. That way, if one person’s being irresponsible, the manager knows about it and can act on it. This was a much better strategy than me creating endless e-mail and calendar reminders.

 If you’re looking for a more simple way to explain this, here’s how I approach it. Your job is to start a project by entering data and finish it without committing any errors. Workflow is the state-of-the-art, fool-proof bridge to make this happen. In other words, workflows automate the “oversight” in data systems. Pairing these systems with document management and its workflows is the only way to address the needs of government projects that require a mix of data, documents and oversight.

Want more on this topic? I hope the answer is “yes” – I already have a post in progress on how this works in the courts.

I can do THAT with my mouse? The integration imperative for government document management software (part II)

// June 17th, 2010 // No Comments » // Government, State and Local Government // Terri Jones

July and August used to be pretty rough times for my colleagues in community development. Each year, we would have to gather reports on projects funded with federal dollars. Some years we had a staggering 200 projects underway. In June, the information from this paper avalanche had to be manually entered into our database.

One day, during this blizzard of activity, I walked to my colleague’s cubicle. Her job was to get this data into the system in time to generate a report that had to be submitted to our federal funding agency. As I surveyed her space, I remember thinking that if government wanted to save money they could stop buying cube furniture and build offices out of files. She had 50+ files, some approaching 3-inches thick, keeping her company!

When I asked how she had room to work, she explained that walking to the file cabinet slowed her down. She had to refer to things in the files to enter and verify the data. A conscientious employee who took extra care to prepare an accurate report, she had developed an amazing coping strategy to handle the mountains of paper and accompanying data entry.

There, in a single moment with my co-worker, I saw the pain of paper. The great projects and good work detailed by it were completely lost on my colleague. This was because the paper made her job so hard that survival, and meeting that federal deadline, was all she could think about for months.

For all this annoyance, she was very comfortable with paper as it was all she’d ever known. After all, up until this point, she had manually typed every bit of data into a spreadsheet. This was her preferred method as she wasn’t a fan of the database we had been using. So moving her to a document management solution would require planning.

I was determined to find a solution that would allow us to scan all the paper, also referred to as document imaging, as it was received. In addition, it should allow cross-referencing of related documents. This way, my colleague only had to use her computer mouse to retrieve what she needed, sometimes by simply double clicking an image. This would save her cube from a paper blizzard and she could avoid walking to the files.

This somewhat lengthy description captures an important point about integration, the topic of my last post. To deploy effective government solutions, there has to be an intersection between documents and data. It’s not enough to simply capture and store information, as all this does is create disconnected silos that benefit no one – if they don’t make things worse. The key is to unite it in such a way that it can all work together.

To get to this point, though, requires that people learn how solutions actually make their jobs easier. It’s the only way they’ll willingly use it. This requires that technology fit how users work and supports their tasks in a way that realizes efficiencies.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the first time my colleague saw how application enabler (an integration module) performed, she almost cried. She finally wasn’t fighting with technology that she had to adjust to, the solution was crafted by our IT staff based on how she worked.

Because it did not require custom programming to integrate, we could make changes right in front of her based on her feedback. The ease of it directly supported her experience and the ability to adjust it quickly and cheaply helped inform me.

And to think that it all started with considering how to escape the paper and embrace the double-click!

Integrating document management and a database application can be that easy with the right approach and the right document management, or enterprise content management (ECM), software.

Next time, we’ll talk about the integration/automation combination as THE path to efficient and effective government. Stay tuned!

Plays well with others: the integration imperative for government document management software (part I)

// June 10th, 2010 // No Comments » // Government, State and Local Government // Terri Jones

During my government days, the most difficult decisions I had to make were which software packages to buy and which vendors to use. Why was this so difficult? We had so many pieces and parts already – at one point, I had six different databases covering my 50-person department. And each person had to learn how to use each of them. Needless to say, I was not interested in making their lives any harder by adding more technology to their plates.

In the next posts, I’ll share some of the basic benefits of an integrated document management solution – a great user experience, more automated tasks, etc. But first, why are integrated government software solutions such a big deal in the first place? Let’s start by looking at the database problem.

Agencies have a very involved compliance environment. And the more local the government agency, the more challenges they face. Why? Because of how government money and duties flow.

Take, for example, state agencies. Their state, along with the federal government, imposes rules on the use of the funding that drives government programs. You can imagine then what it’s like for counties and cities – they have to follow federal, state, county AND oftentimes, city rules. Sometimes the rules are contradictory. But more often, they just add up to a big pile of tasks.

To help manage this complex regulatory situation, special databases are bought or created. And the more regulations they face, the more databases they have. But while more databases is a good thing in theory, it ends up hurting the efficiency of the agency.

Here’s why. Both data and documents are needed to accurately record and report on activities that use public funds, right? But, the databases are separated from the documents that support them. This means that recording and reporting are very manual tasks for staff. They have to stop what they’re doing, walk to file cabinets, and retrieve paper documents. If documents aren’t there – sent to archival storage or are just missing – ouch! That’s a huge loss of efficiency for an agency!

But there’s a catch: when it comes to government, integrating a database with document management is a tricky thing. If you hadn’t noticed, there’s a lot of turnover in government – one election could change your compliance tasks overnight. This means that your databases change and the custom programming you paid for is rendered obsolete, or isn’t even required anymore.

So if custom programming is out, what’s the answer? Flexibility. A document management solution must be able to respond to changing integration needs to be cost-effective. Given the budget issues that we face today, it’s unthinkable to select a document management option whose efficiencies were destroyed by out-year costs that exploit the volatile government agency environment.

In the end, it’s not enough to have document management – you have to integrate it with the data, and integration must be done the right way. What if the custom-programmed links break during a year when your budget has been cut? What’s the delay to getting the integration re-established? The cost of custom programming will outweigh the savings.

Here’s your takeaway: ease of integration should be a critical decision point in your document management software selection. Given the changing nature of government and budgets, your agency – and maybe your career – depends on it.

Investing in ECM government software in these tough times

// May 26th, 2010 // No Comments » // Government, State and Local Government // Terri Jones

Last week, CNN reported what government has already known; the real public sector staff cuts are just beginning. With stimulus funds running out, the largest line items that can be eliminated are typically personnel and associated costs.

So what can local governments do when they’re losing employees, but they still have the same number of people to serve?

One way to bridge the gap is with technology. But investing in new projects in this climate requires a few things, starting with courage and vision. Then, there’s the matter of finding the best technology for the job, one proven to solve their problems.

When it comes to the right government software solution, the answer is clear: Enterprise content management (ECM). And the good news is, a number of case studies support the return on investment ECM delivers in areas like health & human services, justice and public safety, public works and finance & administration.

You’re likely wondering why ECM, when there are any number of other technologies and software platforms out there made just for government. The answer, in one word, is paper.

Let’s look at an example. Many accounting departments will by closing the fiscal year at the end of June. On July 1, they’ll be opening the new years’ ledgers (and all of its paperwork).

Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong! It can take the equivalent of two FTEs one full month, depending on the size of the department, to move old paper and establish new filing systems for the coming year. Put another way, it takes one full-time staff person two months just to deal with the paper!

Sure, there are other costs associated with paper, such as storage, postage and the time it takes others to shuffle it about. But the real culprit in a world where there simply isn’t enough staff is the time it takes to deal with paper.  

After all, what’s the more meaningful task, helping constituents navigate an agency or a program’s requirements or chasing down paper? The answer is clear: Front line employees are the difference between a great program and one that makes citizens grouchy.

While it is difficult to justify ECM investments during downsizing, it just might be the only way to keep up with citizen demand. After all, they’re still expecting the same level of service, smaller staffs or not.

So if you could use technology to re-allocate staff from low-value to front-end jobs, you would be putting your people where they need to be to make the most meaningful difference. And ECM technology might just be the key to doing that, even in tough times….