More for Less - LaPorte County Invests Tech Dollars Wisely

LaPorte County lies in the northwestern corner of Indiana – a geographic area hard hit by the current economic downturn. County government here has felt the squeeze created by shrinking revenues and slashed budgets. But LaPorte County officials can tell you that economic troubles don’t reduce the demand on county government to provide and maintain services for their citizens. The result is that county officials are increasingly being pressured to do more with less. County Information and Technology departments are especially challenged when belt-tightening occurs. Keeping pace with the expanding need for more efficient management and distribution of county information is a never-ending battle – just ask the LaPorte County IT director Darlene Hale. Darlene is an energetic and unassuming woman who recognizes and appreciates the powerful opportunities technology holds for helping to manage and work with information more efficiently. Reducing time spent filing, searching, retrieving, and shuffling documents and records can free people to perform more productive duties. As a result, Darlene is continually confronted with requests for more efficient technology both as diverse and numerous as the different departments functioning within the county.       But the technology-savvy side of Darlene is tempered with a practical and pragmatic side. She understands that while her department is expected to deliver the most current and effective technology, she is also required to be a good steward of the county’s financial resources – I.E. the tax payers’ money. To quote Darlene, “not all technology has a guaranteed payback. It’s become increasingly important that we monitor the effectiveness of our information systems. I can’t simply assume that new technology is better. Even existing technology must be re-evaluated periodically to be sure it’s continuing to pay its way.” Ineffective or redundant systems not only cost money in maintenance and support but also create added overhead since they must be hosted and administered on the network as well. In addition to keeping the county’s wide variety of systems humming Darlene and her staff are always weighing costs and benefits to determine actual technology value to be sure they can extract the best return from the county’s technology investment.         The challenges were no different when it came time to evaluate and improve the LaPorte County document management system. Like many county governments, LaPorte County had allowed individual departments to choose and use their own systems and vendors in the years before Darlene was IT director. As a result, plans to make information available county-wide were shackled by the fact that the different systems could not be integrated. A number of departments were requesting expanded and shared information access, more functionality, and increased integration with other applications and Darlene wanted to improve both the quality of the services delivered and the investment returns associated with their document management. Consolidation into one practical, sustainable document and content management system was the obvious and logical solution, but Darlene also wanted the ability to easily tailor the system to the unique needs of each department in an efficient, cost-effective, and reliable fashion. With these objectives in mind Darlene began researching and evaluating systems and vendors. Included in her research were two systems the county already had extensive experience with (Docuware and Laserfiche), each of which already served several departments. Seven years of experience working with both systems and their regional vendors was especially useful to Darlene for making comparisons. If one or the other could be retained at least some costs of replacement and data conversion could be eliminated. But Darlene also realized that the capability to expand system functionality would be an increasingly important factor as time passed, so she left no stone unturned. Ultimately, Darlene’s research revealed that Laserfiche1 has consistently outpaced and outclassed competing brands (including Docuware) by continually adding and improving power, features, and functionality. Laserfiche also exhibited advantages in ease of use and the number of third party applications offering supporting integrations with it. The good news for Darlene and her staff was that the Laserfiche could stay, reducing the costs of a total replacement. The bad news was that tens of thousands of scanned documents in Docuware would have to be converted and imported to the Laserfiche system.    Having a competent and responsive vendor is just as important to a successful project as the system selected. Darlene realized that as the system size and complexity grew, so would her need to rely on good advice, service, and support. Darlene was also aware that one of the biggest challenges faced in changing from an existing system to another is the migration of existing data and information. She promptly requested a meeting with the current Laserfiche vendor (BOLT Document Management2 of Elkhart, Indiana) to discuss her plans and to determine that BOLT could properly convert the information before any actual work could began. Darlene learned that for the LaPorte project BOLT programmers would have to design a customized conversion process to migrate the Docuware repositories into the Laserfiche system. This was accomplished by first carefully studying the existing structure of information stored in the Docuware repositories and then creating the needed conversion program. Sample test batches were then run, imported and validated in Laserfiche. Once the conversion programs and results were done to Darlene’s satisfaction, only then would she permit the actual conversion process begin, one department at a time. System users need continuous access to previously stored information and a conversion project cannot be allowed to create downtime. Therefore Darlene worked closely with BOLT to schedule each phase of the project with department personnel ahead of time. In each department, after the conversion and validation processes were complete BOLT then installed and configured the Laserfiche client software and trained department personnel. Because old habits die hard adequate training time was allowed in each department for users to become comfortable with the new system. The friendly Laserfiche user interface also helped make the transition an easy one. Now completed, information that once existed in separate and non-homogenous systems is part of one contiguous system providing powerful search and management capabilities across all stored information – past, current and future. The Laserfiche management functions allow department by department control over who can access, view, and change information internally as well as throughout the county. The conversion to Laserfiche has dramatically improved the way that information is managed county-wide, thereby saving time, space, and money. Previously skeptical Docuware users now enjoy the more powerful and simple-to-use Laserfiche, and best of all, the system provides expanded opportunities to deploy workflow, web access, integration, and more. When budgets for hiring new staff continue to shrink the Laserfiche system helps county employees to be more productive thereby reducing the need for new hires. Even Darlene’s hard working IT staff benefit now that they can focus on supporting one system and working with one vendor. Is Darlene happy with the outcome of the system consolidation project? According to her, “Heck yes. Better system, more functionality, lower overhead, excellent ROI, what’s not to like?” At a time when government is often criticized for careless spending this LaPorte County project is an excellent example of how responsible administrators and managers (like Darlene) can execute a well planned, properly implemented, and wisely managed technology project to deliver better services and at the same time provide the taxpayers more bang for their buck. Helping county departments do more with less….  that’s something we can all appreciate! 1 Laserfiche is a registered trademark of Compulink 2 BOLT Document Management is a Laserfiche Value Added Reseller and Product Development Partner INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWER EXCERPTS : Q:    How long have you been working at LaPorte County in your current position? A:    3 years as Director, 11 years total. Q:    Had you had any IT experience before this job? A:    Yes, at Ivy Tech computer labs. Q:    What does your job entail? A:    My department Controls all county office networks including auditor, treasurer, probation, juvenile detention, the courthouse…  Everything except the Sheriffs department & 911. Q:    How many people now use the LF system? A:    The Superior courts, circuit court, probation offices, highway department, building and planning, the surveyor department… and the list goes on. Q:    What made you decide that you needed to consolidate systems? I.E. what was the straw that broke the camel’s back? A:    Having two systems just costs more money. It takes more time to administer and troubleshoot, and it makes integrating external applications more complicated. I could see that a conversion would eventually be necessary so I started researching different products to determine the best route for the county to take when the time came. And it came when one of the county offices got approval to purchase an application called “Blueprints” which Docuware did not support, but Laserfiche did. It just made sense to do the conversion at that time, and thankfully my research had prepared me for it! Q:    Having used different systems, what would you say sets Laserfiche apart from other document management solutions? A:    In addition to Laserfiche I also have experience with Docuware, Paperport and the Adobe Lifecycle document management systems. I would say the biggest thing that sets Laserfiche apart from the others is the sheer ease of use. The layout is simple and intuitive so from the user end it’s easy to pick up, but just as important to IT professionals like me is that it’s also easy to administer. Setting up templates, user licenses, integration with other products and external applications, everything is just so easy. Also, from the local government standpoint, another big plus for Laserfiche is that it has the ability to integrate with Odyssey, which is the content management system for the entire state of Indiana. Q:    What did your superiors have to say before/after implementing the new system? Your subordinates? A:    My superiors haven’t said anything about the new system – they really don’t have any reason to deal with it much. Our end users love it, though. Of course there was some grumbling during the initial adjustment period after the conversion because no one likes change. But once Laserfiche was in place and the department users actually got to try out the system, they started to get excited as they discovered how much more they could do with it. Laserfiche just has so many more uses and capabilities. We’re currently planning on implementing Laserfiche Weblink for the surveyor’s office and are very interested in the many other possibilities we see for future growth. Q:    How did BOLT factor into your decision to go with Laserfiche (if at all?) I.E. did you choose LF because of BOLT or BOLT because of LF? A:    It’s hard to say if we decided on Laserfiche because of our relationship with BOLT or if we went with BOLT because they offered Laserfiche. Probably a little of both. The county had used Laserfiche long enough to give us a good idea of what the system was capable of, but BOLT’s customer service really sealed the deal. They always took care of any issues we ran into right away, and it made a big difference knowing that when we called we would speak to a real person, not just some automated answering system. I mean, Laserfiche is a great product, but if our vendor had been one of those big, impersonal corporations, our final decision might have been different. BOLT and Laserfiche together, though…that’s an unbeatable combination! Q:    Parting thoughts? A:    BOLT has been very supportive with their service. They deserve a lot of credit. The county had discussed the idea of connecting all the departments together under one main system many times, but it was BOLT that really enabled the idea’s fruition. The conversion process could have been a nightmare, but BOLT made it virtually painless. We wanted to know what it would take to convert the data from Docuware to Laserfiche. They carefully reviewed the Docuware system repositories, designed and tested the conversion, and gave us an estimated timeline. They broke the whole conversion down department by department, and kept everyone informed at all times. Everyone knew when their training would be and exactly how much time would be involved. The overall system downtime was also very minimal, which was another important thing.

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