Integrating Systems Using Document Management Blue Earth County, MN Darrin Haeder, Technical Project Leader Denise Grossmann, Network Administrator

Agenda Organization Background Critical Business Issues Implementation Integration Demo Results/Benefits Our Future Lessons Learned

Organization Background Blue Earth County is located in southern Minnesota Blue Earth is a translation of the Dakota Indian word “Mahkato,” meaning “greenish blue earth.” County seat – Mankato 764 square miles Population 55, departments 450 employees

Critical Business Issues – Goals! Get rid of paper! Reduce filing cabinet floor space & cost. Eliminate $$ spent on off-site storage sites. Improve access to archival documents (reduce microfilm usage & cost). Automate paper flow & routing of key information through the County. Improve constituent service & staff productivity.

Critical Business Issues – Goals! Provide information-sharing between agencies & departments. Enable existing systems to access document images. Start with 3 departments & gradually expand county- wide. Provide public access.

Implementation – Process Used Committee of four departments: Corrections, Finance, Human Services, Environmental Services Determined departmental requirements. Advertised. Two pre-bid conferences for vendors. A wide variety of users sat in on the demos. Committee evaluated bids. Laserfiche was ranked highest in the Committee feature evaluation process and had the lowest price. Started implementation in Employees were impressed with the user friendliness of Laserfiche.

Implementation Expectations vs. Reality Paperless officeCan’t get away from it entirely. Imitate current filing systemUse features of Laserfiche – Let it work for us! Need more staffImplemented with current staff. Keep initial scanning labor costs down. Employment of the developmentally disabled.

Integration With Tyler MUNIS Scanning invoices into MUNIS. –Invoice records are created and filled out within MUNIS. –User clicks the scan button within MUNIS. –Munis opens Laserfiche Scanning to the correct folder. –MUNIS passes template information to Laserfiche Scanning. –Images of invoices are stored in Laserfiche. Viewing invoices in Laserfiche from MUNIS. –Users use search functionality within MUNIS to find the invoice they need. –User clicks the view button within MUNIS. –MUNIS links to images in Laserfiche by searching on two template fields.

Integration with Court Services Tracking System Corrections department scans all documents related to clients into Laserfiche. Template fields with the client number and case number are filled in for all documents as they are scanned. Users will be able to click a button in CSTS that will perform a search using the client number and case number they are viewing to retrieve related documents from Laserfiche.

Integration with Fidlar iDocument Fidlar iDocument is designed to work with Fidlar’s own document management system. Blue Earth County required that Fidlar allow us to use Laserfiche to store our recorded documents. Crabtree and Fidlar worked together to allow images to be stored in Laserfiche and retrieved seamlessly through iDocument.

Integration With Fidlar Electronic Recording Fidlar’s eRecording package allows banks to electronically submit legal documents to be recorded. Designed to work with Fidlar’s document management system. Blue Earth County again required that Fidlar allow us to use Laserfiche to store these recorded documents. Documents arrive as tiff images and are processed into Laserfiche using a QuickFields session. QuickFields Agent is used to run this session every afternoon at 1 PM.

Demonstration: Migrating Documents from Unisys Mainframe into Laserfiche

Results & Benefits Probation agent caseloads (open & closed) imaged. Linked to the Courts Services Tracking System. Laserfiche Workflow routes documents. Supporting documents (invoices, purchase orders, checks) imaged. Linked to Unisys Mainframe. Easy access for all departments. Public access to recorded documents Imaged from paper and microfiche; Marriages, deaths, births Property recorded documents – Abstracts, Torrens, Assessments Off-site rented storage eliminated. Office floor space freed up.

Results & Benefits LF Integrates well with other systems: Tyler MUNIS Financial System Courts Services Tracking System Fidlar –Records Management One department left to implement Laserfiche. Imaging all mainframe reports. Laserfiche Quickfields fills out template. Laserfiche Workflow routes reports to user. Weblink provides access for the general user. Goals Achieved!

Next Steps……. Additional Functionality Front Desk Workflow Document Capture Online forms management Appointment Management and Case Transfer Additional Departments Veterans Office Additional Integration GIS Integration Manatron Tax System Electronic Permitting System Social Services Information System

Lessons Learned It helps to understand that it IS a process and an ongoing work in progress. Changes can be made to accommodate new ideas regarding procedures, etc. Automated workflow is a good value add but requires a lot of detailed planning. Communication between users and IT people is crucial to the success of the program. It was productive to meet regularly throughout the process to discuss ideas and issues.

Questions?? Darrin Haeder, Technical Project Leader Denise Grossmann, Network Administrator

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