City of Buffalo, MN Laserfiche and GIS Integration Presented by Chris Shinnick, MIS Coordinator

Introduction

Agenda Critical Business Issues System Implementation Results and Benefits Next Steps Questions & Answers

About City of Buffalo 40 miles NW of Minneapolis/St. Paul 15,000 and growing Provides and maintains municipal utilities Responsibilities Planning & integrating new technology projects Automation Manage technology staff

Critical Business Issues

Challenges Document accessibility Eliminate duplication of efforts Improve field operations Reductions in state-aid funds to local government

Vision Centralize critical business information Implement GIS as information facilitator Provide remote access to location-specific information and documents Engineering Centralized Data GIS Law Enforcement Administration Utility Services Public Works City Clerk

System Architecture INTRANET INTERNET SYSTEMS INTEGRATION SOLUTION

Software Solution Robust search and retrieval functionality Flexible configuration Scalable solution Leverages existing software and hardware investments COTS package – No custom software!

System Implementation

City of Buffalo, MN Chris Shinnick, MIS Coordinator Crabtree Companies, Inc. Laserfiche VAR Rich Crabtree, President Clay Baer, Lead Software Engineer Urban Crossroads, Inc. Laserfiche PDP Beth Dennis, Project Manager Eric Luxa, Software Engineer Project Players

Implementation Plan Phased Approach –Start small, grow big –Build on successes 12 month project schedule Phase I Initial Implementation Phase II Expanded Capability Phase III Enterprise Implementation Q Q3 / Q Q Timeline

Phase I - Initial Implementation Administration (Planning and Zoning) Laserfiche Documents Permits Inspection Records Surveys Plans Code Enforcement Letters GIS Data Parcel Feature Class

Parcel Data Field Linking PID (Template Field) = Parcel (GIS Field) Laserfiche GIS

Data Preparation Pre-Implementation No field value standardization between systems Lack of template information Effort Standardized folder structure using QuickFields Created and populated document template values Duration ~ 2 weeks

Demonstration

Phase II – Expanded Capability Administration Engineering Utility Services Laserfiche Documents Record Drawings Plats GIS Data Subdivision Feature Class

Plat Data Field Linking Plat Code (Template Field) = Number_ (GIS Field) GIS Laserfiche

Plat Data Field Linking Issue Extraneous document results –Administration only wants plats –Utility Services only wants record drawings –Engineering wants both document types Solution: Plat Code (Template Field) = Number_ (GIS Field) + Document Type Filter

Refinement of Plat Field Linking Plat Code (Template Field) = Number_ (GIS Field) + Document Type Filter

Data Preparation Pre-Implementation No field value standardization Missing template field values Effort Updated the GIS dataset Added plat code and document type template fields Entered field values into the Laserfiche template Duration ~ 2 days

Demonstration

Project Results Eliminated data silos = Better data management Improved information retrieval Increased time savings Reduced operation costs Increased business system ROI

Next Steps Integrate Law Enforcement Implement projects layer Expand system footprint Provide public access

Questions

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