Second Time is the Charm

The LaPorte County IT Director Darlene Hale was concerned about the county’s document and content management systems. Her department was seeing growing demands for scale, functionality, and integration with other applications from a variety of county departments. Darlene was also concerned that there were multiple document systems and vendors serving the county. She understood that left unchanged and allowed to continue, two different systems threatened the ability to share information around the county as well as the ability of her department to host and support them. Steering the county-wide document and content management toward a practical, sustainable solution would require action, and the sooner the better. But mapping the right course was not going to be a walk in the park, either.     

Researching, comparing, and selecting the right system and vendor for document and content management requires very careful scrutiny. Differences between systems and vendors can be very difficult to identify and measure up front, but increasingly important over time. Too often the hidden shortcomings of systems and vendors become obvious when the need arises for advanced support or expanded system functionality. When an existing system or vendor stops fulfilling those needs selecting a different system and/or vendor can be even more difficult since large volumes of documents and records are already scanned, indexed, and stored in the present one. Choices made at this point become critical to on-going growth and success. Converting from one document management system to another requires experience, knowledge, and a high level of competence from the vendor performing the conversion - especially when things like document structure, text notes, and other related metadata must be retained along with the documents themselves.

Similar to many organizations, the LaPorte County IT department must accommodate and support many different departments, each with a variety of document and record management needs. Darlene had inherited a situation where departments were allowed to select and use their own systems and vendors. Her goal was to provide and support one county-wide document management system while maintaining the ability to tailor to the unique needs of individual departments in an efficient, cost effective, and reliable fashion. Darlene’s first step was to examine the existing systems and vendors and determine their potential capabilities. The county currently utilized two primary document management systems (Docuware and Laserfiche), each serving a variety of departments. Each system was supported by their respective regional vendors and had been in place for over five years, thereby providing Darlene with a working knowledge of each system (and vendor) record of performance and support.

Darlene determined that while both systems were currently providing the required levels of basic document management, the capability to expand functionality and integrations would weigh heavily in any decision. Careful research revealed that Laserfiche has clearly and consistently outpaced and outclassed their competitors by continually adding increased power, features, and functionality. It was also discovered that Laserfiche enjoys a big advantage in the number of applications offering existing integration solutions. Even when compared with products other than Docuware nothing matched the Laserfiche potential for future expansion and integration. This knowledge was helpful for a number of reasons, especially by confirming that the current county system was already half right, thereby reducing by half the complexities involved in a conversion.

Darlene and her staff understood that as the system size and complexity grew, so would the need to rely on the system vendor for good advice and support. A history of more than five years of excellent service and support by the Laserfiche vendor (BOLT Document Management of Elkhart, Indiana) had already established them with a good track record. BOLT had also already performed an integration with another application for the county courts. Armed with her comparisons of both systems and vendors Darlene decided there was no advantage in delaying further and contacted BOLT to initiate the conversion from Docuware into Laserfiche.       

BOLT Document Management has been installing and supporting Laserfiche driven systems for over ten years. BOLT is both an award-winning Laserfiche value added reseller and a product development partner. BOLT also operates a full-service document and microfilm scanning service – all adding up to a lot of practical experience in digital document management. BOLT experience also includes performing system conversions to Laserfiche similar to the LaPorte County project.

According to Jeff Nelson of BOLT, careful planning, design, and implementation are all important ingredients in the deployment of any system. But conversions from existing systems are complicated by the fact that the logic employed for storing documents (and their accompanying data) can vary significantly from one system to another. In most cases the logic structure cannot be replicated exactly from one application to another, even when applications store documents in industry standard image formats and data tables. Reverse engineering of repositories (including the document structure, indexing, and text annotations) is almost never a simple one to one relationship. “Many of the problems we encountered at LaPorte were not caused by users, but rather by the basic system design and the particular configurations provided by the Docuware vendor. The existing repositories were mapped haphazardly to a variety of servers and were created from two different program versions running on entirely different database engines. It was not pretty!”

While an existing system might not be organized in the best possible fashion, it does represent years of scanning and indexing that nobody wants to do over. BOLT programmers began the conversion process by examining the existing document and information structure of the Docuware repositories and obtained samples of documents and data from every unique document set. These samples were used to determine the logic and structure incorporated in the repositories. A unique conversion program was then created for each document set and run on samples which were then imported and tested in Laserfiche. Once the conversion programs and results were confirmed the actual conversion process could begin one department at a time.

Conversions of working systems require implementation with no downtime since users cannot be disconnected from stored information while the conversion process is performed. Therefore BOLT clearly defined and scheduled each phase of the project with system users before beginning. Department personnel were instructed that they could continue to look-up existing information in Docuware but that nothing additional could be added or changed to prevent ‘orphaned’ records. After the conversion and validation processes were complete the (now) Laserfiche information mounted as new volumes to the current LaPorte County Laserfiche server. BOLT then installed and configured the Laserfiche client software on department computers and trained their personnel to in the use of Laserfiche. What once existed in Docuware is now part of contiguous Laserfiche repositories providing powerful search and management capabilities across stored information new and old.

The LaPorte County conversion to Laserfiche has dramatically increased the potential to make improvements in how the county manages information, thereby saving them time, space, and money. Nelson predicts that like many other Laserfiche clients, LaPorte County will continue to expand their system with modules for Workflow, Internet access, etc. At a time when budgets for hiring new staff are shrinking a tool that helps county departments do more with less becomes a very valuable asset. The IT department now oversees one powerful and reliable document and content management system that can easily change and grow with the needs of the county. Equally important is the fact that they will be working with a vendor that is competent and very responsive to their needs. As if those factors alone weren’t great reasons for converting, upgrading both the system and vendor will also save LaPorte County money both up front and as well as over the long haul.

So if your organization is considering a new or existing document management project remember the lessons of LaPorte County. Don’t overlook the important differences between products and vendors that will likely become more significant over time. Perhaps the LaPorte County experience can help you navigate the best route to deploying a successful document management system. Bon voyage and smooth sailing! 

BOLT Document Management is located in Elkhart Indiana and serves clients in Indiana, Michigan, and seven other states. Their clients range in type from local and county government, the US Air Force, and private industry including medical, financial, manufacturing, and more. Additional information about BOLT and Laserfiche is available at www.getbolt.com. Jeff Nelson can be reached at BOLT and is available for independent document management consulting. Laserfiche is a registered tradename of Compulink.



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