Laserficherio

Integrated offering provides mobile support for e-forms, including native iPad application

LONG BEACH, CA and EAST ROCHESTER, NY (Laserfiche and LincWare)—April 12, 2011—Laserfiche and LincWare today announced the availability of a connector that integrates LincWareLincDoc with Laserfiche 8.2.

The integration takes advantage of a variety of Laserfiche 8.2’s new features, including:

· Enhanced PDF support, including native page and text generation.

· Dynamic fields and metadata.

It also adds support for the Laserfiche enterprise content management, Web Access thin client and Laserfiche WebLink public portal.

The integration was developed under the Laserfiche (ECM) Professional Developer Partnership™ (PDP) program, which provides customers access to a variety of third-party integrations, configurations, plug-ins and Web tools. LincWare has been a member of the program since 2008.

“LincDoc delivers tremendous value for Laserfiche customers that are looking at enhancing their systems through document automation and electronic forms,” said Alex Wilson, director of the Laserfiche PDP program. “We appreciate having partners like LincWare who give Laserfiche customers excellent options for extending and expanding their Laserfiche systems.”

With LincDoc, users can automate common documents and forms and connect them instantly to enterprise content management. Documents can then be routed using Laserfiche Workflow business process management and managed using Laserfiche’s fully integrated Department of Defense 5015.2-certified records management functionality. LincDoc also has a native iPad application that allows users to capture forms and data, which are transmitted automatically to Laserfiche.

“LincWare is proud to offer a premiere solution that combines our flexible eForm and document automation tools with Laserfiche’s industry-leading enterprise content management capabilities,” said Darren Mathes, CEO of LincWare. “Since both Laserfiche and LincWare are dedicated to improving enterprise efficiency, our partnership is a natural fit.”

AboutLaserfiche:
Since 1987, Laserfiche has used its Run Smarter® philosophy to create simple and elegant enterprise content management (ECM) solutions. More than 30,000 organizations worldwide use Laserfiche software to streamline document, records and business process management.

Laserfiche launched the Professional Developer Partnership (PDP) program in 2007 to democratize content management by allowing customers to benefit from the customizations, configurations and integrations designed by more than 75 PDP partners. Leveraging the experience and creativity of PDP partners helps customers create ECM solutions that are best suited to their unique needs.

When the County of Hawaii first purchased Laserfiche as its enterprise content management platform in 2007, it had some idea of the kind of improvements to business operations that could come from content management. Various departments had been using their own ECM systems since the late 1990s and the County of Hawaii’s Office of the Corporation Counsel had deployed its own Laserfiche system in 2005, with great success.

“Starting small with the Corporation Counsel Office showed us the software could do more than just scanning,” says former Systems Analyst Fatima Hicks. “It gave us an initial success that other departments could look to and start asking how they could use it.”

In 2007, Hicks’ team had initially focused on expanding Laserfiche to seven County departments: Public Works, Planning, Real Property Tax, County Clerk’s, Motor Vehicle Registration & Licensing, Corporation Counsel and Elections. Treasury was added in 2008 as a part of the Motor Vehicle repository.

When Systems Analyst Sheila Cadaoas became Laserfiche Project Manager in April 2009, she saw the potential – and value – of converting to enterprise content management named-user licensing as well as upgrading to version 8. “I felt strongly that we needed to make every feature of every ECM module equally available to every user,” Cadaoas says, noting that Rio licensing includes not just Snapshot and the E-mail Plug-In, but also Web Access, Workflow and Advanced Audit Trail. Because each Rio named user license is assigned to an individual staff member, they are always able to access their information, and when new users are added to the system, all components – including Workflow – are immediately available for their use.

A windsurfer off the coast of Hawaii.

“We also wanted to expand usage to wring every drop of productivity possible out of Laserfiche. Our mindset is still very focused on the departments and their respective business processes; Rio’s unlimited servers and repositories just make it even more adaptable to the needs of the business units,” she adds.

From an IT perspective, Cadaoas says, Rio made even more sense. “The Rio licensing has lower annual maintenance fees per user, plus it allows unlimited growth in the number of servers and number of repositories,” Cadaoas says. “With our old system, we were running up against issues of size and the speed of search responses. Having unlimited servers allows us to break our repositories up into smaller chunks.” For instance, she says, though the Treasury Division currently uses the Motor Vehicle repository, with added security to separate users, it will have its own repository by summer.

The Rio system has only been live since the end of January, but already the County has created three new repositories: one each for the Office of the Legislative Auditor, the Department of Liquor Control, and one for Data Systems called “Area 51.” Liquor Control has a room full of Licensed Liquor Establishment documents to manage, while the Legislative Auditor will use Laserfiche to organize the research and documentation produced with each audit. “Legislative Auditor and Liquor Control were both created and initial training given to end users in about two hours each,” she says. “These are the users that are going for it. We gave them Laserfiche and said, ‘You don’t have to wait for Data Systems. You can set up your folders, your own security and run with it.’”

County of Hawaii Systems Analyst Sheila Cadaoas

Cadaoas notes that the user-friendliness of Laserfiche is also IT-friendly: “When we can get people set up and using the system this fast, it leverages my time as well.”

The third repository – “Area51″ – is a proving ground for the Data Systems analysts. “We test workflows, Quick Fields sessions, and new ideas in general without having to interfere with our live repositories,” explains Cadaoas.

By the end of June, the county will add the Mayor’s Office, Research & Development and Human Resources to their Laserfiche system. As important as it is to expand Laserfiche to new departments, Cadaoas says, it’s equally important to manage the human side of change. “We’re setting up monthly ‘super user’ group meetings to share ideas and extend training,” she says. “Our first session will be at the end of March and our training topics are folder setup with security and template/metadata creation.”

Finally, Cadaoas says Rio’s multiple repositories will play a big role in simplifying and improving how content is published and accessed on the county’s Website through the expanded WebLink public portal the County purchased with its upgrade. “Currently we only have the County Clerk Legislative documents available via WebLink. With Rio we have the capability to create a WebLink public folder structure in each repository,” she says.

“Our current County Website is very labor intensive for both Data Systems and the other departments. With Rio, documents will now only exist once instead of twice because they’re being accessed right from the repository, and they’ll be public within seconds of the user moving them into the proper folder – we won’t have to convert it to publish it,” Cadaoas explains. “Plus, the public will be able to use the Laserfiche search capabilities. We’re looking forward to Laserfiche adding a ‘federated search’ capability that would allow the public to search multiple repositories – then our WebLink Public Portal will truly be a sight to behold!”

In a business, information within the company is a powerful tool. If someone has a piece of information but cannot transfer it to others in the company, the information is not as useful as it could be if it was widespread and easy to access. For example, if you have a document with sales information but have to spend half the day getting this information to the right people in the sales department, the company would not be operating very efficiently. The way companies have remedied this is by taking full advantage of the internet and using Enterprise Content Management systems. Using these systems, an administrator can make certain information available to everyone, or just specific people, with the click of a button and a simple file upload. ECM has also enabled businesses to chat in real time about current projects. Instead of waiting for an e-mail to come through, the information can be instantaneously transferred without saying a word or sending an e-mail. It is almost as though the company is in a big meeting all day; everyone sits at a long table and discusses their project while each person does his or her work on the computer. ECM can provide all the communication without being in the same room as hundreds of other employees at the same time.

Enterprise Content Management systems should have two main qualities: functionality and simplicity. Not everyone in an office will be as technically proficient as others, yet a business still wants many features as part of their Enterprise Content Management. One main feature that businesses look for in their ECM is Workflow management. This software can help you save time by automating routines and subroutines that you would otherwise spend a lot of time on, such as data entry and e-mail filtering. In addition, workflow software can be configured to process data entry so it runs in the background. The term workflow is used in general to describe the tasks, procedural steps, organizations or people involved, required input and output information, and tools needed for each step in a business process. These steps are clearly outlined so the program can tell you when you are done with a project and what you have left to do.

So next time you are shuffling through a multitude of files, it may be a good idea to look into Enterprise Content Management. Your employee morale along with project efficiency can greatly increase!

Document management is arguably one of the most important aspects of an enterprise content management system. The earliest document management systems were developed to manage proprietary file types or a limited number of file formats. Today, document management systems have grown to encompass electronic documents, collaboration tools, security, and auditing capabilities. ECM has been defined as the strategies, methods and tools used to manage, store, preserve and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes. ECM tools and strategies allow the management of an organization’s unstructured information, wherever that information exists. There are several benefits to having a quality document management system as part of a powerful enterprise content management system.

• The digital centralized location of the files enables people to obtain files and information without entering a file room or shuffling through a messy filing cabinet.
• ECM systems typically use a database to store metadata and administrators can authorize access to authorized personnel.
• Document management platforms have different ways of creating documents as well as a simple yet inclusive workflow design. Documents can easily be passed from one person to another. This is very useful when multiple people need to collaborate on a project.

Not only can enterprise content management systems simplify projects and make communication between people much easier, they also reduce paperwork. With the development of these platforms, companies are approaching a paperless office. Proponents of enterprise content management have argued that paperless services are faster, cheaper, more efficient, and more environment-friendly. Society has almost reached the point where computer files are out of date. Endless folders on one’s desktop contain thousands of files which one has to sort through to find needed information. Sharing files on a web workspace will eventually replace storing them on the computer’s hard drive. In addition, a large, powerful database in another location stores files for a company for any authorized user to access without having to hunt down the actual file and the computer which contains the file. The future is unfolding before our eyes. More and more companies are adapting ECM as a way to connect and network among their employees.

Used by companies to capture, manage, store, and deliver important documentation, enterprise content management is a tool for organizing pertinent information. With problems in the past concerning management of records and other documentation including losing records, human error, and many more, this management system was designed to address problems and serve as a way to manage information but also to convert it to and from digital materials. Through this auditing, sharing of knowledge, and standardizing of content can be accomplished.

Starting out as simply content management, enterprise content management encompasses everything in a business, not just the things that are shown to people on the outside but things like an intranet make it possible to swap information within a business or company. Therefore this solution for content management is focused on a business to employee model. These solutions provide in-house information that is usually based on internet technologies. Other services included are business to business and business to government. Another form of content management is called digital asset management; this also concentrates on using digital electronic technology to store information.

Paper based businesses were overwhelming. With so many documents and paperwork it seemed impossible to get everything done that needed to be. There was a lot of value in the offer of a program that would store necessary documents and information and would do it without the clutter. People in these companies wanted an office that was clear from the clutter of paper. ECM was of high value for these organizations and offered to save them time, among other benefits. Some other top resulting benefits include the following: less lost documents, less error, less storage needs, better control and accuracy, improved security and better tracking of information.

More companies became users of ECM products and it was extremely useful for them all. Customer service departments found it extremely useful in that they were able to merge everything together and only have to go to that one place to pull up any information a customer might seek. And once internet use exploded and businesses were popping up all over cyberspace, they had the capabilities through these programs to share their information with others. Today, these management systems are all over and they have branched out to include a whole array of systems. Content management has become a booming industry and has expanded capabilities and the ability to function for businesses worldwide.

Empower your User Group to share what they know, learn what they want, and provide access to information to meet their needs.

em•pow•er
Pronunciation: \im-ˈpau̇(-ə)r\
Function: transitive verb
1 : to give official authority or legal power to
2 : ENABLE 1a
3 : to promote the self-actualization or influence of

The purpose of our group is to provide and promote best practices to Hampton Roads Laserfiche Users so that we can more efficiently and effectively meet the needs of our customers.

User Groups have become the rage with ECM, and thank goodness! What an invaluable resource for learning more about this information technology specialty, keeping up with your network (‘cause there’s never enough time!) and maybe even offering some of your time and talent to provide leadership for your group.

Public and private agencies are hungry for easy to implement initiatives with enterprise content management, easy fixes to everyday problems and practical knowledge and experience about the different ECM applications. You can find these ideas and more in your User Group.

Empower your User Group to share what they know, learn what they want, and provide enterprise content management access information and resources to meet their needs.

Some of the ways in which the Hampton Roads User Group is empowered include:

• All presentations are provided based on member input and requests. We (the group leaders and our VAR) develop and deliver what the members ask for.
• Members can keep their contact information current, and post or join in the newly established Discussion Board.
• Current leadership welcomes members who are interested in expanding their role to become a group leader. All User Groups require some degree of coordination, communication and overall support.

This approach – empowering the users – has made this group’s experience meaningful and fun for the members, the group leadership and the VAR.

Remember – It’s YOUR User Group!!

ENTERPRISE STRATEGY MEETS DEPARTMENTAL FLEXIBILITY

Enterprise content management (ECM): ECM products and systems, capture, process, store, archive and supply information in a systemized and controlled manner. Enterprise content management accelerates organizations to better manage their information and standardize business processes.

CENTRALIZED RESOURCES AND DATA MANAGEMENT

IT staff manages software and hardware centrally, without the need to deploy and support software on each individual point of access. Administrators and business owners manage documents and unstructured information through a full ECM system, while maintaining the ability to collaborate across sites, business units, and platforms. Information and knowledge workers access the information they need through an Internet browser, even on a mobile device.

PART OF A BROADER ECM SOLUTION

Other modules are or can be combined with Web Access to provide complete enterprise information management solutions, including document imaging (Web Scanning), business process management, regulatory compliance and tracking. In addition, Web Access integrates with Microsoft SharePoint to provide a robust document management component to an organization’s SharePoint platform.

CFS will provide ECM solutions to customers in the Bristol and South West areas of the United Kingdom.

Laserfiche welcomes Copier and Facsimile Systems, Ltd. (CFS) as the newest authorized Value Added Reseller (VAR) to provide enterprise content management (ECM) solutions to customers in the Bristol and South West areas of the UK.

CFS Director Graham Withers said, “As a leading supplier of business technologies, we have an excellent track record of supplying state-of-the-art solutions that integrate seamlessly with existing organizational IT environments.” He added, “Laserfiche has a suite of award-winning Enterprise content management products that we’re proud to offer our clients, along with ongoing training and support that will help us succeed.”

Laserfiche Senior Vice President of Business Development Chris Wacker said, “As a company that has been committed to providing outstanding document solutions since 1985, CFS has the experience and capability to help numerous organizations in the financial, education and commercial markets succeed with the Laserfiche product suite. We’re pleased to welcome them to our five-star VAR channel.”

Enterprise Content Management comprises strategies to manage and correlate documents pertaining to work within an organization.

In today’s information age, the success and failure of an enterprise is dictated primarily by two factors – the rate of influx of data into an enterprise database and the continuous task of interpreting and evaluating this data into blocks or sets of logical information. This information serves as input for strategic planning objectives.

In a hierarchical setup within the organization, information is collected at the lowest managerial levels and collated in data warehouses. As unstructured content is checked in and out of a system, each use can add to the content’s profile. Raw data is filtered and analyzed within the warehouse and converted to information. As the ECM system ‘learns’ this method of filtering, it grows more intuitive, which assists in making better decisions, determining the relevance of information and documents.

For example, in order to improve efficiency while still adhering to Federal Laws and guidelines, a university may turn to implement Enterprise Content Management. ECM is used to bring together all information being processed in business transactions. This solution helps in accelerating the exchange and flow of information, without adding to redundancy of data and unnecessary repetitions. Thus, efficiency is improved and staff impact is minimized, leading to improving in productivity and obviously cutting down on costs.

The Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) defines the process of Enterprise Content Management in 5 important tasks or steps:

• Collect: Collect all transaction data.
• Manage: Process the data and interpret as per needs.
• Store: Transient and in-processing information is stored.
• Preserve: Storage of valuable and required information.
• Deliver: Provide end users with analyzed data and forecast needs.

It may be difficult to accurately point to a single, major contribution of ECM implementation. But the signs are everywhere to be seen, in little improvements and positive steps. The reason is that most benefits of ECM are not directly quantifiable, although they bring about situations of great quantifiable benefit.

In the modern climate of competition, it is not enough to maintain and hold extensive databases. The content must be managed, analyzed and correlated with other data to predict patterns. These are essential to fulfill most business goals.

Customers, resellers, analysts, consultants and partners from around the world come together for three days of technical training, networking and hands-on experience with ECM

Laserfiche today announced that its Empower 2010 international conference will be held January 11-13 at the Hilton LAX in Los Angeles, CA. The conference, which attracts Laserfiche customers, resellers, partners and ACE members from around the world, will give attendees fresh insight into how to maximize operational efficiency with Agile enterprise content management (ECM).

“Even during times of economic uncertainty, people recognize the importance of increasing productivity and efficiency,” said Nien-Ling Wacker, Laserfiche president and CEO. “Agile ECM plays a pivotal role in improving organizational effectiveness, and we’re very pleased to give our community the chance to share strategies for best leveraging Agile enterprise content management.”

The conference will offer three full days of more than 60 technical training labs and comprehensive classes, including a number of courses offered as part of the new Laserfiche Certified Professional Program. More information about the new certification program will be available soon.

“Every year we try to improve the conference and offer a more personalized experience to attendees. This year we’ve expanded all of the tracks, added more best practices courses and made it easier for attendees to tailor their schedules to meet their needs,” said Laserfiche Institute Director Jereb Cheatham.