State and Local Government News

County digs out from under paper load

Ottawa County, Mich., has chosen Hyland Software's OnBase enterprise content management suite to reduce the usage of paper-based files and redirect employees to other tasks. County digs out from under paper load

"This system," says Al Vanderberg, county administrator, "will help the county reduce costs associated with how we deliver services to the taxpayers, thus allowing the redirection of these funds to other areas that will benefit the residents."

The solution will be rolled out to 450 users in the following departments: Friend of the Court, Clerk of the Court, Circuit Court, Sheriff's Office, District Court, Juvenile Services, Probate Court, Family Court and the Prosecuting Attorney's Office. Nearly 14 million existing paper and microfilm documents will be converted and indexed into digital format and placed in an off-site repository. The county estimates that an additional 5 million pages will be scanned, indexed and uploaded into the new system in 2006.

"Ottawa County recognized the need to automate processes and reduce the creation, storage and movement of paper as the number of documents created and stored, both on site and off site, was staggering," says County Clerk Dan Krueger.

"We had three people in our office who were constantly moving files from my office to other departments to a number of other departments. With the new system, we have one database, one source of information that all departments can access via a simple computer point-and-click, thus deleting the time, effort and cost of constantly transferring files."

Documents from three legacy imaging systems will be converted and uploaded into the OnBase system. Future plans include offering the solution to cities and townships within the county.