Penn State University Increases Efficiency with the DocFinity Suite of Document Management Solutions

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What is the key ingredient to running a university with 400,000 living alumni, 80,000 currently enrolled students and 15,000 employees on twenty-four campuses spread across the Commonwealth of PA? Efficiency.

Just ask anyone working for Penn State. They are used to dealing with paperwork on a GRAND scale. For example, the office for graduate studies receives thousands of applications each semester. The office of the physical plant receives thousands of work orders. The admissions office receives more SAT scores each year than any other college or university in the United States!

How does Penn State process this much paperwork and still maintain such a high level of excellence in teaching, research and public service that it is ranked eleventh among public universities in the U.S. News & World Report "America’s Best Colleges 1999"? Efficiency.

Getting Started

Penn State has always been efficient when dealing with the massive amounts of student and alumni paperwork. However, a great deal of money was being spent photocopying documents for use and storage in different departments simultaneously. Another large expense was faxing and mailing student files from commonwealth campuses all over Pennsylvania to the main campus at University Park centrally located near State College, PA. Plus, most documents received by Penn State require several different departments’ input before completion. With the University Park campus alone consisting of over two hundred buildings, it was decided that a document management system would simplify this task and increase efficiency greatly.

Penn State’s evaluation process began with a sixteen member Imaging Committee representing various departments and campuses. Their focus was to find the total document management solution that could effectively substitute paper and offer many opportunities for improving storage and access of information at Penn State. After attending educational seminars lead by Scott M. F. Buchart, President of Optical Image Technology, Inc. (OIT) and George Downsborough from Raytheon E Systems, Certified Business Partners of OIT, and after evaluating several other document management systems, Penn State licensed unlimited servers and unlimited users of OIT’s DocFinity® Suite of Document Management Solutions. Modules include: DocFinity COLD-ERM, DocFinity Imaging, DocFinity WorkFlow, DocFinity IntraVIEWER® (Browser Access), DocFinity Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM), and DocFinity Print/Fax Server.

The agreement reached allows Penn State to install OIT products on an as-needed basis with additional user access for outside vendors, affiliates and agencies. Initial implementation has taken place in key Penn State business units such as Accounting Operations, Office of Human Resources, Office of Physical Plant, Office of Administrative Systems, Police Services, Graduate School Offices, Undergraduate Admissions, the Office of Sponsored Programs, the University Development and Alumni Relations and the University Library. Eventually, thousands of users will access OIT’s DocFinity software repository via native client software and Internet Browsers Commonwealth or even worldwide. "All-in-all, I would say that OIT is one of our best vendor relationships," says Ken Blythe, Director of the Office of Administrative Systems.

A Full Commitment

Penn State is dedicated to remaining a technologically advanced institution. Having already made sizable investments in personal computers and networks that can be used as part of a University-wide system, and having pioneered the use of electronic forms and electronic approvals, the implementation of an Electronic Document Management System was not a difficult decision. Penn State believes that document imaging technology is especially valuable to them because they are geographically dispersed. Document Imaging can enable rapid and accurate access to information throughout the University and reduce redundant files and related maintenance costs. Also, they were already in a good position to implement imaging technology within their current infrastructure.

Penn State found that OIT’s DocFinity Suite of Document Management Products would allow for their records to be shared between users or departments while being protected at the same time. With one CD-ROM being able to store the contents of two filing cabinet drawers, the original document can either be stored safely off site or recycled and reused, depending on the requirements of the department.

Penn State also realized that changes in the way documents were processed would also have to occur. This meant that employees would have to be less paper dependent and the University would have to place a high value on training and educating it’s employees. Since OIT’s DocFinity Suite is very user friendly, the time to train employees was minimal.

Justified Costs

Penn State’s contract with OIT gives the University unlimited servers and unlimited users access to modules of OIT’s DocFinity Suite of Document Management solutions. Since the agreement allows departments at Penn State to implement only the products they need at any given time, Penn State has benefited greatly from the flexibility and the seamless integration of OIT’s modular products. The departments are able to implement a solution that truly fits their independent needs; they do not need to install all of OIT’s modules if they only have need for DocFinity Imaging, just as they are not left searching for complimentary products if they need a complete document management system.

Of course, the different departments have experienced different cost benefits. Overall, savings to the University have been seen in the elimination of microfilm or microfiche in some departments, the expense of photocopying records for simultaneous use and also the reduction in the amount of paper needed to print reports. However, the biggest benefit is anticipated in the area of increased productivity as more applications are added. Simply by making the information available to employees on-line and by providing them a very efficient way to flow the documents, either intra-office or between different departments, Penn State has given itself the tool it needs to remain America’s Best University... increased efficiency.

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