Allen County

More productivity and efficiency through scanning.

Background

Allen County is the largest county by area, in Indiana, with an estimated population of 350,523.  The largest city in Allen County is Fort Wayne, which serves as the county seat.  

• 1,350 full time employees and 400 part time and seasonal employees
• 15 offices and locations countywide

Challenge

Like many local governments, Allen County is a paper-driven organization-relying on large quantities of multi-page paper documents and forms in order to transact business with the public and manage county departments. Although the goal of a completely paperless organization might be out of reach, the county nonetheless wanted to implement a centralized solution to reduce the inefficiencies and time required to receive, route, process, and file paper forms.

• Looking to eliminate cost and inefficiencies of a paper-driven process
• Needed to ensure compliance with the State of Indiana’s regulations for retention and archiving
• Preserve historic information across all departments

Solution

Imaging Office Systems took some time to learn about Allen County’s processes and issues. They then proposed a solution that electronically stores, organizes, and manages virtually any kind of business content.  Initially four separate county departments bought into the new system, but after experiencing its improvements the IOS solution has been adopted as the document management standard within Allen County.  Fifteen departments are now actively using the system to cost-effectively scan paper documents and store them in easily searchable electronic filing cabinets. 

• Since the initial implementation, the county has populated the system with almost 10 million pages of content. 
• Users are able to perform searches on the document repository via an easy-to-use web interface, for quick and accurate access to specific documents.
• Departments are taking advantage of the archiving tools in many areas – for example, employment applications must  be  archived for up to one year after a position is filled; the system is set to automatically purge all applications more than a year old.

IOS is also playing a key role in helping Allen County comply with state regulations for retaining and archiving legal and other documents. The State of Indiana requires that all court documents be archived permanently on microfilm, as well as easily accessible for retrieval. The Treasurer’s Office uses the system to provide an audit trail of all tax transactions and correspondence for legal protection.  

The Bottom Line

• The cost of managing, copying, and filing paper documents has been reduced and, in many cases, eliminated.  
• Drastic productivity improvements have been realized through time reductions in searching for and accessing documents.   
• Better public service has been realized through faster response times to inquiries and more accurate information.  
• Overall, Allen County believes they have realized “Tenfold productivity and efficiency improvements.”