DocuWare Case Studies Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

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	Illinois Environmental Protection Agency DocuWare

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

DocuWare

Technology Category	Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms
Applicable Industries	Cities & Municipalities
Applicable Functions	Business Operation
Services	System Integration
Challenge	The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) was facing several challenges in managing its vast amount of documents. The agency needed an efficient way to store, access, and distribute all kinds of documents including engineering drawings, permits, technical reports, sample data, compliance documents, photos, and inspections. Thousands of documents were submitted to the IEPA each month, primarily for permit reviews and inspections. The original paper documents and microfilm were physically housed in the headquarters’ office, making it impractical for field office employees from all over the state to review a file. This required the IEPA to either ship the original documents back and forth between offices or maintain duplicate copies. Copying large format drawings and engineering documents was costly for the IEPA, who was forced to pass the cost on to private industry. The Bureau of Land’s three record rooms contained 1.5 linear miles of paper files in addition to copious amounts of microfilmed records. Maintaining such a large volume of records consumed staff resources, lengthened record retrieval time, and contributed to deteriorating file integrity from copying and shipping records. Meeting the Freedom of Information Act and providing communities, legal firms, environmental consultants, and concerned citizens with requested information was also a daunting task. The agency could receive 500 requests for a 1000 page file forcing them to devote significant time and resources in meeting these requests. Read More
About Customer	Created in 1970, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) safeguards the environmental quality of Illinois’ land, air, and water in order to protect health, welfare, property, and quality of life; all while balancing the social and economic needs of the state. The IEPA employs 1,200 people who work from either the headquarters’ office in Springfield or in one of nine field offices and three laboratories throughout the state. The IEPA, Bureau of Land needed an efficient way to store, access, and distribute all kinds of documents including engineering drawings, permits, technical reports, sample data, compliance documents, photos, and inspections. Thousands of documents are submitted to the IEPA each month, primarily so the agency can review permits and perform inspections. Read More
Solution	Authorized DocuWare Partner, COM Microfilm, installed the DocuWare solution. Today, the solution has expanded from Bureau of Land large format drawings and photographs to include inspection photos, technical reports, and other documents. The Bureau of Water has also come on board and is focused on digitizing engineering drawings and permit documentation. In addition, the Bureau of Air is expected to begin document imaging in the coming months. The Bureau of Land purchased a Contex color large format scanner so engineering drawings are the only document type scanned in-house. All other documents are reviewed and prepped for off-site scanning by the records staff by placing a break sheet, containing index data, between each document. Other documents utilize barcode index forms to help automate the indexing process. The digitized information is returned to the IEPA on CD, where quality control measures confirm the integrity of the indexing and image before moving the data into a live electronic file cabinet and sending the scanning vendor an acknowledgement e-mail approving the scan batch. Once this approval is received, archival microfilm is then produced and the paper shredded. Today, the Bureau of Land and Water combined, have digitized 575,000 documents and drawings equaling over 9.2 million images. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms

Applicable Industries

Cities & Municipalities

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Services

System Integration

Challenge

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) was facing several challenges in managing its vast amount of documents. The agency needed an efficient way to store, access, and distribute all kinds of documents including engineering drawings, permits, technical reports, sample data, compliance documents, photos, and inspections. Thousands of documents were submitted to the IEPA each month, primarily for permit reviews and inspections. The original paper documents and microfilm were physically housed in the headquarters’ office, making it impractical for field office employees from all over the state to review a file. This required the IEPA to either ship the original documents back and forth between offices or maintain duplicate copies. Copying large format drawings and engineering documents was costly for the IEPA, who was forced to pass the cost on to private industry. The Bureau of Land’s three record rooms contained 1.5 linear miles of paper files in addition to copious amounts of microfilmed records. Maintaining such a large volume of records consumed staff resources, lengthened record retrieval time, and contributed to deteriorating file integrity from copying and shipping records. Meeting the Freedom of Information Act and providing communities, legal firms, environmental consultants, and concerned citizens with requested information was also a daunting task. The agency could receive 500 requests for a 1000 page file forcing them to devote significant time and resources in meeting these requests.

About Customer

Created in 1970, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) safeguards the environmental quality of Illinois’ land, air, and water in order to protect health, welfare, property, and quality of life; all while balancing the social and economic needs of the state. The IEPA employs 1,200 people who work from either the headquarters’ office in Springfield or in one of nine field offices and three laboratories throughout the state. The IEPA, Bureau of Land needed an efficient way to store, access, and distribute all kinds of documents including engineering drawings, permits, technical reports, sample data, compliance documents, photos, and inspections. Thousands of documents are submitted to the IEPA each month, primarily so the agency can review permits and perform inspections.

Solution

Authorized DocuWare Partner, COM Microfilm, installed the DocuWare solution. Today, the solution has expanded from Bureau of Land large format drawings and photographs to include inspection photos, technical reports, and other documents. The Bureau of Water has also come on board and is focused on digitizing engineering drawings and permit documentation. In addition, the Bureau of Air is expected to begin document imaging in the coming months. The Bureau of Land purchased a Contex color large format scanner so engineering drawings are the only document type scanned in-house. All other documents are reviewed and prepped for off-site scanning by the records staff by placing a break sheet, containing index data, between each document. Other documents utilize barcode index forms to help automate the indexing process. The digitized information is returned to the IEPA on CD, where quality control measures confirm the integrity of the indexing and image before moving the data into a live electronic file cabinet and sending the scanning vendor an acknowledgement e-mail approving the scan batch. Once this approval is received, archival microfilm is then produced and the paper shredded. Today, the Bureau of Land and Water combined, have digitized 575,000 documents and drawings equaling over 9.2 million images.

Impact #1	Storing documents electronically has had a profound effect on IEPA employees across the state; information needed to perform basic job functions is now readily available online.
Impact #2	Documents are no longer shipped between offices, the hassle and time spent to maintain duplicate files in multiple locations has been eliminated, both of which have accounted for increased employee productivity.
Impact #3	File integrity is no longer an issue. After the move to imaging, lost pages and degenerating file integrity are a thing of the past, reducing errors, increasing productivity and improving information access by the public.

Impact #1

Storing documents electronically has had a profound effect on IEPA employees across the state; information needed to perform basic job functions is now readily available online.

Impact #2

Documents are no longer shipped between offices, the hassle and time spent to maintain duplicate files in multiple locations has been eliminated, both of which have accounted for increased employee productivity.

Impact #3

File integrity is no longer an issue. After the move to imaging, lost pages and degenerating file integrity are a thing of the past, reducing errors, increasing productivity and improving information access by the public.

Benefit #1	The Bureau of Land and Water combined, have digitized 575,000 documents and drawings equaling over 9.2 million images.
Benefit #2	The system is used 7.5 hours a day and generates an average of two hits per minute.

Benefit #1

The Bureau of Land and Water combined, have digitized 575,000 documents and drawings equaling over 9.2 million images.

Benefit #2

The system is used 7.5 hours a day and generates an average of two hits per minute.

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Overview

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit