How to Get Rid of Your Paper: A Document Management Case Study Penn State Office of the University Registrar Copyright Todd D. Clouser, Ian J. Llado This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

Welcome ! Presentation by: Todd Clouser Lead Applications Programmer/Analyst Office of the University Registrar Penn State University & Ian Llado Senior Account Manager for Higher Education Optical Image Technology, Inc.

Session Outline:   An introduction to Penn State’s Imaging Project   An introduction to how the various departments at Penn State are leveraging imaging in their daily processes   The Office of the University Registrar’s Transcript Imaging Project   The Office of the University Registrar’s Grade Log Imaging Project   An introduction to the DocFinity Suite of Products, developed by Optical Image Technology, and its proven solutions for institutes of higher learning

Overview of Document Imaging at Penn State University   In 1994, a University-wide Imaging Committee was established to review current and near-future imaging technologies to determine how they could best be applied to meet University requirements.   Primary focus was document imaging which could effectively substitute for paper and offer many opportunities for improved storage of and access to information

Overview of Document Imaging at Penn State University Issues:   Geographically dispersed institution: 24 campuses, state- wide   Reduce duplicate files and related maintenance costs   Fit with existing information technology infrastructure   Imaging technologies will be key to the University’s success in areas ranging from learning technologies to digital libraries to global competitiveness

Overview of Document Imaging at Penn State University 13 independent Imaging applications currently operating University-wide Accounting Operations:   Retention & retrieval of Accounts Payable and University Purchasing Card purchases   8,000 – 10,000 images scanned daily   500 – 600 documents retrieved daily Smeal College of Business:   Documentation for 8,500+ current and former students

Overview of Document Imaging at Penn State University Administrative Information Systems:   eDDS: electronic document distribution (COLD)   1.6 million printed pages saved/year   500,000+ reports stored   1600 users Development & Alumni Relations:   Documentation of donors & gifts   125,000+ documents; 100 added daily

Overview of Document Imaging at Penn State University Graduate School:   1998 – present: avg 20,000 images created/year   avg 48,000 images retrieved/year Human Resources:   80,000 students, 15,000 employees, 24 campuses   Centralized storage; decentralized access   100,000+ images/year Office of the Physical Plant:   Processing timecards: 800/day; 4,000/week   Other documents: 200+/day

Overview of Document Imaging at Penn State University Office of Telecommunications:   Responsible for printing monthly telecommunications statements: realized $20,000/year cost savings   20,000 – 25,000 pages/year Office of Student Aid:   150,000+ student documents/year   Instant access to time sensitive documentation

Overview of Document Imaging at Penn State University Undergraduate Admissions Office:   All paper admission applications: 50,000   Electronic applications automatically indexed   Barcoding for each student’s documentation University Police Services:   3,000+ incidents/year investigated   Supporting documentation range from 1 – 1,000+ pgs   Reports   Interviews   Court Documents   Photos

Transcript Imaging Project Academic Transcripts from 1962 – ,000+ records

Goals: Increase Record Availability Improve Customer Service Reduce Storage Space Capture “Lost” Transcripts

Goal #1: Increase Record Availability Before Imaging:   Manually search for transcript in a physical batch of 300+ records   Batches broken down by name ranges   Paper records within a batch were not alphabetically filed   Possibility of record being misfiled

Goal #1: Increase Record Availability After Imaging:   Transcripts indexed by SSN & Student Name   Retrieval via SQL queries in a matter of seconds

Goal #2: Improve Customer Service Before Imaging:   Manual process could take many hours to multiple days to retrieve transcript   Photocopy of official transcript was mailed

Goal #2: Improve Customer Service After Imaging :   Automated process takes matter of seconds to retrieve   Official transcript now printed   Use system to access records for telephone verification of education or degree information   Previously limited to records after 1982

Goal #3: Reduce Storage Space Before Imaging:   1962 – 1982 transcripts were housed in the in-office vault in multiple rows of file cabinets

Goal #3: Reduce Storage Space After Imaging:   1962 – 1982 transcripts are stored electronically on servers that are backed up nightly   Filing cabinets removed – large amount of floor space recovered

Goal #4: Capture “Lost” Transcripts Before Imaging:   Manual re-filing of transcripts resulted in the occasional transcript being misfiled in an incorrect alphabetical batch.

Goal #4: Capture “Lost” Transcripts After Imaging:   All transcripts that were incorrectly filed by the manual process were “recaptured” and placed in the proper sequence according to the indexes assigned

Process:   Staff resources:   2-3 part-time employees: preparation of originals and scanning   19 indexers   5 verify-ers   2 technical support

Process (cont) :   Preparation of originals   Mask unwanted text in margins   Photocopy deteriorating originals   Sort originals by style; 50 documents/batch   Indexing   Power Indexing   10 user keys; 4 drop down lists   Attempted Zone OCR – poor text quality   Used as quality control of images

Process (cont) :   Verifying   Accessed batches via Saved Queries   Quality control of indexes entered   Time frame   Installation: July 1999   Training / testing / process development   Full production: June 2000   Indexers/Verifyers: 1 hour/day (avg 1 batch)   Project completion: April 2002

Process (cont) :   Technical Summary   1 scanning station: Dell Dimension 4100   Connected to University infrastructure - backbone   Fujitsu scanner: model M3097DG   Distributed server environment:   Applications: NOVELL 5.0   DB: MS SQL 7.0   Images: stored on IBM SHARK   TIFF size range: 40K – 350K

Grade Log Imaging Project 75,000+ Students – All branches Fall 2003: 355,074 grades entered electronically via eLion

Old Process:   Paper grade bubble sheets printed for every course/section combination   Bubble sheets/grades scanned into ISIS by other university office   Paper grade bubble sheets outsourced for microfilming   Manually search for grades using the microfilm reader   Costly & time consuming

New Process:   Vast majority of grades entered electronically via eLion; no original paper document   Batch process generates flat file representation of completed “bubble sheet” after grade reporting period   Incorporate DocFinity COLD ERM/AutoArchive module to create an imaged version of the new electronic grade sheet

COLD/ERM – AutoArchive Summary:   Create a report definition to inform AutoArchive of report structure:   Page size   Control characters   Number and location of index fields   Report Importer reads report definition; parses individual pages from original file; creates indexes; automatically cascades document

Benefits:   Reduced costs – no longer need to print and microfilm grade sheets   Efficient - Retrieval of grades via SQL queries in a matter of seconds   Grades stored electronically on servers that are backed up nightly

Summary By using the DocFinity Suite, Penn State’s Office of the University Registrar has been able to:   Decrease costs   Reclaim office space   Improve services to students, faculty, staff, and alumni   Eliminate lost documents   Improve efficiency

Thank You!

- Making the grade with document management Developed by:

DocFinity Suite of Products   Developed by Optical Image Technology, Inc.   Suite of Integrated content/document management solutions   Eighteen years of features and functionality built into software   Scalable from departmental to campus-wide application   Competitive pricing scenario designed specifically to fit within budgets

DocFinity Users Include:   The Pennsylvania State University   The Ohio State University   Florida State University   Vanderbilt University   Shippensburg University   University of Chicago   University of California – Davis   Iowa State University   Association of American Medical College   Connecticut Student Loan Foundation

Products in the DocFinity Suite Include:   Imaging   COLD-ERM   Workflow   XML Forms   HSM   Reporting Tools   System Monitoring   Management   Web Client   Barcode Indexing   Associative Search Capabilities   Print/Fax Server   Form Processing

Common Applications of the DocFinity Suite Include:   Admissions   Registrar   Student Financial Aid   Administrative Information Services   Police Services   Accounting   Human Resources   Student Academic Services   Facilities Planning and Development   Alumni Relations   Research Departments

By Implementing the DocFinity Suite With Your Processes, You Can Expect To:   Enhance services to students, alumni, faculty and staff   Eliminate lost documents   Decrease operational costs   Reduce the time required to process documents   Improve employee productivity   Eliminate storage challenges

OIT Higher Education User Group Provides You Access To:   Access to other higher education DocFinity users   Access to Web discussion board to post questions/answers to other members in group   Quarterly newsletter   Annual meeting at OIT’s User Conference

For Additional Information: Please visit booth #310 Or, contact: Ian Llado Ph: