Franklin County Increases Document Security and Builds Compliant Repositories

John Aguirre has been the director of HR at Franklin County for the last 13 years. His department has nine employees who are charged with:

• Establishing, administering and effectively communicating sound policies, rules and practices that treat employees with dignity and equality while maintaining compliance with employment and labor laws, county policies and labor agreements.
• Providing services to the people of Franklin County in order to secure, maintain and develop employment with the county government.
• Administering payroll and the county benefits program.

The first thing the HR department did after implementing ECM was to start scanning personnel files into the system. It took some time to develop an appropriate folder structure that separated employees’ employment records from their confidential medical records and discipline files, and then it took about a year to get everything scanned in.

We probably spent between 4-6 months in the planning phase, but getting those personnel files into the system properly has had an enormous payback for us,” says Aguirre. A few of the benefits include:

Reduced Paper Consumption

“We used to photocopy hundreds of thousands of pages of job applications a year for review by our elected officials,” says Aguirre. “We almost never make hard copies of documents anymore since our officials have access to everything they need in Laserfiche.”

Instant Search and Retrieval

“The ability to locate documents quickly is great for me,” explains Aguirre. “Not a day goes by that I don’t get a request from one of our directors for material from an employee’s personnel file for various purposes. Our ECM system makes it easy for me to satisfy their requests and quickly email them exactly what they need to see.”

Higher Staff Productivity

“With ECM, we can do more with less and accomplish more functions with the remaining staff, which is important in this economy. When one of our part-time HR reps left the county, we didn’t need to find a replacement because ECM makes everybody more efficient. Retrieving documents is as easy as opening a web page.”

Reduced Need for Document Storage

“Prior to implementing ECM, we had a large ‘Electreiver’ file cabinet in the office that stored approximately 1,500 files and rotated them on chains. It was always breaking down and causing us headaches. Once we started digitizing our documents, we were able to get rid of that monster, along with five standing file cabinets. We now use that space for our receptionist’s desk and our scanner, so our office is much less cramped.”

Easier Audits

“Auditors love Laserfiche because it’s so fast and easy to use. It’s also clear to them that we’re meeting compliance mandates with regards to our folder structure and the security surrounding confidential medical records, etc. In addition, my department no longer has to stop working in order to organize for the audits.”

The HR department has also added recruitment documentation and union and arbitration files to the system, which has led to quicker resolution of some grievances. In addition, HR is currently scanning employees’ benefits files and leave of absence documents into the repository, and it has recently started on payroll documentation.

“Laserfiche is so secure in terms of access rights and privileges that we’re comfortable using it for everything we’ve got,” Aguirre says. “For example, I’m the only person in the HR department who can view the union files, and I’m also the only one with deletion rights. I know that unauthorized staff can’t see confidential information, and I know that no one’s going to tamper with our files. The role- based security provides real peace of mind.”