Meet the Client
Hampton sits along Virginia’s scenic coastline, home to 137,000 residents and a rich maritime heritage. The city employs 3,000 permanent full-time workers who keep essential services running across 30 departments. When city leaders decided to upgrade their employee performance review program, everyone supported the change as a step forward for workforce development.
Daily Detour: When Good Intentions Create Paper Nightmares
The new performance review program promised better employee feedback and clearer expectations. Department heads would now provide each worker with a two-page mid-year review and a six-page annual review. Previously, employees received just one single-page annual review.
The math was staggering. Reviews would jump from 3,000 pages annually to more than 24,000 pages. That didn’t include duplicate copies stored in departments and outlying offices like public works shops. Those extras could double or triple the total.
No one looked forward to managing this paper explosion. Storage would become a serious issue. Finding specific reviews would eat up valuable time. Security risks would multiply with sensitive employee information scattered across dozens of locations.
Information Technology Director John Eagle saw something different. He recognized an opportunity that had been years in the making.
About our Client
CLIENT NAME:
CHAMPION:
Sonia Acosta
Records Technician
POPULATION:
est. 137,000 residents
SOLUTIONS:
The Solution: A Laserfiche Partner Who Understands Government
Eagle and IT Project Manager Kathy Fisher brought in a Laserfiche solution provider to tackle the challenge. Their mission was clear: build an enterprise-wide document management system that would start with the performance review pilot.
The team’s top priority was automation paired with strict security. Employee files contain sensitive information that requires careful handling. The biggest security challenge involved managing information exchanges between the Laserfiche repository and Human Resources software applications.
The Laserfiche partner worked with Hampton’s IT team to create a base folder that served as a gatekeeper and distribution point. Every captured document enters this folder first. From there, the system responds to each information request separately, following security levels tied to the requestor and their connection with the employee.
Security safeguards prevent accidental disclosure of confidential information like I-9 employment verifications and drug testing results. The system also handles complex scenarios, such as employees who work both a full-time job in one department and a part-time job at the city-run Hampton Coliseum. When workers terminate from one position, the system removes them from that department while keeping them active elsewhere.
During this critical development and testing phase, the Human Resources department began converting decades of employee reviews from paper to digital images. They started using the system on a limited basis to ensure everything worked as planned.
The Results: Digital Confidence Replaces Paper Anxiety
The pilot project succeeded beyond expectations. Human Resources staff quickly adapted to the new system.
“They’re pretty much hooked,” says Ms. Fisher. “Their fears that the paperwork for the employee reviews would be unmanageable are gone.”
With the performance review system running smoothly, Human Resources plans to implement Laserfiche fully and extend access to department heads. This expanded access will let managers pull up employee information instantly instead of requesting files and waiting for delivery.
IT Director Eagle is already expanding the city’s use of digital document management. His department now uses Laserfiche to manage contracts and track PC inventory along with all related service calls. Plans are underway to deploy the system to the Treasurer and Finance departments.
The Hampton team found a Laserfiche solution provider who understood government operations and security requirements. Their expert guidance helped turn a potential paperwork crisis into a foundation for digital efficiency across the entire organization. Eagle continues championing the conversion to digital file management. He looks forward to the day when all city files are managed and available digitally, giving employees instant access to the information they need to serve residents better.