Idaho Dept. of Health and Welfare by the Numbers
3,500
Laserfiche Licenses
4
Production Laserfiche Servers
1
Sandbox Laserfiche Server
13
Document Repositories
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s mission is to “strengthen the health, safety, and independence of Idahoans.” With Idaho’s population approaching 2 million, this is no small task, demanding organization and efficiency in every process.
But five years ago, every employee at IDHW had a manila folder with their name on it, filled with printed HR records.
Craig Slack, IT operations and support analyst, knew the time had come for their agency’s digital transformation.
The IDHW contracted with MCCi to implement Laserfiche — a comprehensive content services platform that empowers them to efficiently manage their digital content, automate workflows, and enhance collaboration.
Why Laserfiche?
IDHW knew Laserfiche was a good choice for a large public sector agency with a long way to go in their digital transformation journey. It empowers organizations to:
- Get rid of paper and store digital documents in an organized, searchable document repository
- Collect information from employees and the public using digital forms
- Replace tedious manual processes with automated workflows
- Protect sensitive information with granular access controls, encryption, and other security capabilities
Employee Files
IDHW’s first task was to digitize employee files by scanning them into Laserfiche. In doing so, they:
- Saved valuable office space
- Made records management more efficient
- Enhanced data security
- Streamlined onboarding and offboarding processes
Furthermore, Craig knew that once this information was available in a Laserfiche database, it would improve other downstream processes.
Telecommuting Approval Process
As remote work has grown more popular in recent years, the IDHW’s HR department needed a process for employees to receive approval to telecommute temporarily or permanently.
Their initial plan was to use fillable PDF forms—which would have to be emailed back and forth between the employee and as many as five approvers, plus HR, who would file the completed forms. Not only was this process cumbersome, but it also left room for human error.
So they turned to Craig to see if he could help them design a more efficient, foolproof process using Laserfiche.
The process he devised has five steps:
- The employee submits a request to telecommute. The form is lengthy, but the process is made easier by auto-populating data from querying the digitized employee files. Once the user enters their name and email address, their phone number, employee number, job classification, and additional information are pulled directly into the form. This process saves the employee time and ensures accurate, consistent data.
- The application is routed through workflows to the employee’s supervisor for approval. The supervisor selects anyone who needs to approve the request, and the workflow notifies the approvers.
- If the application is approved, the employee automatically receives a telecommuting agreement and an equipment inventory through Laserfiche Forms.
- The employee’s supervisor approves the last two forms.
- A workflow files all forms in the employee’s personnel folder.
This set of Laserfiche forms and workflows reduces the time and manual work involved in the approval process—so employees can start working faster.
As a bonus, it simplifies the requirement to report how many employees are telecommuting to the state HR department.
Other Use Cases
In addition, IDHW uses Laserfiche to streamline and simplify the following:
- Medicaid appeals process
- Document storage for Child Welfare, State Labs, and Vital Statistics departments
- Public forms portal
- Public document repository
What’s Next for the IDHW?
Most recently, IDHW has contracted with MCCi to build out a records management repository within Laserfiche. Once it is complete, MCCi will scan records relating to surveys, correspondence, licensure and certification, and historical information into the repository as part of a consolidation of offices. This system will apply the appropriate metadata and automate retention schedules to simplify compliance.
Lessons Learned
“Anything you want to do in Laserfiche, there’s probably at least five different ways to do it,” Craig says.
Craig and his team have learned a lot through trial and error. For instance, one of the fields in the telecommute approval process allows the supervisor to type the name of the person they’d like to route the form to next. As the person begins to type the name, a list of suggestions populates from the database. However, the supervisor can override and type a name in the field, breaking the next step in the process. Now, they use the best practices of a drop-down list from a database lookup to avoid this problem.
But Craig also emphasizes that there are numerous resources available. He points to the Laserfiche Answers forum and MCCi’s Training Center as great places to get support.
And, of course, he utilizes his partnership with MCCi, the Laserfiche Solution Provider that he’s come to trust over the years.
The State of Idaho has selected MCCi and Laserfiche as the standard for Enterprise Content Management (ECM).
