Meet the Client
Palm Desert sits 14 miles east of Palm Springs in California’s Coachella Valley. The city serves 53,000 permanent residents plus 32,000 seasonal visitors who escape winter cold.
City leaders coined “TAME the paper tiger” as their rallying cry. TAME stands for Transparency, Accountability, Modernization, and Efficiency. This became their digital-first campaign to increase automation and digitize content.
Daily Detour: Search, version control, and workflow gaps
The city needed to replace an aging ECM system that couldn’t keep pace with public sector demands. MCCi partnered with Palm Desert to implement Laserfiche across five departments using a gradual rollout strategy. The project included converting 2 TB of existing data and scanning Fire Department records.
The existing system created daily friction. Staff couldn’t find documents quickly. Version control was nearly impossible. Workflow capabilities were non-existent.
“We needed something more than a digital file cabinet,” the IT team explained.
Public records requests took too long. Staff duplicated work across departments. Citizens waited for information that should have been instantly accessible.
About our Client
CLIENT NAME:
CHAMPION:
Nick Martin, Senior Business Enterprise Systems Administrator
SOLUTIONS:
The Solution: Building buy-in through communication
Palm Desert chose Laserfiche based on recommendations from employees who had used it at other agencies. They liked the workflow engine and suite of modules. The city formed an Executive Team for decisions and created a distribution list for scanners and power users. Monthly meetings kept end-users informed. MCCi provided training for administrators, end-users, and Forms users. IT staff now lead ongoing lab sessions.
The phased rollout followed this sequence:
- City Clerk
- Finance
- Code Compliance
- Building & Safety
- Public Works
The Result: 42 forms, 16 monitored folders, countless hours saved
The Laserfiche Public Portal enables the city to better manage public records. Forms and Workflow eliminated duplicate job duties. Data moves in and out faster.
In two years, Palm Desert created 42 active forms, 16 monitored folders, and 15 Quick Fields sessions. The system now supports 130 users across Laserfiche Rio, Weblink Public Portal, SDK, Connector, Import Agent, Quick Fields Core and Agent, Forms Professional, and Forms Portal.
Nick Martin, IT for the City of Palm Desert, offers this advice: “Communicate with all of your users! Make them a part of the process. If people feel they have a voice, they are generally more accepting of changes. Keep everyone in the loop as to where you are in the process.”
He added, “The ECS sales team is diligent and respectful of our time. Support is very knowledgeable and quick to respond. The project managers do a fantastic job communicating. The upper management is friendly, approachable, and always makes itself available when necessary.”