Meet the Client
San Bernardino County holds a distinction that shapes everything it does. It’s the largest county in the contiguous United States by area. More than 2 million residents call it home, making it California’s fifth most populous county. The Department of Public Works manages the infrastructure that keeps this sprawling region connected. From surveying vast parcels of land to maintaining flood control systems and managing traffic operations, the department’s 400 employees handle work that directly impacts every corner of the county.
About our Client
CLIENT NAME:
POPULATION:
est. 2M residents
Daily Detour: When Geography Meets Legacy Systems
San Bernardino County Public Works faced a problem familiar to many large government agencies. Their document management system, FileNet, had served them for years. But it couldn’t keep pace with modern needs. Surveyors needed to cross-reference property documents with geographic data. Flood control engineers required instant access to as-built facility plans. Traffic division staff hunted through disconnected systems for incident reports. Each search took time. Each manual lookup pulled skilled professionals away from their real work.
The county had already invested in Laserfiche for other departments. Public Health used it. Children’s Services relied on it. The Assessor’s office had migrated. But the Public Works department remained stuck with FileNet. Their 640,000 document images sat isolated from the systems that needed them most. No integration with ESRI ArcGIS meant no way to link documents to geographic locations. No automated workflows meant manual approvals for invoices and permits. The Business and Technology Solutions Division knew they needed a change. They needed to migrate those hundreds of thousands of documents without disrupting daily operations. They needed to connect document management to the mapping systems their field teams used. Most importantly, they needed a partner who understood both the technical challenges and the operational realities of government work.
The Solution: Building Bridges Between Documents and Data
Connect what matters. Automate what doesn’t.
San Bernardino County Public Works took a phased approach. Rather than replacing their entire system overnight, they started small and scaled smart. Phase one focused on the Survey Division. They installed Laserfiche, configured templates and folder structures, and trained staff on scanning and retrieval. The pilot proved the concept. Teams could find what they needed. The system worked.
Phase two expanded the scope. The real innovation came through integration. The county connected Laserfiche with ESRI ArcGIS Online, creating WebApps that linked documents directly to map locations. Surveyors could click a parcel on a map and instantly access historical research documents. Flood control engineers could view aerial imagery alongside as-built facility plans. Traffic division staff could tie incident reports to specific intersections.
The technical implementation required careful planning. The county built Laserfiche workflows that batch imported documents from FileNet while preserving all metadata. They developed automation for organizing and updating entries. They created forms for accounts payable processes that routed invoices through proper approval chains. They set up a test environment first, something Keith Ricker, Business Systems Analyst II for San Bernardino County Public Works, strongly recommends.
“First of all, if you haven’t already done so, set up a QA/test environment repository as it will, among other things, greatly assist with minimizing frustration and grief; especially when building/developing LF Workflows,” said Ricker.
The approach worked because the county took time to understand their users. They analyzed existing business processes. They asked end users what frustrated them. They identified specific improvements that would matter most. This user-centered focus guided every configuration decision. San Bernardino County Public Works leveraged existing county Laserfiche licenses, adding users incrementally as divisions came online. They started with 12 users and Weblink Public Portal. As confidence grew, they added 10 more users plus Forms capabilities and 29 Forms Participant Users who could access documents and participate in approval processes without full licensing costs.
The Results: From Migration to Innovation
When documents find their place on the map.
The numbers tell part of the story. San Bernardino County Public Works now manages approximately 640,000 Laserfiche entries containing roughly 823,000 page images. The system stores about 300GB of data. More than 400 employees access documents daily, along with external users from other county departments, other counties, state agencies, and the public.
But the real impact shows up in how work gets done. Surveyors access property research through interactive maps. Flood control staff view facility plans without leaving their GIS interface. The Accounts Payable team routes invoices through automated approval workflows instead of physical paper trails. Traffic division staff prepare to deploy similar mapping integration for law enforcement incident reports.
The integration with ESRI ArcGIS Online created something many counties struggle to achieve. Geographic data and document archives now work as one system. A parcel’s location links directly to its historical records. An as-built facility appears on aerial imagery with supporting documentation one click away. This geocentric approach matches how field staff actually think about their work.
“Leveraging the knowledge, skill sets and experience of ECS Imaging, Inc.’s technical support and account management staff assists with providing successful implementation, application and utilization of Laserfiche products,” Ricker added.
The county continues to expand. They’re developing additional ArcGIS WebApps. They’re integrating WinCAMS, their cost accounting system. They’re connecting Cartegraph, their operations management platform. The Communicable Disease Section of the Department of Public Health plans to join soon. Each new integration builds on the foundation they established. Each connection makes the system more valuable.
The migration from FileNet continues as planned. But the county already uses Laserfiche for new processes. They’re not just replacing an old system. They’re building new capabilities their old system could never support.