Managing the Agenda for Government
Nestled in northernmost of New Jersey, Sussex County may not have the population of its more urban eastern brethren, but certainly is at the head of the pack in ways to make government more efficient.
Like many organizations, Sussex County was drowning in paper, saddled with outdated work processes and facing increasing records compliance requirements. While other governments purchased enterprise content management (ECM) solutions to manage records only to become just electronic file cabinets of scanned paper, Sussex wanted more. They knew greater opportunities existed leveraging an ECM to streamline work processes leading to a more efficient and open government.
To begin, Sussex County leveraged funding from the state’s Public Archives and Records Infrastructure Support (PARIS) grant program to kickstart its efforts. With support from the County Board of Chosen Freeholders and the county administrator, the county formed a project team led by Dan Freed, the county’s records manager, who worked closely with CIO Bill Kosinetz.
A Familiar Story, Different Approach
Knowing they needed help, the county hired Access Systems, a consulting firm with a long history of working with ECM solutions and experienced in process improvement. Freed worked with Steve Goodfellow from Access Systems to conduct a needs assessment, develop a strategy and help Sussex select the right ECM solution. With so many individual department opportunities, where does the county begin? It was agreed that any approach must both include a “quick win” and one with “wide touch points.” A quick win was seen as a tangible benefit for a specific functional group within a 90-day window from installation. Backfile scanning of existing Health department files provided immediate access to these often-retrieved records. For the “wide touch” application, the county addressed the time-consuming process of submitting the more than 3,000 resolutions each year for approval—which is the heart of managing a $100+ million annual county budget.
Agenda Management
The resolution process involves the collection of numerous emails, spreadsheets, scanned images, photos and paper documents in various formats into a packet that is then sent to multiple individuals for review. The contents of each packet determine who is part of the review process which can include supervisors, department heads: purchasing; finance; legal; the county administrator; the clerk of the board and others before being presented to the Board of Freeholders. Along the way, documents are copied, comments added and questions arise potentially sending the packet back down the line.
Knowing where a resolution packet was within the approval process and ensuring everyone had the latest version was challenging due to the process’s dynamic nature and frequently resulted in numerous phone calls and emails to discover who had a packet. Stacks of duplicate documents were often retained for personal reference by individuals involved in the process consuming more paper and file space.
Freed’s desire for the ECM to be much more than just an electronic file cabinet led to a more efficient process. The system is being extended to further streamline the packet assembly and review process thus helping reduce the stress of frequent last minute changes which add pressure to already tight deadlines.
Avoiding a Common Misstep
A common mistake is to look at each ECM application as a silo of need—each requiring a solution unto itself. Sussex County avoided this misstep with a simple question before proceeding with any project: Is there a link between this need and other areas within the county? This unifying vision of a true enterprise solution helped uncover additional departmental needs as well as reduce redundancy in storage and improve processes.
Support Within County
While initially benefiting from the state’s PARIS grant program, this funding source was eliminated to help address the state’s budget deficit. Even with the loss of grant funding, the county’s freeholders and county administrator threw their support behind continuing the project. This support included the creation of an in-house imaging center providing the flexibility to control the quality of the back-file scanning projects and assist departments with in-process scanning services where appropriate.
A Vision for the Future
With an already full plate, the county is fielding more and more requests to address department needs. Current and future projects include replacing an end-of-life human resources application with a workflow process; integration with a new jail management application as well as addressing health department case files and assist engineering manage projects, among others.