- Seattle Department of Planning and Development -

Seattle Department of Planning and Development uses document management to address constituent needs

The Seattle Department of Planning and Development (DPD) is responsible for developing, administering and enforcing land use, design, construction and housing related standards for nearly 600,000 residents according to various policies and codes. In addition, it approves over 23,000 land use and construction-related permits and conducts approximately 80,000 on-site inspections annually. The total value of permits issued by the DPD annually has exceeded US$1 billion since 1998.

Problem

The submission, processing, routing and filing of 23,000 permits annually by multiple divisions employing hundreds of workers was generating overflowing volumes of paperwork. At the time, this paper-based material was being laboriously copied, faxed and sent as standard mail, express mail and by various courier services in a manner that could not be monitored, tracked or retrieved. The weakness of this system was made worse by the continuous growth of Seattle's population and economy. In addition, the department was facing increasing demand that forms, applications and information be made available online.

Solution

The DPD realized that it needed to implement a document management system to improve its operational efficiency and citizen support. It achieved this goal with assistance from ImageSource Inc. (www.imagesourceinc.com), an experienced value added reseller and enterprise content management solution provider based in Olympia, Washington.

The tandem decided to install a Fujitsu document scanner based solution that used fi-5750C and fi-4750C scanners to digitize current and archived paper documents. The objective was to create a comprehensive online accessible information database and electronic filing system.

The fi-5750C and fi-4750C scanners were chosen due to their ability to scan up to 57 pages per minute, onboard JPEG compression and duty cycles of up to 8,000 documents per day.In addition, it was felt that the scanners' 200-page automatic document hoppers, which can accept documents ranging in size from 2.1in. x 2.9in up to 12in x 18in, along with the their excellent ultrasonic double-feed detection, made these scanners ideal candidates. The ability to place a large batch of mixed documents in either of these scanners' feeders and walk away also improved the Fujitsu products' productivity. DPD also liked the fact that both the fi-5750C and the fi-4750C scanners came with TWAIN and ISISR drivers and were bundled with full versions of AdobeR AcrobatR 7.0, ScandAll 21 software and Kofax Image Controls and VRS? technology.

Application / Results

The fast, easy and reliable fi-5750C and fi-4750C scanners are being used to digitize an average of 700 construction permits and land use permits, inspection reports and other documents a day. This comes to a total of nearly 200,000 documents annually.

After digitizing all of the department's archived documents within a few weeks, the department used the Stellent Universal Web Content Management platform to track, manage and publish information and content on the DPD Web site. This solution permits content to be entered from a variety of DPD sources, while seamlessly maintaining a consistent look and feel.

Furthermore, this approach enables the DPD to keep its website more current by switching the burden of posting content on the internet from a few select individuals to staff working throughout the DPD. Maintaining a database of digital documents has also created new ways for the department to cross reference documents using existing data for faster information retrieval. And these savings have been passed onto citizens through faster and more complete service. The implementation of this solution has also led to a noticeable reduction in customer calls requesting documents.

In addition to a marked improvement in operational efficiency, the implementation of this imaging solution has enabled the DPD to reduce its paper storage requirements, thus enabling the department to maximize the value of its existing office space.