Bayside City Council has implemented an EzeScan production batch scanning solution to assist with its long term migration towards electronic document and records management for over 500 users.

Hugging Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne's south, the council has been implementing a HP TRIM EDRMS over recent years and steadily replacing manual tasks with automated solutions. 

EzeScan is now utilised for scanning of incoming correspondence, licence and permit applications, property matters and planning and development applications.

Previously all required a high level of manual data entry.

Fran Duiker Executive Manager of Communications and Customer Service at Bayside City Council, said, “We are moving from a paper-based environment to more of an electronic records management environment.

"Having less paper has resulted in significant savings in storing records on and off-site."

"Implementing those process changes is delivering far more automation.

"The next big step for us will be getting EzeScan to generate a request or work order automatically in our CRM solution which is delivered directly to one of our staff or a contractor. At the moment documents are scanned directly into TRIM and then must be manually attached to a CRM item."

"Automating this will deliver our customers a far more streamlined and effective service. Also there is not as much staff time required to manage initiating those processes so we've been able to redirect resources to other areas within the business," said Duiker.

Bayside Council employs a Lotus Notes based CRM application and Civica’s Authority Enterprise Software Suite.

Now EzeScan automatically captures data, applies naming conventions, and looks up applies associated metadata. EzeScan also automatically triggers associated workflows in TRIM.

Demos Gougoulas, Sales & Channel Manager for Outback Imaging, said, "EzeScan goes beyond the regulatory obligations associated with the retention and disposal of documents by aligning the document and the information it contains with business workflow; providing operational efficiencies."

"This helps to initiate intelligent automated processes, accelerate document delivery and        minimise manual document handling while ensuring regulatory and digitisation standards compliance."

The council is currently planning an upgrade from its TRIM 6.24 version and evaluating services providers  to move up to Version 7 or the newly launched HP Records Manager 8. Another upgrade on the agenda is a new GIS system.

Where paper content needs to be imported it is presently scanned on multi-function devices (MFDs) to email or a network folder. A scan on demand approach is taken to adding historical records when required.

IS Corporate Records Coordinator Alistair Bourrilhon is currently working with departments across council and planning a  shutdown of network file storage areas although users will be allowed some latitude to store files locally on their reduced network shared drives.

"According to Bayside City Council’s records management policy, records can be stored outside of TRIM in “A specialised business system exist for a business activity/transaction (such as database or applications) [that] stores documents or records in a structured and easily discoverable way.”

Staff are being made aware that by end of June next year the network drives will become read only and the size of their personal drive will be cut down dramatically.

"We are automating the addition of metadata where practicable. When staff add records in TRIM  there are three mandatory fields they  must complete, the document title a routing type and folder" said Alistair.