Do it yourself: trying to figure out how to implement and manage document imaging on campus? Go into the document image delivery business - Document Imaging

University Business, Dec, 2003 by Gordon E.J. Hoke

"They had no problem," White recalls. "In fact, they encouraged us to start small, with the possibility of building up to a site license. When we reached a critical number, then we would pay a flat fee and add unlimited installations."

How to Get (and Keep) Customers

Empowered with a competitive product, White embarked on a marketing campaign to potential customers in the Ohio State community. Although URS is part of Ohio Slate, the department receives no blanket preference in school procurements and must compete fairly against all interested vendors. "Our potential market runs from Admissions to Alumni Services, with all of the administrative, academic, and student service offices in between," White notes. He marketed via multiple media, including hosting a technology exposition. Existing customers of URS' other services (like the print shop) were good candidates for document/content automation.

Selling life cycle. The sales process is familiar, says White. "We push the life cycle of the whole document. We analyze a prospect's needs, decide on the appropriate technology, and draft a proposal. Our price is based on hardware (like scanners), software licenses, and on our services such as access to servers, daily backups, security, training, and support. Additionally, there are maintenance fees for software upgrades and service." In the setup, URS acts as VAR (value-added reseller) for hardware and software, but also as an ASP for services and storage. URS partners with Optical Image Technology, and university departments buy their licenses directly from the department.

"OIT has been extremely accepting of our need to be a little different and to address the varying needs of our customers," White adds. "Frequently, our clients ask for a new feature or additional function, and we pass on the request. OIT considers it, and usually, it appears in the next release. For something truly unique," adds White, "the vendor will offer us the feature at a price, and our customer can then decide whether it is worth it."

Spreading the ward, making a difference. As of Q1 2003, URS' customer list included Ohio State's Accounts Payable department, the Office of Enrollment Services (Admissions, Registrar, and Student Financial Aid), Facilities Planning and Development, Undergraduate Student Academic Services, the Marion regional campus, and the Ohio Supercomputer Center.

Top-grade document imaging technologies and services are now making a very real difference across campus. At the Accounts Payable office, where invoices for the university are received, there's a lot less paper clutter. Before installing the document imaging software from URS, clerks entered invoices into a PeopleSoft system where workflow notified offices that they had a bill to pay. Workers saw the data but not the bills. If they needed to see an invoice, Accounts Payable made three copies, filing the original.

URS jettisoned the paper. "We set them up with a system where, in PeopleSoft, there is a custom button [linked to DocFinity]," White details. "The invoices are all scanned and indexed, so that when a worker dicks on the button, it launches a browser and calls a URL with the voucher number. Our database picks up the voucher number, goes out and finds the scanned image of the invoice, and delivers it to the desktop. Once there, workers can save it, print it, or send it as an e-mail attachment." Accounts Payable scans about 300,000 invoices a year and keeps them for four years, says White, so total storage will reach 1.2 million files with most having multiple pages. "The Research and Medical Centers also use PeopleSoft for Accounts Payable, and they will be adding the imaging system soon," he adds.