One of the larger irrigation districts in the country, serving nearly 100,000 people in northern California, provides a unique combination of water-based services including drinking water, wastewater treatment, recycled water for landscape irrigation, hydropower generation, and recreation areas. They also must comply with CalRIM, California’s records management regulations for entities receiving public funding.
Critical Issue:
Compliance with CalRIM, California’s records management regulations for entities receiving public funding, as well as greater control and security over digital files.
Solution:
A Windows-based, secure document management system with full-text indexing and audit trail that resolved compliance issues.
On a 40-acre campus with several buildings, walking among the offices at El Dorado Irrigation District (EID) to find documents was time-consuming and inefficient. A case study describes the district’s move to an electronic records management system with full-text indexing and audit trail that not only improved productivity but also resolved compliance with California’s records and information management program called CalRIM.
Records Management Out of Control
EID’s digital processes had lacked controls. File server contents grew from 500,000 files to 775,000 files in less than two years, but no naming or organization discipline was adopted. Users arbitrarily moved folders, other users could not find folders, and security was loose.
The State of California established records management regulations (“CalRIM”) in 2002 that mandated retention rules and other practices for entities that receive public funding. EID was required to meet the standards.
From Boxes of Paper to DVDs
After an initial investment in a system and a scanner, EID scanned 87 boxes of paper, which included 79 years of board minutes and resolutions, three years of accounts payable information, and 30,000 employee time sheets spanning two years.
Windows Compatibility Crucial
They focused on the idea of using an integrated document management system to gradually transform the use of paper documents into digital documents and to organize and manage the growing file server problem. EID had previously outsourced the scanning of paper documents from one large acquisition project, but the resulting proprietary file and repository formats were a barrier to effective use of the scanned files.
Therefore, strict Windows compatibility was now a mandatory requirement for any solution.
Results: Savings, Productivity, and Compliance
EID continues to have a few parallel paper and digital business processes. They chose to preserve some paper processes during the initial deployment because it allowed potentially skeptical users to continue with familiar work tasks while gradually being exposed to the benefits of an electronic document management system. Even so, the benefits have been significant. The solution allows documents to be moved into a permanent records management structure, with duplication and ownership issues resolved.
Request a Document Management Software demo or read the full El Dorado Irrigation District (EID) case study.