Challenge
Document Management System: The City of Chicago (CoC) is the third largest city in the United States, with approximately 2.7 million residents. Its governance structure comprises 37 distinct departments and a workforce of approximately 32,000 employees. Chicago and countless other major cities in the United States find themselves in an unprecedented budgetary crisis.
Chicago’s Department of Family Support Services relied on an outdated document management system to access and manage scanned documents stored by a third-party vendor called Edge, it was felt, was obsolete and needed to be replaced. The City of Chicago selected FileNet P8 as the solution for the future of its Enterprise Document Management System.
To standardize, rationalize, and optimize purchasing practices as well as address these budget constraints, the City started to look for vendors in collaboration with the Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT). The selected vendors had to collaborate with DoIT to meet it’s, and the City of Chicago’s, technology goals and business objectives.
Solution
The Krasan team, partnering with Fairfax Data Systems, led Chicago’s migration from IMEdge to IBM FileNet. We managed a complex project involving 18 city departments, building 14 custom applications, and integrating with various systems. FileNet was configured for specific workflows, like contract approvals and childcare funding. The system also integrated with the city’s revenue system and allowed departments to self-scan documents.
This project transformed the Department of Family Support Services. Their new system handled childcare assistance for 45 agencies with 200 locations, supporting a user base of 835. We also implemented a document management system for the Department of Administrative Hearings, providing easy access to over half a million documents for legal proceedings.
Using the SEAM methodology and Microsoft Project, we delivered this ambitious project within 14 months. Building trust across various departments was crucial for a successful implementation of this modern and efficient document management system for the entire City of Chicago.
Outcome
Chicago’s new document management system is scalable and future-proof, allowing for easy expansion to other departments. The transition minimized disruption by mimicking the familiar interface. The city now owns the application, infrastructure, and data, gaining control previously held by a third party. The Application Migration enhanced user experience with features like document rotation, information redaction, enhanced search, and self/admin indexing.
