Document Imaging Technology >> Image Management

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Document Imaging Technology >> Image Management

4/29/2005

By Jennifer Jones

In its move to an enterprise-wide DI adoption, the University of St. Thomas (MN) was especially concerned about workflow and document management. The university-an independent institution of 11,000-plus students-wanted to roll out its DI initiative in Undergraduate Enrollment, then expand the initiative from there.

Tony Wilkerson, manager of UST Document Management and Reporting, explains that the DI initiative could have been hatched in any area of the campus, but "Undergraduate Enrollment is our fastest-moving department, since there is such competition for students out there. It also represents a large chunk of our documents." UST selected Mindwrap's Optix solution, and since that time has used DI to capture the paper components of student application files and workflow modules, to move student files electronically among admissions personnel and counselors charged with deciding the fate of applications for enrollment. Because Optix is a bundled solution with information capture, document imaging, and document management capabilities, users can build electronic information based on documents maintained in their native file formats.

Document imaging capability allows users to scan hard copies, and index, store, and annotate electronic documents. Document management functions allow centralized control over users' access to electronic documents in the system, and also allows for version control and document handling. Ultimately, the increased ability to push student files simultaneously to various members of UST's admissions committee triggered a fundamental change in the university's admissions procedures.

"In the old days, we didn't have a quick-admit process. All the files went through the committee. The process started with someone physically making a file folder, indexing it, and pulling it out every time we got a document," Wilkerson says. Now, with all of the elements of a student file immediately scanned, admissions counselors are able to run applicants against predetermined criteria in a database, cull out candidates who meet a particular standard or standards, and do a quick admit via a provisional letter. This is done well before a UST department chair makes a final decision and issues the student's formal acceptance.

The Web Drives DI With its admissions process sufficiently streamlined and automated, UST will now use DI to build out its online admissions initiative. "We do allow students to apply online," says Wilkerson. "But right now, those applications come in as a whole bunch of lines of text. It's not pretty. The admissions counselors prefer online applications to look like their paper counterparts, and we're going to make that happen."

Indeed, widespread adoption of online admissions procedures and, in general, the flight of campus functions to the Internet, is further increasing interest in DI, observes Mindwrap's Small. "One of the big advantages of DI is the technology's ability to combine paper and electronic forms generated on the Web."

But the adoption of document imaging d'es not always come first, notes Britt at Tulane. "In many cases, we're seeing the reverse. It's often not so much that imaging is helping to move processes to the Web, but that Web processes are creating the need for a document routing system, which then gets you into data management. And as long as you're pursuing data management, why not get off paper entirely, with DI?"