Realizing the Full Potential of a Document Imaging System Presented by Douglas A. Levy University of Michigan Copyright Douglas A. Levy, 2004. This work

Realizing the Full Potentialof a

Document Imaging System

Presented byPresented by

Douglas A. LevyDouglas A. LevyUniversity of MichiganUniversity of Michigan

Copyright Douglas A. Levy, 2004. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author.

To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

Realizing the Full Potential of a Document Imaging System

2004 EDUCAUSE Conference

Agenda

UM Office of Financial Aid Document Imaging Project

Expanded Use of ImageNow at the University of Michigan

Technology Lessons Learned

Questions, Wrap Up



Introduction to the University of Michigan

Type of Institution– 27,000 undergrad & 10,100 graduate students

– 19 academic units, 568 degree programs

– 1 main campus, 2 branch campuses

– Centralized administrative functions (Admissions, Financial Aid, Registrar, Student Accounting, etc.) providing support for highly decentralized and autonomous academic units



The University of Michigan Office of Financial Aid

Document Imaging Project



Life Pre-PeopleSoft

circa 1997 B.C.(before conversion)



The UM-OFA Document Imaging Project

UM-OFA General Information– 53 permanent staff plus work-study students – Walk-in and phone-in services provided at two campuses, self-

service via the Web– $350 million in federal, state, institutional and private aid funds

administered– Programs administered:

Federal, state, institutional and private loans Federal, state and institutional need-based grants On-campus and off-campus work-study Private and academic unit scholarships




UM-OFA General Information (cont.)– 33,995 students apply for aid each year

– Document requirements include: Student tax returns Parent tax returns Institutional application, verification, follow-up and re-evaluation forms Plus, alternative and university loan applications Student employment forms Promissory notes Award notices Miscellaneous forms/correspondence sent and received




Challenges, Issues & Problems – Document Posting and Filing– File Sign-out, Retrieval and Usage– Efficient Utilization of Space– Archiving Documents– Phone/Walk-In and other Ad Hoc Requests




Project GoalTo gain efficiencies of operation in the

handling of student files and other documents

to better serve students, departments, and

external agencies, and to better position the

office for future business process

reengineering efforts.




Critical Success Factors– Easy to use and easy to administer– Can be implemented in a short time frame– Little or no custom programming or other specialized

skills required– Consistent with way office does business; does not

“require” changes to office procedures– Easily adaptable to changes in existing systems and

processes and easily supports addition of new ones– Adheres to all security and regulatory guidelines




Critical Success factors (cont.)– Is cost-effective, both for initial start-up as well as for

ongoing costs – Consistent with OFA and UM information technology– Is flexible (imaging is different than working w/paper)– Handles current peak volumes and is scalable– Interacts with financial aid system for indexing and

retrieval; single point of data entry– Supports performing all file review functions online– Supports workflow




Implementation Timeline / Milestones

– Delivery of ImageNow system and hardware: 8/26/97 – Backfile conversion of current aid year folders:

9/8/97 - 12/12/97– Began using system for ad hoc inquiry: 10/20/97– Began using system for posting new year

documents: 2/5/98– Began using system for new year file review: 3/2/98– OFA becomes completely ‘paperless’: 2/1/99– Additional financial aid processes rolled out: 2/99 –

present– The ‘One-Minute Purge’ – 6/02




Observation

When we first announced the intention to move to imaging,

several staff were rather vocal in their opposition, suggesting,

among other things, that they couldn’t possibly do such things as

verification from images, that everything would take longer, and

that we were setting ourselves up for failure. Without exception,

even those who were “kicking and screaming” the loudest in

opposition at the beginning, would be “kicking and screaming” a

whole lot louder now if imaging were to be taken away from them.




Results

Imaging is fully integrated into all student-related

document management processes in the

Office of Financial Aid. The critical success

factors identified at the beginning of the project

have all been satisfied and the project goal

was clearly achieved.

ImagedStudent

Documents

2. Data entry staff access each scanned student

document image, post the document as

received on the financial aid system tracking

moduleand index the document

to the imaging system

1.b. Student Documents faxed are

received by Fax Server (no paper).1.a. Student

Documents received on paper are scanned.

3. Student documents

are accessed directly from the imaging

system for ad hoc

inquiries.

StudentsReady for

Verifi-cation

4. Documents for students ready for verification are auto-routed to a work queue.

5. Counselors access the imaged documents for

students ready for verification, along with the corresponding screens from

the financial aid system.

6. Student documents are stored on the

imaging system for as long as they are needed to meet

regulatory and other requirements

Example of Imaging in a Financial Aid Office



Expanded Use of ImageNow at the University of Michigan



Life Since PeopleSoft

circa 1998 A.D.(after deliverance)



Expanded Use of ImageNow at UM

The Goal– To provide Schools and Colleges and Central Offices with a

document imaging solution that: Effectively supports the student-related administrative processes being

implemented in the PeopleSoft project Effectively supports other student-related processes both within and

across departments

The Foundation– ImageNow selected over 10 other vendors in bid process for

Academic Affairs site license (April, 1998)– Dual-processor server and 6,000,000 document capacity optical

jukebox purchased (May, 1998)




Current Uses– Online storage, auto-routing, viewing and decision-making

of undergraduate admissions applicant materials by the central admissions office and corresponding Schools/Colleges

Applications are scanned in and auto-indexed using barcode recognition

Applications are immediately auto-routed to appropriate school/college using ImageNow workflow

Central Admissions staff and counterparts in School/College simultaneously review the applications

Applications are retained on imaging system for archival purposes and for ongoing use in Academic Advising




Current Uses (cont.)– Online storage and on-demand retrieval of historical

Registrar’s Office transcripts, utilizing an OCR process to auto-index the images

– Admissions application review by the central Graduate School and Academic Units

– Ongoing student academic advising in the Colleges of LS&A, Engineering and other Units

– Human Resource personnel file storage and retrieval– OSEH document storage and retrieval– Many other miscellaneous uses around campus




The Prediction -

“… and the day before we go live, myself or one of my staff will teach ImageNow all the needed PeopleSoft financial aid panels in a couple of hours. No fuss, no muss, no programming.” July 1999 NASFAA and March 2000 PeopleSoft Conference Sessions

The Reality -

On February 15, 2001, the day before we went live, a staff member in OFA image-enabled all the needed PeopleSoft panels in one hour and fifteen minutes. The next day, OFA staff began using ImageNow in conjunction with PeopleSoft, without missing a beat.




Custom Programming Implementation Cost– Zero

Central IT Staff Implementation Effort– Zero




Current Stats (and constantly growing.....)– Financial Aid: 900,000 imaged pages for 54,800 students

(up to 4 years per student)

– Undergraduate admissions: 1,420,000 imaged pages for 68,000 applicants

– Registrar transcripts: 566,000 imaged pages for 175,000 students

– Academic Advising: 220,000 imaged pages for 26,100 students

– Graduate admissions: 275,000 imaged pages for 29,000 applicants

– Human Resources: 350,000 imaged pages for 19,000 staff members

– Other: 400,000 imaged pages




Some Planned Uses– Expanded student academic advising campus-wide– Human Resource resume storage/auto-routing– Storage and retrieval/review by staff and faculty

committees for a select group of fellowship candidates– Archiving of 40 years of student folders for

the School of Public Health– Many other departmental uses being explored– Deployment of ImageNow in the

UM Business and Finance Division for Payroll, Purchasing, Alumni/Development and others



Demonstration of UM Use of ImageNow

The Tale of Hap. E. Hower



Technology Lessons Learned



#1:

Much like beauty, good technology is “in the eye of the beholder.”



#2:

Unlike love, even the most effectively-deployed technology does NOT mean

“never having to say you’re sorry.”

Unless, of course, you are using only Microsoft products, which always work

flawlessly…



#3

The Golden Rule:

Those who have the gold…..

MAKE THE RULES!!!



#4 and #5

If it ain’t broke, it may be the best time to fix it.

Don’t do more with less, do something different.



#6

Corollary 1:Technology is a means,

not an end

Corollary 2:Technology is a tool,

not the solution

Corollary 3:There may be a lot of

similarities betweenand a salesperson from a technology company.



#7

Unlike the

we do know which should come first

when performing an evaluation….It’s definitely your BUSINESS NEEDS,

not the technology!

and the



#8

If you build

it…They MAY come.

Corollary:Understand and articulate your goals, desired outcomes, requirements, etc.

UP FRONT!



#9

The 80/20 Trap:The final 20 percent

of functionality in a technology project can consume 80 percent of the time

and 80 percent of the money.

Corollary:KISS…..Keep It Simple, Stupid!!!



#10As in many technology projects, the phrase

“instant gratification” is an oxymoron…..

Reaping the rewards more likely will involve much hard work and perseverance.



#11BEWARE!!!



#12

BE PREPARED FOR BOTH!

Properly implemented technology saves and

Goal:

It also ADDS and

The whole (benefits) should be greater than the sum of its parts (costs).



#13

Don’t let this happen to you…

A woman is standing over the freshly-dug grave of her dearly-departed husband.

A man approaches and says, “I know this may be an awkward moment, but do you ever recall him mentioning documentation?”



#14

Strive for a relationship between Information Technology staff and End Users that is less like

and is

more like



#15

before you

before you

Remember the story of the

and the

Corollary:



#16When it comes to technology,

our students are starting younger,

and are more demanding of it!

are more proficient

at it,

are more comfortable

with it,



What we do is not about the technology......

It’s still all about serving students!

And lastly….



Questions & Wrap-Up



Contact InformationDouglas A. Levy

Associate Director

Office of Financial Aid

University of Michigan

2011 Student Activities Bldg.

Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1316

Phone: (734) 936-3810

FAX: (734) 615-2641

E-Mail: [email protected]



The Big Finish

Drum Roll, please…...