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PVA improves productivity more
than 30% with Microsoft SharePoint
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Printable Version
Customer Profile
The Jefferson County PVA is the largest in the state of Kentucky, having a $56 billion assessment roll and processing approximately 31-34 thousand deeds per year. www.pvalouky.org
Business Situation
The PVA was in need of a feature rich document management system that would enable them to meet compliance initiatives, reduce paper, improve security, and empower workers to be more productive and efficient.
Solution
A customized Microsoft SharePoint platform as a single source for document
storage and management.
Benefits
• Better IT Management
• Reliable, scalable system
• Reduced risk for errors
• Increased productivity
• Increased security
Products Used
• ProVal (Manatron)
• Microsoft Office 2007
• Microsoft Active Directory
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003
• SQL Server 2005
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
The Challenge
Many businesses can sympathize with the challenges that the Jefferson County
Property Valuation Administration (PVA) was facing when they engaged
consulting firm New Age Technologies for an assessment. Meeting the twelve
year storage requirements for hundreds of thousands of paper documents
was proving to be very expensive, and the manual processing of these same
documents was very inefficient. In order for employees to complete daily job
functions, multiple applications had to be open at once to access various data
sources needed to perform their tasks. In addition to the inadequacies of the
electronic systems, an abundance of manual processes created time delays in
getting information into the multiple systems and stressed the organization
to reach industry compliance initiatives. The current document management
system was hindering the productivity of their 62 information workers that
needed regular access to the contents of physical files.
The Solution
New Age Technologies suggested Microsoft SharePoint technology as a means
to create a powerful, feature rich, scalable environment that would serve
the organization for years to come. The solution incorporated the document
management features of SharePoint to provide electronic storage for forms,
letters, and other related documents. Each of these documents can now be
tied electronically to individual property entities. New Age Technologies also
utilized the SharePoint platform to build an integrated web portal to give the
PVA one application that pulls data from all of the other sources within the
organization. The integration of multiple systems has given the PVA the ability
to view all relevant information about a property on one screen while also
having quick access to all related documents stored in SharePoint. Additionally,
the solution has greatly improved security and integrates with Active Directory
to allow the PVA to easily manage user access rights.
“Our rapid return on investment made this solution a ‘no-brainer’ for us.”
-Tony Lindauer, Property Valuation Administrator for the PVA
The Results
PVA information workers can now retrieve the information they need in
fractions of a second. According to Donna Hunt, Chief Deputy for PVA, “The
information is a click away.” PVA has also been able to reallocate at least one full time employee as a result of the improved document management process.
“In the budget crunch that we are in, we have to utilize technology to work
smarter, faster, and more efficient with our employees,” said Hunt.
They have already seen decreased search times, improved productivity, and
taken advantage of the workflow processes such as document approvals and
task assignments that SharePoint provides. For example, the PVA estimates that
while processing calls for Homestead applications alone a single information
worker is saving twenty minutes for each application. The MOSS solution has
saved approximately 10 working hours per day in just one department, with
significant increases productivity company wide as well. The SharePoint
implementation allows the workers to access the needed documentation in a
few seconds.
Who Can Benefit?
This solution can span across industries as well. Any business that is dealing
with an abundance of paper, records, or document storage across multiple
sources that need to be accessed in one place would see extremely high return
in investing in this solution. While the customization is complex and unique
to each environment, this engagement provided New Age Technologies the
experience as well as the tools and template to more rapidly execute this
solution for future clients.