Accela-Laserfiche Integration Case Study | E-Government
Efficiency
Case Study: Background and Challenge
Before 2020, the City of Rancho Cucamonga navigated a complex and manual document management landscape, balancing digital and paper plans. Kramer Sanders, an IT
Applications Analyst at the City reflects on this period as one filled with logistical hurdles. The City's decision to go fully digital for plans and permits in 2020 was a strategic move, coinciding with the onset of COVID-19 but not prompted by it. This transition marked a significant shift in how the City managed its planning and building documentation.
Several key challenges emerged as the City transitioned to a digital-first approach with new systems and manual processes. These challenges were pivotal in shaping the City's need for a more cohesive digital strategy:
- Managing Dual Formats: The coexistence of digital and paper plans before 2020 created a logistical nightmare, as described by Sanders. The challenge was handling the two formats and the labor-intensive effort to ensure they were synchronized and
organized.
- Integration Gap Between Systems: The City faced a substantial challenge
in linking Accela and Laserfiche. Digital plans, once input into Accela, did not
automatically transfer to Laserfiche, leading to significant organizational
challenges.
- Digital Divide of Historical Documents: There was a gap in historical records being available digitally before the City moved to a fully online system. Critical for the city's record-keeping, these documents were not in Laserfiche, creating this digital divide.
These challenges underscored the City's need for an efficient, integrated
digital solution to streamline document management and maintain continuity in
their records and services.
Results: A Strategic Solution
The integration facilitated by Velosimo successfully bridged the gap between Accela and Laserfiche for the City of Rancho Cucamonga. Sanders reflects on the post-integration era with exuberance. This integration enhanced the city's workflow, enabling efficient
processing of historical and new documents while allowing them to be fully digital. Sanders remarks that it's helped our Building and Safety team tremendously, highlighting this transformation's positive impact on their staff and customers. Additionally, the integration brought in robust logging and diagnostic capabilities, making management and troubleshooting more straightforward.
Sanders underscores the improved operational efficacy and the strong partnership forged with Velosimo: It's been a great relationship... it just works. This success story sets a benchmark for future digital integrations within the City.