Document Management Case Study.
Document Management for National Policing Improvement Agency
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Centralised document management and workflow solution for the NPIA. The NPIA, National Policing Improvement Agency, supports many initiatives to improve policing including initiatives to improve knowledege sharing nationally and internationally.
The NPIA, National Policing Improvement Agency, supports many initiatives to improve policing including initiatives to improve knowledege sharing nationally and internationally, leadership development, intelligence management, combating serious crime and terrorism. The NPIA has around 1,500 staff including 300 seconded police officers from UK forces.
The NPIA has implemented Document Manager within its Finance Department and within the Serious Crime Analysis Section. It is also being piloted for use in Procurement and the NPIA is poised to roll Document Manager out across other areas of the organisation.
Too much paper in too many legacy systems
The NPIA has been a relatively decentralised organisation with its various units implimenting their own document management systems. This mix of, largely paper-based, systems occupied an increasingly large number of filing cabinets which required a lot of space, and were a security risk. These systems did not provide remote access to information and this was at odds with the objective of improved information sharing.
The Finance department found its paper system increasingly unfit for processing and storing its huge numbers of invoices, expense claims and other documentation. Document retrieval was slow and the department was running out of storage space. The Serious Crime section, was finding its system lacking in document security.
The NPIA needed a new, centralised, automated document management system to replace these legacy manual methods. Remote access to documents was also needed.
The new system would need to integrate easily with legacy systems and SQL databases. It had to provide full text searching and to store documents in native formats rather than as images. It also needed the capacity to scale up for use across the whole of the NPIA.
Choosing Document Manager
The NPIA wanted a comprehensive document management solution from a supplier with a UK based development team. “Document Manager fitted the bill. Key deciding factors were the ability to offer secure, remote Web access, ease of use, scalability, ability to integrate with legacy systems and overall cost. We were also able to look at reference sites to see the technology in operation.” says Gail Cullum, Head of Information Systems, NPIA.
Benefits of Document Manager
- Better access to information
- Reduced use of paper
- Reduced storage space required for filing
- Acceleration of invoice approval
- Improved response times
- A centralised, standardised system compatible with legacy systems
The Document Manager solution
Document Manager is a powerful document management solution that centrally manages the flow and storage of information throughout an organisation. There is tight control of access and editing; with on-line access for authorised users.
The NPIA Finance department streamlined invoice processing with Document Manager’s Sorting Office module. Incoming invoices are scanned and barcode numbers captured. Access to invoices is provided via Web browser. This smooth workflow enables the department to manage and track the approval of each invoice.
The Serious Crime and Analysis section use Document Manager to scan and store case papers and capture data from the Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System. Case papers are made available over the SCAS network.
Document Manager provides the Covert Operational Support Team with an online library with full text searching. This allows helpdesk staff to quickly advise on the legality of activities in undercover operations.
Document Manager is in pilot with the Procurement and the Estates departments for storing project documentation. It has removed paper from the purchasing process with requisitions now via web forms.
The IT department use Document Manager to store licensing information and installation guides. The Exam and Assessment, and Learning and Development groups, and the National Specialist Law Enforcement Centre will soon adopt Document Manager for their document management requirements.
“Document Manager streamlines many of our operational processes. It is providing more efficient storage and easier access to information… usage of Document Manager throughout the NPIA is growing steadily.” says Gail Cullum, Head of Information Systems, NPIA.
