Softdocs

Students and Faculty love e-services. Our Self Scan Station makes the workflow process incredibly quick and hassle-free, turning that never-ending line into a thing of the past.

This little piece of equipment can be set up in place of a long line of cranky students and an exhausted administrator. Self Scan Stations, developed in partnership with Fujitsu — an established leader in the document imaging marketplace — integrate with your Doc e Scan solution to automatically index and file away documents.

The process is easy. Here’s an example.

For Students:
• Place the document you need to scan in the Softdocs Self Scan Station.
• Type in your student ID.
• Select the document type on the touch-screen.
• Go to the cafeteria, take a nap, go to class. You just saved valuable time.

For Administrators:
• After a student scans in a document, the document will be sent over to your inbox
on Doc e Scan.
• Glance at the document to make sure it looks as it should.
• Verify it.
• The document is now filed away in the student’s electronic folder.

Professors or other co-workers can be authorized to use the station as well. It is all up to you and your institution. We’ll tailor it to meet your needs.

Taking out country’s current economic condition to mind, it is more important than ever to leverage all of the functionality you can from your Softdocs solutions.

So, go ahead and start doing something better with your time.

Lining the hallway in our newly added office and records scanning building are about 15 framed ads from the 1920s to 1960s reminding us of how far we’ve come in storing, managing and protecting important documents.

They definitely stand out in our Ikea-furnished set-up and it’s funny to read about the “new technology” of years ago.

It’s funny unless these scenarios still apply to you. If you’re still hand-filing, micro-fiche-ing, snail-mailing and designating entire rooms and buildings to filing cabinets instead of classrooms, you may think otherwise.

Now don’t get us wrong, we love paper, but not the kind you may deal with on a daily basis. No, we like greeting cards from family, letters from our grand kids or postcards from traveling friends. But paper-based business processes reminiscent of the early 1900s are not our thing.

We were, however, inspired to create a modern ad based on what was “in” years ago. What do you think?

Perhaps this will line the hallways of offices one day? No, probably not.

At Softdocs, we have done our best to highlight the features of our solutions – whether at Tradeshows or in our printed materials. But this year, we want to focus on exactly what those features can do to solve your specific business process needs, on a daily basis. We’re going to put on your shoes, sit at your desk (figuratively, so don’t be frightened) and help you more clearly understand how we can help you do more with Softdocs.

When we say “Do More with Softdocs,” what we’re really saying is “Go Further with Less Resources” or “Do More with Less.” It seems like this has been the catch phrase for so many folks over the past couple of years, but isn’t it true that we all desire to do more with less – with the “less” usually being less time and money?

So what specific processes can we help you do more with less?

Why don’t we start with the daunting task of Employee and Teacher Contracts since, for some of you, thinking about these will be here before you know it.

For those of you who have yet to experience our Electronic Contracts, this process may sound familiar:
The payroll manager spend days putting together paper-based contracts for your teachers. When they’re finally generated, the contracts are manually driven to all of your schools, where they make their way into each teacher’s box. The teachers are notified via email that they need to pick-up, review and sign their contracts by a certain date. That “certain date” arrives; however, all of the contracts do not. A couple of them had errors that weren’t caught during the generation process. The corrections are made, the contracts reprinted and redelivered to the school. Notifications are sent to teachers with the new due date. The contracts finally come in, and the principal reviews each. The contracts are then sent again to the district office, where personnel and, ultimately, the superintendent review each one. At the conclusion of the process the contract is manually filed into the teacher’s personnel folder for future access.

The common time period for this process? Four to Six weeks…or longer.

With our Electronic Contracts, the process is simple:
A database containing employee information is loaded into our secure, online solution and used to pre-populate an electronic contract. The contract is electronically delivered to the teacher and they receive a notification via email. The teacher logs into the system, opens the contract, reviews and approves the contract by electronic signature. The contract is automatically sent to the principal, back to personnel and, ultimately, the superintendent to approve. After approval, the contract is converted into a PDF and archived within the teacher’s electronic folder in Doc e Scan, our document management solution.If your district doesn’t have Doc e Scan, then a copy of the form can simply be printed for future reference.

The common time period for this entire process? About one week.

When managing your contracts electronically, there’s:
1) No fussing with Word and creating contracts one at a time – or using a mail merge.
2) No worrying about typographical or data entry errors when building out the contract.
3) No more driving contracts from school to school – and then making multiple trips to get contracts back from each school.
4) No worries about confidential information being placed in an unsecure mailbox within the teacher’s lounge.

“Issuing contracts to returning employees was a process that once took a week to prepare, days to deliver and still additional days to return. It has now been reduced to mere hours by using [Softdocs] virtual process. In addition to the time savings, we are also saving between two and four thousand dollars in printing and reproduction costs because we no longer have to have contracts printed and distributed. ” – Columbia County Schools

Contract time is almost here. Are you ready to “Do More in 2012″? Contact your Softdocs representative to find out how we can help you streamline this process.

Softdocs’ Lead Developer, Tom Shirk, a man of many talents and one of Softdocs first employees, is retiring to concentrate on his seminary studies at Columbia International University. Tom was a huge attribute to our company from the very first day he began working for us – which happened to be before he was even hired!

While finishing up a job at ETV, where he developed a television show editing software system, Tom was also busy developing two of Softdocs’ most important solutions – Doc e Serve and Doc e Scan. He is famously known around here for his motto “5 minutes – 2 lines of code” to change our software at the request of customers. Not only is Tom respected for his IQ and hard work, he has diligently led our company bible study each week for many years.

Tom is a busy man outside of the workplace as well. Building his house completely by hand was no big feat for Tom, in fact not only did he build it, he constantly updates it. Speaking of big…Tom has a record of building REALLY big things for his home. When he built his house, he also built a pool table in the FROG and said it would just have to stay with the house since it was too large to ever move. Once, he built an entertainment center in his shop that was so large, he had to take the window out, set up scaffolding, and lower the unit down to move it into the house. And let’s not forget about when he removed the old deck on his house and a built a new one in a mere 1 week complete with new brick pillars and seats with planters in between each one. With all of this handy work how would he have time for anything else? Well, somehow he does.

He has time for his family and other activities. His wife teaches nursing at Midlands Tech and his daughters are well-accomplished too. One has a law degree and works for the government and the other is a CPA nearby. In Tom’s “spare” time, he sings with the Columbia Master Singers, enjoys mountain biking, hiking and biking. During his lunch breaks while at Softdocs, you could find him biking 20 miles around Williams-Brice Stadium…daily (weather permitting).

When asked about Tom, Implementation Manager Carvel Blakeney said, “He is very passionate about everything that he does and the kind of person that would give you whatever he has if you asked.”

Before leaving in December, Tom was honored with a company party – one full of clapping and laughing about all of the memories that were made over his years with us.

You will be missed greatly around here Tom. We thank you for everything you have contributed to Softdocs over the years. We wish you the best and hope you come back to visit!

September 16 – 19 | Charleston, SC

We’re excited to announce the official details of our Softdocs User Group Conference, BRIDGE 2012!

The conference is a way to bring our customers together to share ideas, learn new tricks and enjoy a community of other Softdocs users. Our hope is not to just create a knowledge-based conference that helps you do more with Softdocs, but to set the scene in a location you’ll enjoy and give you an opportunity to experience it.

Charleston, SC was voted the 3^rd best city in the world, according to cnngo.com and we agree that it’s one of the bests.

Charleston displays historic beauty and Southern charm like nowhere else. Cobblestone roads and horse-drawn carriages adorn the streets. Intricate iron gates, remnants of the Civil War and street vendors will take you back in time.

Although it’s helpful to see where you’ve come, it’s not the past we want to focus on. It’s most definitely the future!

Imagine a community of Softdocs users who exchange ideas and knowledge and realize how to use the software they already own to maximize its full potential. Fully utilizing something you already have to make your life easier sounds pretty appealing to us, too.

Here are the details: You’ll experience Charleston while networking at our social events, including our dine-around and Sail Away with Softdocs: Evening Harbor Cruise. You’ll see incredible architecture, eat amazing, local foods, enjoy an afternoon to yourself and stay in the revered Frances Marion Hotel.

But that’s just the dessert. The “meat and potatoes” of the conference is in the knowledge and connections you’ll gain. You’ll learn how to cross the generational divide in your institution to leverage its power from our keynote speaker, Preston Swincher. You’ll gain insight from the experts (including other customers) to refine your technological skills, learn about new functionality and discover ways to improve operational efficiency in our sessions. You’ll also meet folks you’ll end up knowing for years to come.

You’ll enjoy yourselves, yes. But you’ll also learn how your investment in our solutions can become more than in just a piece of software.

Join us for a time of learning, networking and fun in the beautiful historic district of downtown Charleston, South Carolina.

To register or for more information, click here. See you September 16 – 19, 2012!

We hope all of you had an amazing holiday season and feel refreshed after some time away from the office. December is typically the busiest month for developers here at Softdocs. They’re focused on finishing up some new releases and upgrades (one of which we’ll tell you about this month). But even with all that was going on, we still found time to celebrate with a fabulous company Christmas party. A cruise, dance-off and lots of generosity put everyone in “the spirit,” literally. Here’s how.

December 7 just happened to be the coldest day of the year (of course), but the Softdocs team and their spouses boarded “The Spirit” of Lake Murray anyway. The weather didn’t stop us from having a good time and, lucky for us, the boat was covered and heated. The captain yelled “All ABOARD” and we were off on our dinner cruise.

Everyone mixed and mingled and enjoyed drinks and delicious food. There were corn fritters, 3-cheese macaroni, carved roast, chocolate fondue and more.

After dinner, the most amazing thing happened – we experienced a side of our fellow employees that some of us never knew existed. Apparently, our support team had been practicing their dance moves on lunch breaks. So hilariously entertaining…

Then Mike Murphy (CEO) and Robert Satcher (CFO) stood up to thank everyone for their hard work. They said there was going to be a drawing. American Express gift cards were handed out as employees names were drawn.

Lew Love (VP of Sales), won a gift card, but offered up his winnings to the “best dancer”. (What a great idea Lew!)

So it was back to the dance floor. It was such a close call between Robert Gunning (Doc e Fill Supervisor) and Josh Dolinger (QA Functional Analyst Manager), so Lew decided they would split the prize.

Everyone clapped and cheered as Wanda Jumper (Admin Support), Walter Hemingway (Doc e Fill Support) and Patrick Daniel (Records Scanning Manager) won giftcards, but it was a different story for the grand prize gift card winner, Jamie Young (Application Developer). To receive his prize, he had to dance for it too. This was catching on. Hmmm…maybe it should become a tradition around here? Jaime had everyone clapping and laughing as he performed. So, while software gurus are typically known for their intelligence, at Softdocs, they are now known for their slick moves too.

The party didn’t stop there, though. Mike Murphy and Robert Satcher had more surprises up their sleeves. Mike asked for everyone who had worked for the company 5 years or more to stand up. As he was thanking them for their services, he mentioned something about iPads. For all 24 of them?!  That’s right, everyone who had worked with Softdocs for 5 years or more received their own personal iPad 2.

Man, do we feel appreciated around here.

Excited and grateful, we all left the boat that night in good spirits, ready to end the year and begin 2012 with a bang!

*not pictured: Brian Hinson (Sales) and Deni Beale-Cribbs (Services Consultant)

We can’t wait to share all that we have in store for 2012.

To finish out 2011, Softdocs decided to donate to Harvest Hope Food Bank. Harvest Hope is a non-profit organization that collects food and other necessities for local folks in need. Giving always makes you feel a little warm and fuzzy, especially during the holidays.

Fueled by compassion (and a departmental competition), we ended up donating hundreds of items. The trade off? A pizza party for the winning department! The competition lasted for two weeks and the Records Scanning Department won with 107 items.

When we dropped off our items, the parking lot at Harvest Hope was packed. As sad as it was to see folks in need, there were many other folks making donations. There were vans, trucks, and buses hauling in food. A school bus was loaded down with canned foods and boxes of items. It was a sight to see!

Want to know more about Harvest Hope?
·         Started in 1981
·         Served 2,037,496 individuals in 2010
·         42% increase in the number of families fed over the same time period 1 year ago
·         Currently serves 20 counties in SC
·         Partner of Feeding America (the largest hunger relief charity)
·         Has 476 regional local member agencies

“Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead

To donate or find out more, visit www.harvesthope.org.

2011 has brought a lot of positive changes, including strong growth within our professional services group, expansion into an additional facility and the upcoming return of the Softdocs User Group conference. But we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the fantastic people who’ve joined our team this year.

Mark Metze joined our team in July as our new Development Manager. But don’t worry – our previous Development Manager, Carvel Blakeney, hasn’t left us. He is now heading up our Professional Services Group. Joining Mark is William Scalf, who now works with our Doc e Fill development team.

We also have two new Services Consultants, Deni Beale and Durwood Peed. Deni spent five years with an ERP provider and has first-hand experience in both the K-12 and government/municipal marketplaces. Durwood has more than a decade of experience with enterprise document management systems across the US.  Deni and Durwood join Carvel and the rest of our rapidly growing professional services team.

Our Support team has also grown, with the additions of Lerond Freeman as a Doc e Scan technician, and Brandon McWaters and Chuck Watson as Doc e Fill support and design technicians.

It seems that with every new Doc e Scan implementation, the need to scan archived records always arises. To meet this need, we have hired Patrick Daniel as our new Records Scanning Manager. Patrick will be working over the next few months to expand this team further so we can continue to help meet your records scanning needs.

Lastly, Katie Kiser joins our sales department as an Account Development Representative. Katie will work with our existing ADR team to create open and positive relationships with prospects and customers alike.

Our team is still growing, and we are always looking for driven, talented people to join us. So be sure to check out our job openings and see if there’s a place for you at Softdocs!

We are excited to announce the return of the Softdocs User Group, an annual conference bringing together Softdocs customers to learn, share and grow.

The 2012 conference will take place in the heart of historic downtown Charleston, South Carolina. Set amongst cobblestone streets, horse-drawn carriages and centuries-old oaks, Charleston is the perfect venue to enjoy the past while sharing ideas for the future of content management & workflow.

Conference activities will include product tips & training, user forums, solution roundtables, a sunset dinner cruise, carriage rides and shopping in the historic district. For more information on the conference, leisure activities, accommodations, our keynote speaker and more, please visit our conference website. We will be adding additional information as the conference grows closer, so be sure to check back often!

We are working hard to make sure this conference is affordable for everyone, and making sure everyone has plenty of time to plan for it in their budgets. Registration is now open, with a $70 discount for the first 25 registrants. To register, please click here.

We can’t wait to see all of you and help share your stories of success with Softdocs solutions. If you have any questions about the conference or anything else on our website, please contact us.

At Softdocs we know it’s summer when at least one office air conditioning unit fails, it storms every afternoon at 3 and we get to go mingle with customers and prospects alike in great cities across the US.

So far our Softdocs team members have been able to visit with K-12 business office leaders in Savannah, GA (GAINS) and Orange Beach, AL (AL ASBO). We’ve also met higher education administrators from around the country in Oklahoma City, OK (SRDUG), Glenwood Springs, CO (RMUG) and Caldwell, ID (NWDUG). And in the next few weeks we’ll be visiting with more higher education administrators in Los Angeles, CA (3CDUG/CHUGADUG), Charlotte, NC (IIPS) and Manchester, NH (NERDUG).

Whew! What a whirlwind!

So far, all of these conferences have been fantastic. We’ve gotten to meet a lot of new people, seen some new places and experienced some great local culture.  Between seafood fresh off the boat in Savannah, authentic southwest fare in Oklahoma City, June snow storms in Glenwood Springs and local wineries (and potatoes) in Boise, there’s no question we’ve had a good time…and plenty to eat.

Many of you reading this may wonder why we go to these conferences?  Sure, there’s a bit of sales involved – but the real point is to keep in touch and spread our message about how you can do more with Softdocs.

Whether it’s creating a paperless eForm submittal and workflow process, automatically capturing and filing documents generated by your ERP solution or collecting employee time and managing attendance electronically, Softdocs has a solution.

So if you haven’t seen us yet, we’re probably coming to your town soon! Be sure to stop by our booth and say hi.

Local winery in Caldwell, ID	June snowfall in Glenwood Springs, CO

Meeting new people at RMUG