As costly implementation fees restricted further expansion of a deployed document imaging system, North Idaho College implemented an enterprise content management solution which boosted the institution’s ROI.
North Idaho College’s first foray into content management was far from an enterprise-level approach. As paper-heavy processes and piles of records inundated their department, human resources employees opted to digitize records by implementing a document imaging system. After implementation was complete, two other departments quickly approached IT with a desire to introduce the same system within their own departments and processes. In response, IT grew the institution’s deployment of this imaging system to include the registrar and admissions offices, expanding a one-off solution across campus with mixed results.
Ken Wardinsky, Chief Information Officer at NIC, spoke on some of the challenges NIC experienced expanding their deployment to additional offices, “To bring another office onto our previous imaging solution, ImageNow, an overwhelming amount of preparation and labor was required, not to mention the costly implementation fees which all but restricted further expansion.”
“We knew we needed to revisit the entire system in general.”
With additional departments wanting to embrace document imaging, NIC chose to weigh how much they had invested in consulting, licensing, hardware and maintenance costs, over the 10-12 years ImageNow had been deployed on campus, against the benefits enjoyed by users within the three offices where the solution had been deployed. This financial analysis drove NIC’s decision to look for an alternate solution that would allow them to more effectively and affordably introduce the benefits of document imaging across campus.
NIC also recognized this search for a new imaging solution as an opportunity to more fully embrace enterprise content management, expanding what the institution could accomplish with their next technology deployment. Wardinsky shared, “For a long time, we had been looking for that one missing piece – a solution that would allow us to move away from paper forms and shift our processes into electronic workflows.”
Whereas ImageNow had been used primarily for backoffice functions, the institution wanted to deploy a solution that would allow them to create and utilize electronic workflows capable of integrating directly with Ellucian Colleague. Understanding the value and importance of having robust integrations linking their ERP with other deployed solutions, such as an enterprise content management solution, NIC narrowed their search to ECM providers within Ellucian’s partner network.
Wardinsky mentioned that the College also wanted to feel confident in the long-term viability of a prospective partner. “We saw our first document imaging system go through multiple acquisitions and an accompanying lapse in support,” he explained. “We wanted to create consistency and improve the experience of our users by choosing a long-term ECM solution.”