Case Study

ViewWise Enables Groundbreaking Document Management Solutions
for Foundations Case Study

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by Greg Rapport

Business Overview

The Marin Community Foundation (MCF) was established in 1986 with the assets of a trust created by long-time Marin residents Leonard and Beryl H. Buck. From the start, MCF’s mission was to use philanthropic contributions to help improve the human condition and enhance the quality of life in Marin County, CA.

Their mission was successful, and by the end of fiscal 2005, MCF was the largest community foundation in California and one of the largest in the U.S., with assets of $1.1 billion. Last year, MCF made over $55 million in grants and received over $25 million in gifts.

An unintended consequence was that they were swimming in paper.

Document Challenges

There is no common equation that equals the number of pages in a completed grant application. According to Christopher K. Black, CIO, Marin Community Foundation, “It’s not so much the application but the supporting documentation that can cause a grant-application file to swell. Applicants send all kinds of supporting information in many different formats from newspaper or magazine clippings to extensive research reports.”

While MCF was making decisions on how to best distribute millions of dollars each year, they were waging a daily battle to control the paper, complete effective grant analysis, and provide timely responses to grant applicants. For example, if MCF required additional paperwork from an applicant, they would have to snail-mail a notification letter to the applicant who would respond by snail-mailing whatever was required to MCF. Each step produced more paper and consumed more time.

Selecting a solution

MCF’s first attempt at electronic document management was a system they installed in 2003. The system had many positive features, but it also had a number of drawbacks. For example, it could only save files in TIFF format, which in turn, required a TIFF viewer for anyone wanting to view the files. However, using the knowledge gained from the first system, by the end of 2004, MCF executives planned the system’s evolution to the exact requirements necessary to run their foundation with maximum efficiency.

Their initial analysis revealed that evolving the existing system was not feasible, so, they set their sights on finding a system that could meet their needs for customization and affordability.

MCF knew that a streamlined document management process with a Web-enabled component would dramatically reduce their time necessary to organize each file. This would, in turn, allow them the time they needed to analyze applications and process grants much faster. They needed affordable software that could meet all the following requirements, and they found all this and more with ViewWise:

Contain all the paper.
Establish interoperability between the document management system and their existing internal software. They were already using foundation-specific software called Foundation Power, which is basically transaction-processing software that maintains grant account records and related information. The challenge was to seamlessly link Foundation Power to a comprehensive external document management system.
Reduce the amount of time and effort required by Foundation Staff to scan, file and index all their documents into an electronic document management system.
Store files in a myriad of formats. Then, make them available for retrieval without requiring all the original programs that created the files to be installed on each PC.
Change the way applicants submit documents.
- Enable applicants to submit documents via fax using a barcoded cover sheet in the following procedure:
  - Import the fax to ViewWise.
  - Based on the barcode values, populate the index data and automatically file the document in the appropriate ViewWise e-folder.
  - Link that document to the related Foundation Power record for single click viewing.
- Enable applicants to submit documents through the web so files would be generated and submitted electronically.
Web-enable the viewing of accounts and file contents. That way, applicants would be able to check their account status and their documentation by themselves.

To guide the process, MCF called upon Lonnie R. Hines, President and CEO of L.R. Hines Consulting, Inc. When Hines analyzed the list of requirements, ViewWise was the document management system he recommended. He also recommended creating a custom workflow application that would fully integrate ViewWise with Foundation Power and provide the automatic filing features MCF required.

In early 2005 MCF decided to install the ViewWise Document Management System. Says Black, “ViewWise is a true Document Management System because it generates a container to hold any type of document regardless of its native format. It has a robust export engine that permits people to put documents in a system from many different formats and extract them in a usable format. For example, if an Art Director stores a Photoshop file, anyone with access can open that file without having to install Photoshop on their computer.”

Implementation

MCF decided to reduce the complexity of the installation by separating it into three phases, the first two to be completed simultaneously:

Phase 1: Install the ViewWise Document Management system and convert all documents and data from prior systems. Completed March 2006.

Phase 2: Implement custom workflow applications to integrate ViewWise with Foundation Power, auto index and file bar-coded faxes and auto index and file manually scanned documents. Completed March 2006.

Phase 3: Enable submission of applicant-scanned documents via the Internet. Enable applicants to view account information and file contents via the Internet. Projected for Feb 2007.

Regarding the selection and installation process, Hines said, “There were a lot of reasons to choose ViewWise, chiefly because it had the flexibility to allow the client’s customization requirements. Additionally, ViewWise was easier for the users to grasp because it displays a very familiar visual filing system. When end users see a familiar visual display, training time is reduced and user comfort is enhanced.”

The initial ViewWise installation and training only took a couple of weeks. The more advanced customization for phases one and two took about two months.

“Remember,” says Hines, “Foundation Power is a highly specialized application, and now that it has been successfully integrated with ViewWise, we have an innovative solution that is easily adaptable to other foundations with similar needs.”

The Bottom Line

Black measures return on investment in terms of the efficiency of MCF’s office functions.

MCF has 35 internal users for whom they purchased 20 ViewWise site licenses. “But it’s having the capability to serve external users that was a big attraction with ViewWise,” says Black.

Black views the external users, meaning the grant applicants, as extensions of MCF. Using the ViewWise system, applicants will submit documents electronically, saving MCF thousands of hours of manual document intake. Once documents have been electronically submitted, the ViewWise system takes over using an easy to understand repository-based storage and retrieval system. Since external users will have access to all of their account information and document files, MCF workers are free to do what they do best, use philanthropic funds to enhance the lives of Marin County residents.

ViewWise and the custom workflow application created by Hines provide a solution for MCF’s external users to electronically submit documents via fax. Using an assigned bar code printed from the Web, the faxed documents are then auto indexed and filed directly into their ViewWise e-folder and linked with Foundation Power.

Says Black, “The success of our foundation is contingent upon how we increase grant-making efficiencies and better utilize existing staff to expand the capabilities of our entire organization.”

“We’ve dramatically reduced our time of response to a grant application. When the three phases of implementation are fully operational, all the steps that used to take weeks will be shortened to a period of days, because the applicants can control the whole submission process. That frees program officers for more time for analysis.” Black continued.

Adds Hines, “They’ve also reduced the amount of error inherent in a manual system by streamlining the processes into fewer, easier steps. In fact, there is no worry about misplaced or lost documents, because ViewWise has full OCR and text search capability. If you have wrong account numbers but know anything about the document, you can easily locate it.”

Black summed up his experience by saying, “ViewWise offers great flexibility at a good price for what is potentially a small shop (total staff of 35). Even though we manage a lot of funds, we’re still small. Having one unified package is tremendous and we are satisfied that installing ViewWise gave us the best value, the most options, the service we need, and the confidence that the system will serve our needs very well for a long time.”

LR Hines - Customization was Key

Value Added Reseller Lonnie Hines has never shied away from a challenge. And so it was when he was asked to do what had not previously been done in creating an all-encompassing document management solution for Marin Community Foundation.

“I knew that ViewWise, with it’s electronic versions of file rooms, cabinets, drawers and files, could easily handle the document management portion of the project. The rest was up to us,” says Hines.

After installing ViewWise, LR Hines staff converted all the TIFF documents from the previous system into the ViewWise repository. That part was standard.

However, designing and developing the custom workflow application that runs as a service in the background was much more involved. MCF’s Chris Black wanted a system that would be easy and intuitive for his users to use. Not only that, but he wanted one that would do all the tedious work of indexing and filing documents automatically so his staff could have the time to do more important tasks.

The help provided by the IT staff at MCF, Chris Black and Emory Horvath, and Foundation Power developer Eric Westby was invaluable. “We made a great team,” says Hines. Their knowledge of the MCF Business Processes and detailed knowledge of the inner workings of Foundation Power provided the keys that enabled LR Hines to create a powerful workflow system.

The result is the system automatically creates the seamless links from Foundation Power to related ViewWise documents. Additionally, the workflow application accurately identifies, indexes and files all incoming documents whether by fax or by manually scanning them into the system.

Developing the workflow application with the associated interfaces to ViewWise was easier because the ViewWise API toolkit is so adaptable,” says Hines. “MCF’s previous system required several different modules and 3rd party applications that resulted in multiple potential points of failure. This was unacceptable. MCF needed a single integrated system that would be very reliable and easy to maintain. Because of ViewWise’s adaptability, we were able to create a single workflow application that does all the work. This greatly reduces the time for deployment, reduces the margin for error, and keeps the cost of maintenance low.

About Computhink

Computhink provides best-in-class ECM solutions for secure information sharing and compliance, targeting small and medium size organizations. Using state-of-the-art technology Computhink solutions operate on a wide range of platforms, including Windows, LINUX and Novell. The ViewWise Product line includes Email Archiving Solutions for Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise. Founded in 1994, Computhink has thousands of worldwide customers in government, financial services, education, healthcare, manufacturing and utility organizations.