West Devon Borough Council has implemented a corporate Electronic Document Management (EDM) and workflow solution from Comino to improve residents’ access to its services.
The £ 191,000 system will be implemented corporately starting with planning, finance and moving on to other departments.
The move supports the authority’s drive to ensure the delivery of effective and consistent customer service.
Comino’s solution replaces paper-based filing with an electronic system to improve access to information and enables the sharing of electronic documents. The solution, which fully integrates with West Devon’s back office system, includes Document Imaging Processing (DIP) technology. The tender for the system was produced in partnership with neighbouring Torbay Council, providing West Devon with cost and efficiency savings.
The EDM system helps West Devon Borough Council to meet the Modernising Government Agenda, which requires all Local Authorities to provide their services online, and the Freedom of Information Act, which gives residents the right to request to see information kept by any public sector organisation.
Cllr. Denis Bater, the Council’s E-government champion said: “The most important benefit of implementing the Comino solution is that the Council is able to provide better access to our services, which improves transparency and accountability. By storing documents electronically, staff can access files quickly, eliminating long waits at receptions or being left on hold. This supports our strategy of placing customer service at the heart of our activities.”
Pierre Morel, E-government Programme Manager said:” “Because West Devon is a small Council, it’s an ideal place to implement a corporate system such as this. We hope our strong partnership with Comino will bring success. Using EDM and Workflow from Comino, West Devon Borough Council can create, access and amend electronic documents. A full audit trail allows staff to track information and view, share and update documents more easily.
DIP eliminates photocopying as all documents received are scanned into the system and stored electronically, while the workflow engine processes and routes documents, files and tasks to allocated staff.
West Devon Borough Council is planning to roll out Comino’s Contact Management solution across the Authority, which complements EDM by replacing paper-based systems with the electronic recording, monitoring and maintenance of customer contact.