Document ONE makes an impression at DPIWE

The Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment (DPIWE) is the third largest State Government Agency in Tasmania. It has over 1,000 employees across multiple locations and diverse business groups, ranging from Biosecurity and Product Integrity through to Land Information Services, Resource Management and Water Resources.

Improving Recordkeeping Practices a Priority

With such wide-ranging responsibility for the management of the State's natural resources, the Department has to deal with huge quantities of documents, both hard copy and electronic, across multiple locations.

In 2003 it recognised there was a need to address the long standing issue of losing corporate records stored in electronic format, to ensure that it complied with the latest legal requirements. The Department therefore spent some weeks trying to identify an electronic system which would help it improve its recordkeeping practices.

The Department was primarily seeking a records management system rather than a document management system. It did however recognise the benefits that could be gained from such facilities if they were available, such as the ability to file emails, to collaborate more effectively over multiple locations, and to manage important correspondence such as Ministerials through formal workflow processes.

Document ONE a Good Fit

After researching alternatives on the web and using local knowledge of Australian products, the Department was delighted to find the Document ONE system from Reliance Software Ltd that provided not only records management but also document management functionality – and fitted with their Notes-based email system.

As General Manager Corporate Services, Robert Cockerell explains, “Document ONE met our criteria on affordability and integration with our Notes-based email system. Its base level entry price enabled the Department to embark on a trial to determine its suitability without committing significant funds."

Implementation and Configuration Relatively Painless

The Department was pleased to find that its own staff were able to install and configure Document ONE in a short time frame, without any on-site assistance from Reliance, simply by following the documentation provided with the product.

User training was also relatively painless. As all of the Department’s staff were already Notes users, staff found the Document ONE user interface familiar and easy to understand, and so needed training only on the use of Document ONE itself, and not the underlying technology.

For any issues which required assistance from Reliance, a response was usually delivered in a very short time frame. Says Alan Wood, Project Manager for the pilot implementation, “In relation to the friendliness of the staff and their willingness and quickness to respond - 10/10 - couldn't ask for better. It, to me, has become a personal relationship rather than the normal helpdesk type relationship that is greatly evident these days”.

Change Management Critical

The Department saw the change management aspect of the implementation as the most critical, once the software and technical issues had been proven not to be a stumbling block. Because Document ONE was based on the Department’s existing technology platform, i.e. Lotus Notes, the change required from staff was more to do with their filing habits and work practices rather than the introduction of a new computer system.

New System Welcomed by Staff

The initial trial proved successful and in February 2005 it was decided to fully implement Document ONE throughout the Department. At that stage there were already 10,000 documents in the system, and within 6 months this figure had increased to 30,000 and continues to grow rapidly.

As the system has been rolled out the Department has been pleased with additional functionality which Reliance has delivered in subsequent versions, such as the ability to import multiple documents at a time.

“We have many external systems, such as our HR system, which often produce large numbers of documents, for example as the result of a mail merge", says Wood. "In the past our records people had to manually file each of these documents in the right file, which was a big job. Now we can simply import all of the documents in one step into Document ONE and have them automatically put into the right folder – this has been a big winner with our staff!”

Says Michele Moseley, Deputy Secretary, “What we didn't expect from the implementation was the positive and enthusiastic response from many of our staff as a result of providing them with a tool that makes their day-to-day operations more efficient and effective. In fact some staff have asked why we haven’t provided them with such a tool earlier!”

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