The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) is the agency responsible for the financing and construction of all public and private not-for-profit institutions for the State of New York. Since its establishment in 1944 under Governor Thomas E. Dewey, DASNY is now one of the largest financiers and builders of social infrastructure facilities in the United States. The organization responsible for hundreds of large, concurrently running projects is also responsible for maintaining a huge amount of information.

The Challenge

Physical files stored in multiple locations yields major accessibility issues

eBizDocs, an Albany-based ECM solution provider, immediately identified the challenge. DASNY stored its project contracts, change orders, and manuals in hard copy and in separate locations. Needless to say, this made assembling and retrieving project specific documents difficult and time consuming – especially for DASNY’s legal department who frequently access documents for contract renewals, litigation, and Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests.

“An inordinate amount of time was spent just locating a contract, because each part of the contract was filed in different places. It was a laborious process, and if the document was archived…legal had to wait as long as two or three days to receive their request.”

 -Barry Jones

Building Manager

The Solution

Back-file conversion and document management software

Step one of eBizDocs’ solution was conversion. Using Kodak Alaris high-speed production scanners, eBizDocs converted DASNY’s contract documents as color PDF/A’s, the archival version of Adobe’s ubiquitous PDF file format. Scanning in color preserved the photos included in many of the files. eBizDocs also converted large format drawings and blueprints into high resolution, easily readable images. Nearly 1,000 boxes of paper records were digitized, many of which were processed on-site.

Next, the scanned images were loaded into PSIsafe document management software. PSIsafe is a centrally located digital filing cabinet with built in search tools, document level security, and workflow. As documents are filed into PSIsafe, they are tagged with searchable metadata – in DASNY’s case, metadata included: contract number, project number, change order number, vendor ID, and vendor name.

The Results

Reduced retrieval time, simplified process, rapid return on investment

Digitizing and centralizing DASNY’s records significantly reduced time spent retrieving documents. What was once a cumbersome process – request, gather, assemble, and deliver documents – became a simple task. DASNY staff can now access an entire record in a matter of seconds, including full color photos and large format drawings. Multiple users can now view the same documents simultaneously so there is no more waiting in line for documents or making photo copies.

“All that time spent looking for files was replaced by typing a number and clicking SEARCH. The best part is, the results include the entire record, form procurement documents to contract documents to order changes. It’s all there.”

 -Barry Jones

Building Manager

Contact eBizDocs to learn how Back-file conversion and document management software can benefit your organization.