City of Torrance, Calif., Wins Document Imaging Best Practices Award

The Torrance, Calif., City Attorney's office was presented with an eCopy document imaging best practices award. The award recognizes office excellence in managing high volumes of city records by converting paper-based information into secure digital documents so they can keep up with the pace of electronic processes.

Before adding an electronic document management system, the city believed it was an easy mark by plaintiff attorneys since the city was often incapable of using in-house attorneys to defend itself against even patently frivolous lawsuits due to document handling inefficiencies. To resolve this issue, the City Attorney's Office decided to go digital. It combined eCopy document scanning software with the city's Interwoven document management and RainMaker Summit case management systems.

Now, by utilizing document scanning at a multifunction peripheral (MFP) or document scanner, paper records are electronically captured, annotated as necessary, converted to text searchable Adobe PDF format, and electronically filed in Interwoven, e-mailed or faxed using Captaris RightFax fax server software.

"eCopy has become such an integral part of our daily operations that we can barely remember working without it," said Linda Santos, law office manager, city of Torrance. "The transformation of our office could not have come at a better time. Los Angeles County courts initiated Fast Track shortly after the city's eCopy implementation with a goal of moving 90 percent of cases to trial within one year, where historically cases had a five-year window. eCopy was an important contributor in the city's ability to meet these aggressive timelines."

Previously, the City Attorney's Office faced inefficiencies so severe that little legal work was getting completed in house, and the city was spending significant money to outsource 75 percent of its legal work. The primary issue was with no cohesive information management strategy and a completely paper-based workflow. Documents were difficult to locate and often only the attorney involved in a particular matter could find them.

The benefits of electronic document management to the City Attorney's Office include:

• Nearly 300 cubic feet of file cabinets eliminated, easing City Hall space constraints.

• Now, 95 percent legal work performed in house, saving outsourcing costs.

• Administrative staff savings estimated to be $240,000 annually.