FileNet ECM Solution Drives Automated Traffic Court at Miami-Dade County Clerk of Courts
COSTA MESA, Calif.--Jan. 21, 2003--ECM Solution Delivers $1 Million Cost Reduction and Improves Revenue
Collection
FileNet Corporation , the market share leader of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions, today announced that the Miami-Dade County Clerk of Courts, Miami, Fla., has implemented a FileNet Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solution that is automating its entire traffic court system. Since its implementation, the Clerk's Office has been able to effectively manage a 30 percent increase in cases with 15 percent fewer staff, resulting in a $1 million savings in personnel costs. In addition, traffic fine collection has improved by 60 percent and the Clerk's Office has reclaimed 3,500 square feet of storage space.
Harvey Ruvin, Clerk of Miami-Dade County Clerk of Courts, states, "The Simultaneous Paperless Image Retrieval Information Technology (SPIRIT) system powered by FileNet technology is much more than an 'electronic filing cabinet.' It provides the Clerk's Traffic Division staff with an efficient way to manage the workload that is starting to approach one million traffic cases each year, and it has allowed the Clerk's Office and the courts to make decisions more quickly, improving customer service and efficiency; reduce storage costs; and provide job enrichment by re-engineering core business processes."
FileNet's integrated suite of ECM products is the foundation of the SPIRIT system at the Miami-Dade County Clerk's Office. Using the SPIRIT system on networked PCs, the Clerk's Office staff, judges, and attorneys can immediately access all documentation related to a particular traffic court case. Workstations with access to SPIRIT are located in the Clerk's back-office department, the courtrooms, and the county's traffic public service counters. This enterprise-wide, automated system replaces antiquated manual procedures of paper-based routing and information retrieval that often delayed the flow of case-related data to the courts and slowed down the judicial process.
SPIRIT is the single point of capture for all incoming traffic case documents, which enter FileNet Image Services through FileNet Capture Professional and Fujitsu scanners. The system automatically routes the content to the appropriate work area within the courts. As soon as they are entered into the system, the documents are available for simultaneous viewing and processing in the SPIRIT system, enabling court personnel to make decisions more quickly.
Miami-Dade county judges also use the SPIRIT system to view, manage, and annotate documents related to traffic court cases. Instead of handwriting on the back of citations, judges record them electronically in SPIRIT, which automatically sends the changes to the mainframe database to ensure error-free data storage and retrieval. Judges can also access their court calendars and view all of the documents related to their upcoming cases for greater efficiency in the courtroom.
Enterprise-Wide Benefits
Since its implementation, the SPIRIT system, supported by FileNet products, has boosted efficiency, productivity, and morale throughout the Clerk's Office organization. "SPIRIT is so efficient that attorneys are complaining that cases are getting to court too fast now," said Tom James, CIO for the Clerk's Office. "The system has also had a very positive impact on the quality of the work environment. The back-office staff have moved to a new spacious area free of dusty filing cabinets and they have new 21-inch monitors on their desks to help them manage the wealth of information that flows through the traffic court. Our judges have embraced the paperless system, too, and say they'd never go back to the old way."
Other benefits of the FileNet-based SPIRIT system include improved ease of access to case documents. Instead of rummaging through dusty files, the Clerk's Office staff can simply call up the documents they need instantly on their networked PC workstations at their desks. Ready availability of documentation has reduced errors and improved time to trial, thus eliminating non-value manual tasks in the core business processes at the Clerk's Office.
Funding and support for the FileNet and SPIRIT project was a joint effort of the Clerk of Courts, the Chief Judge, and Miami-Dade County. Accenture, one of FileNet's ValueNet Partners, spearheaded the implementation, while FileNet Professional Services provided a critical document retention study to facilitate a secure and efficient solution to retain and manage the 15 million images stored in the FileNet system.
The flexibility of the FileNet system supporting SPIRIT makes it ready to grow with the future needs of the Clerk's Office. "We plan to expand our SPIRIT with FileNet Web Services in Phase II of our Internet project, which will enable people to view traffic citations and pay their fines online," James said. "That functionality allows us to increase our return-on-investment even further, as well as provide enhanced customer service for the citizens of Miami-Dade County." James added that the Clerk's Office is waiting for budget approval to expand the FileNet system to the State's Attorney's Office and the Public Defender's Office.
About FileNet
FileNet Corporation can help organizations make better decisions by managing the content and processes that drive their business. FileNet's Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions allow customers to build and sustain competitive advantage by managing content throughout their organizations, automating and streamlining their business processes, and providing the full-spectrum of connectivity needed to simplify their critical and everyday decision-making.
FileNet ECM solutions deliver a comprehensive set of capabilities that integrate with existing information systems to provide cost-effective solutions that solve real-world business problems.
Since the Company's founding in 1982, more than 3,800 organizations, including 80 of the Fortune 100, have taken advantage of FileNet solutions for help in managing their mission-critical content and processes.
Headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif., the Company markets its innovative ECM solutions in more than 90 countries through its own global sales, professional services and support organizations, as well as via its ValueNet(R) Partner network of resellers, system integrators and application developers.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "may," "will" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are FileNet's ability to develop, complete, introduce, market, distribute and gain market acceptance for its products and technologies in a timely manner; announcements of technological innovations, new products or product enhancements by FileNet or its competitors; general market conditions; and other factors detailed in the FileNet's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its recent filings on Forms 10-K and 10-Q.
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