Ripped Orange and Silent One

The Challenge

The introduction of an EDMS system for this client was motivated from two perspectives; firstly, by the desire to address the difficulty which staff face in relation to document storage and retrieval, and secondly from observing how the introduction of document management systems has improved similar businesses.

Silent One was already implemented on the client site prior to Ripped Orange becoming involved in the project.  Our client wanted to:

• apply focus on their staff’s usage of the EDMS tool,
• achieve a return on their investment,
• ensure their “people” were using the product as intended.

Ripped Orange was engaged initially to deliver only “user training” on the EDMS as part of the implementation project.  However, the client felt it would be a cost effective solution to have a locally based company not only deliver training, but to administer the software and manage the project.  This became the Ripped Orange assignment.

As Ripped Orange and the client worked with Silent One at the micro level it became apparent that the initial structure suggested to the client had to be reworked if it was to meet the goals of the project and of the strategic plan.

Ripped Orange was directly involved in every aspect of the EDMS implementation from this point onwards.

When looking at the unmanaged accumulation of a large volume of information the following statistics were determined:

• 88% of all e-mails were stored in personal folders
• 39% of documents were stored in personal directories

• establishing a single document storage and retrieval system,
• establishing a knowledge culture within the business,
• facilitating legislative storage requirements,
• reducing hardcopy storage,
• improving service to customers (end users and external customers),
• improving document management generally,
• breaking down of information silos.

To achieve these objectives Ripped Orange needed to engage directly with each department.  Ripped Orange developed and delivered workshops to identify existing and historic documentation.  A structure was then created within the EDMS to incorporate features such as using extensive security levels, drop down lists for metadata tagging, and saved searches that assist with swift data retrieval.  Ripped Orange worked with a pilot team from each department who tested the structure and signed off acceptance.

Ripped Orange designed and delivered the user training and developed additional workshops to address historic documentation and to streamline the system further.

Although a knowledge management culture will take many years to fully establish, the introduction of the EDMS has provided immediate benefits and is supporting the client's longer term objectives.

The project still has a way to go and is not closed out. The benefits the client is currently experiencing include:

• a company-wide fast filing and retrieval system,
• increased sharing of information,
• advanced full text searching to find relevant information faster,
• document tracking, version control and expiry dates,
• an end to duplication of documents,
• automatic security settings to documents,

SilentOne acceptance is increasing and more and more employees are using the system as it has been designed.  The project is still live and so the benefits are still being experienced. It is expected that this client will see a dramatic improvement on the above statistics.