Palmerston North City Council has gone live with Open Text's eDOCS software for document and records management for around 450 staff.
The main driver for for the project were the need for stricter document version control and a desire for more consistent use of terminology, to enable the searching of electronic records. It is also expected to boost collaboration across the council, according to Liz Stockley, formerly the council's information manager.
A pilot saw Open Text trialled by the council's Development Services, Environmental Health and IT departments between 2003 and 2009 and management approved an organisation-wide roll-out in early 2009.
The deployment also involved integrating eDOCS with the council's geographic information system and core financial and regulatory systems.
A rolling program of scanning is now being conducted for all other property records while workflow processes have also been introduced to help manage frequently used services.