by Gordon Flesch Company, on 02/03/2017
Improving Employee Collaboration & Efficiency
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Reserve (USDA ERS) is a government agency responsible for anticipating trends and emerging issues in agriculture, food, the environment and rural development. Reports, outlooks, charts and data series are then published on the ERS Web Site.
The USDA ERS requires employee collaboration for the compilation and approval of these publications. Prior to consulting with the Gordon Flesch Company (GFC), the USDA ERS relied on a combination of email, printed documents and manual interventions to compile and publish their data. Much of this was time-sensitive information, with a specific publication date, so employees at the USDA ERS were looking to make collaboration easier, for faster publication.
Working together, ERS staff and GFC business analysts designed workflow-based business processes to optimize handling while increasing throughput volumes, decreasing the possibility of human error, and centralizing collaboration. GFC implemented a custom solution that included Laserfiche®, an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solution, which automated over 90% of the previously manual processes. Hardcopy forms and printed documents have nearly been eliminated, as all data and documents are now available in a central, searchable repository. Publications approved in Laserfiche are then automatically indexed and published to the website.
Employees can now find information easier and collaborate electronically. Since the GFC custom solution has been implemented, employee efficiency has skyrocketed, and they have noticed a marked increase in efficiency and throughput.
The Challenge
To help a government agency improve efficiencies with the preparation, editing, approval, publication and web distribution of thousands of charts every year.The Solution
After evaluating the work environment, GFC provided the USDA with Laserfiche, an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solution.The Result
Over 90% of hard-copy forms and printed documents have been eliminated, and employee collaboration and efficiency have greatly increased.
“GFC has made the transition to their automated solution nearly seamless. They are always available if we have questions or concerns.“
— Mary Maher, Project Manager USDA
