A5
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: October 8, 1996
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: General Manager of Community Services and Director of Permits
& Licenses
SUBJECT: Document Imaging/Management System - Second Phase
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Council approve the financing of the second phase of the
Document Imaging/Management System with a loan of up to
$500,000 from the Capital Financing Fund (Solid Waste Capital
Reserve), to cover the one-time costs to convert paper
documents in the Data Resource Centre, on terms and conditions
as determined by the Director of Finance.
B. THAT Council approve funding for equipment and furniture at an
estimated one-time cost of $90,000, covered under "A" above.
C. THAT Council approve the establishment of a Transition Team
consisting of 4.0 F.T.E. of temporary full-time positions for
up to one year, subject to job evaluation by the Director of
Human Resource Services, to provide indexing service to
converted paper documents at the Data Resource Centre, at an
estimated one-time cost of $132,000, covered under "A" above.
D. THAT Council approve the establishment of a regular full-time
clerical position, subject to job evaluation by the Director
of Human Resource Services, to provide written and verbal
information pertaining to the legal occupancy of properties,
at an estimated cost of $40,000.
E. THAT Council approve the fee for service for providing
information related to legal occupancy of properties as the
repayment method for the $500,000 loan and to fund cost of the
additional regular full-time position, with the fee schedule
proposed as follows:
Residential Properties $20 per request
Commercial Properties $100 per request
F. THAT Council approve the issuance of tender document for the
design, supply and implementation of the paper document
conversion process in the Data Resource Centre.
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COUNCIL POLICY
On February 3, 1994, Council resolved:
"THAT, during the term of the 1994-1996 Budget Management Program,
any proposed increases in program and/or service levels be offset
by corresponding spending reductions elsewhere in the City's
operating budget or by increases in non-taxation revenues, subject
to Council discretion."
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to request Council approval to initiate
the second phase of the Document Imaging/Management System (DOMINO) to
convert the 400,000 paper documents in the Data Resource Centre to
imaging documents at a one-time cost of $500,000, and on-going support
cost of $40,000 for an additional regular full-time clerical position;
to secure a loan of $500,000 from the Capital Financing Fund (Solid
Waste Capital Reserve) to fund the project; to institute a fee for
service for providing legal occupancy of properties to the public and
private sectors; and to seek approval to issue a tender document for the
design, supply and implementation of the conversion process.
BACKGROUND
On March 28, 1996, Council approved a Corporate Document
Imaging/Management System at a capital cost of $2.82 million, and
awarded the contract to Andersen Consulting for the implementation of
the system. The system has been running live since the end of July,
well ahead of the project schedule, and with costs contained within the
budget.
As reported to Council, the original project plan proposed that once the
design and implementation stages of the system have been completed,
staff will commence the conversion of the paper documents in the Data
Resource Centre to imaging documents over the next two to three years.
Staff have reviewed the current situation and the needs, and believe
that the use of the three filing methods: microfiche (for documents
received before 1994 labour dispute); paper documents (400,000 documents
received during and after 1994 labour dispute); and imaged documents
(24,000 documents received since end of July, 1996) is very inefficient.
In order to capture the benefits of the system as quickly as possible
and to provide a more acceptable service level, staff propose to
accelerate the conversion process of the paper documents with the use of
additional resources.
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DISCUSSION
One of the duties of the staff in Community Services is to research the
property files located centrally in the Data Resource Centre (DRC), and
to provide information related to the legal occupancy of residential and
commercial buildings, currently at no charge. This service details the
number of legal dwelling units in a building, and types of uses
permitted in a commercial property. It is provided to realtors and
leasing agents to ensure that the property is accurately listed, and to
prospective tenants to ensure that the property is developed in
accordance with the by-law requirements.
Seven staff are involved on a part-time basis in the process. For
commercial properties, the service is only provided at the Development
Information & Application Counter (DIAC), while enquiry for residential
properties is also available by phone. It is estimated that 1,144
enquiries on commercial properties and 1,560 enquiries on residential
properties are processed annually.
Researching the file is a time consuming process. Although the
implementation of the Document Imaging/Management System (DOMINO) has
dramatically improved the process for current documents, historical
information is still being accessed from paper files and microfiche in
the Data Resource Centre. It requires the customers to wait at the
counter and be served on a 'first-come first-serve' basis. With the
staff having to leave the counter to research the files at the Data
Resource Centre, both microfiche and paper documents, it results in
further delay to the other customers.
The proposed solution will convert the current 400,000 paper documents
to imaged documents using temporary internal resources to prepare and
index the documents, and outside resources for the scanning process. The
main features of the proposal are :
1. Requests will be processed at a centralized location with dedicated
staff. This will free up staff involved in the current process to
deal with other business and enable staff the do the research at
their desks without having to go to the Data Resource Centre;
2. Records will be consolidated from three media (microfiche, paper
and DOMINO) into two media (microfiche and DOMINO). This will
eliminate the possibility of lost or misfiled documents. With the
declining use of microfiche files, the high cost and uncertain
quality of the conversion from microfiche to imaged documents, it
was decided that it is not advisable to convert the microfiche to
imaged documents.
3. It will free up considerable floor space on the second floor.
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Conversion Process
Several options have been reviewed by staff with the assistance from
Andersen Consulting. They include:
- a complete outsourcing of the conversion process;
- a complete 'in-house' conversion process;
- conversion on an 'on demand' basis;
- a combined 'in-house/outsourcing' process.
These options were evaluated and rated based on the accuracy, timeliness
and cost of each of the processes. It was determined that the combined
in-house/outsource option is the best for the City. This option
utilises the expertise and resource of an outside vendor to perform the
scanning and the basic indexing, which will be completed in three
months. The detailed indexing will be performed by the temporary staff
and is estimated that it will be completed within one year.
Financial Implication
The conversion project will cover the 400,000 paper documents currently
in the Data Resource Centre, and the project cost is estimated to be
$500,000 :
A. Outside contract costs for scanning $270,000
and basic indexing include set up of
high speed scanners on site in City Hall,
conversion of 400,000 paper documents to
imaging format, and basic indexing.
B. Furniture, equipment and license cost. 90,000
Data wiring, furniture and equipment
for the 4 temporary staff and 1 regular
staff.
C. Project Management 8,000
D. 4.0 FTE of temporary full time staff $132,000
(for 1 year)
$500,000
As well, an additional regular full-time clerical position is required
to process the estimated 2,700 requests for information related to the
legal occupancy of buildings each year. These requests are currently
handled on a part-time basis by five staff in the Development
Information and Application Counter in Planning
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and two staff in the Correspondence Branch in Permits & Licenses. The
addition of this position will relieve the seven staff from the process
and enable them to concentrate on other duties. The impact of the
changes will be included as part the Development and Building Review
process currently underway in Community Services Business Group and
report back to Council at a later date.
It is proposed that the project cost of $500,000 be financed with a loan
of $500,000 from the Capital Financing Fund (Solid Waste Capital
Reserve), to be repaid over a six year period. The other terms and
conditions of the loan will be determined by the Director of Finance.
To repay the loan, as well as the cost of the additional clerical
position, it is proposed that a new fee be instituted on requests for
information on the legal occupancy of property. For requests on
residential properties, the fee is $20 per request, and $100 for
commercial properties. It is anticipated that with dedicated staff
assigned to the process and having current documents retrievable through
the Document Imaging/Management System, the turnaround time can be
significantly reduced. A cash flow analysis of the project is attached
as Appendix 'A'.
Conclusion
The conversion of the 400,000 paper documents currently in the Data
Resource Centre will greatly improve the efficiency in responding to
requests for legal occupancy of residential and commercial properties
and significantly reduce the turnaround time. In order to pay for the
cost of this improved service, a capital investment of $500,000 is
needed, and users are required to pay a fee for the service in order to
pay off the loan.
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