ECM Universe

BACKGROUND

Can you describe your organization?

We are a federal agency with about 4,000 employees. We regulate the nuclear power plants around the United States. Our focus is on regulations. My department is a document and a document-pushing organization. ECM is really important to us, and we use IBM FileNet.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the IT project manager for much of the ECM solutions. Scott [Raimist, the principal at ECM Universe] reports to me. I manage his contract and work. Scott’s team focuses on FileNet as well as a lot of different utilities and managing our largest system.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What were your organization’s goals for the project with ECM Universe?

They’ve been with us for quite time. Before I was the project manager, they managed the original document management system that we implemented in 1999. They came in and implemented a document management solution for a fully paper process. The goal at that time was to go from an all-paper process to a digital process. This included scanning, profiling, and OCRing that work. ECM Universe definitely met those goals.

ECM Universe continues to meet our goals after we evolved. Our relationship has lasted 14 years and they grow with us. They will probably help us become mobile-ready next year if the budget allows.

SOLUTION

What does IBM FileNet offer your organization?

We’ve been using IBM FileNet for more than a decade. It’s now evolved where we’re implementing fully Web-based solutions. FileNet is great for reducing sign-on.

We also started using IBM Case Manager a few years ago. We have the ability to put a few layers. FileNet, it just an object store with millions of documents. It gives us the ability to give some life to the documents. A lot of the processes that we had were disconnected.

We also use IBM Content Analytics. IBM Content Analytics gives us the ability to pull metadata when we are profiling these documents. We’re able to go in and put facets on and scan a document. The biggest problem that people face is now there’s so much data here.

My team is happy with IBM Content Analytics for organization. More people are asking to use the ECM system in our organization, we expect ECM Universe to handle the expansion. They can do data analytics work as well.

Can you provide a sense of the initiative in dollar terms?

The projects that ECM Universe does for us are budgeted at more than $1 million.

When was the most recent project completed?

The most recent one that they have completed is a migration. ECM Universe built a synchronizer, connecting every document and its metadata between the two systems close to real time. Our employees can work on either system. This was a successful project that synchronized our systems. It ended about one month ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How has ECM Universe performed?

I’m very happy with them. ECM Universe has many resources. They’ve been great. They’re actually my most reliable vendor. Raimist is the lead architect and manages ECM Universe. He does a really good job setting his resources because we have some bright technical people. They are also motivated, which is something that I, unfortunately, don’t find with some other contracts. They have a strong desire to make their customers happy.

Is there anything that you think ECM Universe could improve upon or something you would do differently?

No. There is nothing I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Can you describe your organization?

We are a state institution. We have around 30,000 to 40,000 undergraduate students and about 15,000 full-time faculty and staff. The police department includes approximately 100 sworn officers and 40 civilian employees.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m a law enforcement analyst manager. I head the Crime and Intelligence Analysis Unit for the police department.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What were your organization’s goals for the project with ECM Universe?

We’re actually still in the process of implementing it, but they previously hosted the enterprise system on their site. The purpose of the system is to allow information mining to utilize open source research in a strategic threat assessment function. As a university, we have a very wide variety of information needs ranging from severe weather to dangerous drug and personal behavior to dangerous sentiments relating to various university functions.

The system involves situational awareness and some strategic analysis for operational needs. We have a lot of VIP visitors. We have large events where there are thousands of people going to be coming to the campus. This system is a homeland security threat assessment. One of the things that happened recently was our move to a new athletic conference. This system is another tool to make sure that we were aware of any potential threats and how that was going to impact the campus community.

SOLUTION

What was your process for selecting ECM Universe?

I’ve done several Web demos and open source research. A lot of companies have good information online. You can do webinars that are hosted. I’ve seen a few different products online. I’ve been to a couple of conferences with vendor tables where I asked questions. That is actually where I found ECM. They were at the CUPIC [College and University Police Investigation Conference].

I liked the ability to control the data that ECM Universe offers. If we needed it for some criminal process, we would have the information for subpoenas. As a small agency, a monthly service fee can be a little daunting. My team doesn’t necessarily know what is going to happen with the fiscal budget from year to year.

Can you assess the IBM ECM platform you are using?

IBM has a relationship with the university as well. That was always a plus.

We have the basic search version. We couldn’t afford the FBI version, which had a lot of nice analytical bells and whistles. I think what I like the best about the ECM product is ECM offers a variety of connections. It isn’t limited to just Facebook and Twitter connections. We can hook up any RSS feed. We could potentially monitor our own websites, our own blogs, our own comments on university-related Web pages. I know other agencies have kept data only for a week because they’re much more tactical. The ability to hold it for two or three months so that we could do strategic research is useful.

Did ECM Universe do anything besides hosting the system?

They have offered to do some training with us to help us get any customized searches that we might need, and they offer ongoing support.

Can you provide a sense of the size of the initiative in either dollar terms or personnel hours?

At this point, I can’t give you a dollar amount or work figure.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What statistics or metrics will you keep to track improvement?

If we want to expand it to any other function as I’m hoping, I’m going to need to be able to prove its usefulness to the people who hold the checkbook. I’m going to be keeping track how we use it, when we use it, and to see if we have any best practices or good examples of case studies where it was very useful. I want to prove that it can help other agencies who might need to get grant funding. For us, we couldn’t even apply for grants because there isn’t a proven case study. That’s what we’re hoping to provide to other agencies.

How has ECM Universe performed?

I’ve been very pleased. I’ve worked directly with Scott [Raimist, solution architect at ECM Universe]. He’s very flexible. He’s been very helpful, very patient. I think his experience working in the federal sector caused a shock when he looked at how slowly things happened, and the bureaucracy behind state and local government. He’s been very willing to adjust to our needs. He’s worked very well with our IT department. He’s been very helpful in that process.

What is really unique or special about ECM Universe compared to other companies?

I haven’t had a lot of direct contact with other companies. I’ve done some Web demos. It was easy to interact with Scott particularly, and his understanding of our limited budget and needs.

There were other companies who were in it for the big federal dollars, and weren’t even willing to come down to a level that was even close to our budget. It shut us out of even being a customer for most vendors. They didn’t seem to care. Most departments can’t get new software without a grant. I think that’s what stood out: Their willingness to work within our own capabilities.

Is there anything that you think ECM Universe could improve upon or maybe you would do differently?

No.