March 2003 — Applications
Print this article | Email this articleClick here to receive your FREE subscription to T.H.E. Journal
Leon County Implements System to Streamline Its Forms Management Process
The Right Technology Fit
The technology solution at Leon County serves a variety of different applications, including updating the submission and approval process for travel expense reports and mileage reimbursement forms. Currently, when a teacher or administrator travels throughout the school district — whether it's a school right down the street or one 20 miles away — he or she fills out an authorized mileage form using a travel chart to determine the mileage between two end points. That hard-copy form is then submitted to a supervisor. This process can take several days. It also requires numerous steps on the part of the person submitting and the person processing the form. In fact, this method can be such a hassle that district employees often will not even fill out the forms; instead, forfeiting their mileage reimbursement.
This new technology solution provides a much easier and more efficient process — as forms are pre-populated with the user's information, travel destinations are selected from pull-down menus and mileage is automatically calculated. Users can also put their forms aside and submit for reimbursement later, once a number of trips have accumulated. In addition, due to electronic submission, internal routing and the e-signature approval, in which the users' ID and password become their "signature," users can track where a form is in the process and find out when they will be reimbursed. This gives users a sense of empowerment since they now are aware of what is happening.
Overall, form processing and approval times are expected to dramatically decrease. By minimizing data-entry requirements and errors through pre-populated form fields, users no longer have to print, fill out, fax or mail back forms; it's all done electronically. And, just as the submission of mileage reimbursement has been streamlined, so too has the purchase-order request process, as users can track where their requests are in the approval process and keep things moving forward. In addition, the finance department can track where reimbursement-related forms are in the system, as well as make better budget projections based on the number and monetary value of expense reports currently being approved throughout the organization.
Finding the right technology fit can be a challenge. However, with a little help from Xerox Document Centres and Cardiff LiquidOffice, Leon County has started to successfully reduce processing costs and IT hassles, while eliminating errors and providing better overall service. In the future, the district plans on extending the benefits of eForm management by creating and rolling out more customized forms for the district. Leon County also plans to offer long-term plans for parents, eventually letting them electronically complete the student-registration paperwork process. This would significantly reduce the time it takes a parent to register a child for school. For Leon County Schools, the possibilities seem endless.
Visit Leon County Schools online at www.leon.k12.fl.us.
Bill Nimmons
Director of Computer Operations
Leon County School District
Contact Information
Xerox Corp.Stamford, CT
(800) ASK-XEROX; www.xerox.com
Cardiff Software Inc.
Vista, CA
(760) 936-4500; www.cardiff.com
Cite this Site
copy text (above) for proper citation
