Creative Commons photo via Flickr user alex_ford.
For the past year, the Comptroller’s Office has been using ImageNow, a software tool to scan and retrieve vouchers in the Business Office as well as Release of Information forms in Student Accounts.
ImageNow enables employees across campus to pull up scanned documents on their desktop computer rather than searching files for the hard copy. When fully implemented, this will greatly increase the efficient and secure access to documents and eliminate phone calls and trips to Uptown Crossing. By linking the vouchers directly with Datatel, users will be given access to much more information than they have today.
File cabinets, and the valuable floor space they occupy, are also eliminated as more and more documents are stored electronically. At this time, more than 10,000 vouchers and the supporting invoices have been scanned into ImageNow. This has freed up at least six filing cabinets worth of records. The hard copies of these vouchers will either be destroyed or stored off site in much less valuable office space.
The ImageNow system also has security features which ensure only authorized users have access to the documents. Due to the sensitive nature of Finance and Accounting documents, this is critical to the success of the project.
In the next few years, the Comptroller’s Office goal is to expand this type of scanning to Collections, Purchasing, Payroll, and Grants Accounting processes. By making this conversion, all campus users will be able to operate much more independently and have access to the data they need when they need it.
