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| Customer Overview |
The USDA Office of the Executive Secretariat (OES) is responsible for responding to all correspondence addressed to the Secretary of the USDA. |
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| Needs |
OES needed an enterprise-wide correspondence management system. The system needed to store and manage all related documents and provide ad hoc workflow to manage the process. USDA required the system to be web-based and capable of supporting over 30,000 users in multiple geographic locations. |
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| Solution |
QFlow implemented a customized correspondence management application. Incoming letters are scanned into new folders. Each folder stores metadata about the incoming letter along with all documents used in developing its response letter. The folder is routed through an assigned workflow. The workflow is a list of tasks, assignees, and due dates for creating the response letter. Each assignee performs their task and then the folder is routed to the next assignee. Users can perform ad-hoc searches for documents and folders and view the current status of workflows. The application was moved into production in October 2005. The system currently stores over 700,000 documents.
Click here to see a screen example. |
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| Benefits |
Incoming letters are stored electronically and do not need to be manually processed in paper format. Any employee within any USDA agency and location can be included in workflows. Managers can see the current status of the response process. Users have easy access to existing documents and folders to support research requests. Turnaround times for responses to incoming letters have improved and misplaced correspondence has been eliminated. System security ensures that only authorized users can view documents and folders. |
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| Services Provided |
QFlow consultants designed, developed and implemented the correspondence management application. QFlow converted approximately 600,000 existing electronic folders in departmental systems to the new system. QFlow developed and implemented new modules to meet other USDA requirements within the same system framework. QFlow has continued to provide application enhancements, upgrades, system maintenance and technical support services. |
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