Cities Digital, Inc.

As I indicated during last week’s post, Laserfiche just released their official iPad application. For those familiar, you are probably aware that LF also has an iPhone app that has been out for a while, which also seemed to work with the iPad. Having had the chance to see a preview of the iPad application at this year’s Empower Conference, I was intrigued; and now, having had the chance to actually test out the application, I’m happy to give it a big thumbs up.

The very first thing that you should know is that there are some pre-requisites that you need to have in place to use the application. You must have Laserfiche Web Access, and you must have the Laserfiche Mobile Add-on installed and enabled. For full pre-requisites and further instructions about how to get everything setup, consult support.laserfiche.com for detailed instructions. If you’re just looking at getting a sneak peak of the application though, the app does come with a demo mode. To utilize the demo mode:

1. Open the App store on your iPad
2. Search for Laserfiche
3. Download “Laserfiche Mobile” for iPad Apps
4. Once it is installed, launch the application
5. At the start screen, toggle the Demo Mode option to “On”
6. Start exploring the application and its features!

In using the application, I really like that there is a side bar on the left hand side that encompasses most of the navigation you’ll need. The side bar is also in a minimized mode by default, so it doesn’t take up much space on the screen itself, but you can get pop it out to utilize its features. The search features are similar to those provided by the “Quick Search” in the Laserfiche Client. While they don’t’ represent every search that you would traditionally have available in using Laserfiche, they are probably what you would want from a mobile application.

Another feature that is really cool is the new “Library” capability. In being an iPad user myself, when it comes to consumption of information, I like anything that lets me customize what I want to see and brings me streams of information (thanks Flipboard). I suppose the essence of the Library feature is similar to that, in its ability to allow the user to create a virtual library of docs that they can quickly reference; an organization of information that might not exist within the folder structure, or represented within the documents metadata.

Navigating back and forth between different folders and documents is about as easy as it gets with a simple button touch to go back one level, or selecting the folder or document that you’d like to open (in going forward). Additionally, uploading documents is much easier than I expected it to be, and the capability to take multiple pictures with your device, and just have it keep adding those pictures as the next page of your document could be really handy.

All in all, I pretty much only have really good things to say about the application, and the fact that the demo mode is populated with documents that explain how to use the app and its different features, makes it very easy to get up to speed quickly. A great product that many Laserfiche users will come to see as an invaluable way to quickly and easily access their information on the go, and away from the office.

So it’s official, the Laserfiche iPad App is out on the market for your immediate download. Since the Empower Conference this past January, Laserfiche has been methodically previewing the application and it’s features through demonstrations and articles, and in this latest news release they highlight the following key features and benefits:

*Provides secure, anywhere access to documents, metadata and audio-visual files stored in the Laserfiche repository.
*Enables users to create and upload new electronic documents.
*Tracks and audits all mobile activity occurring in Laserfiche.
*Prevents bottlenecks in business processes by giving mobile employees the ability to participate in workflows.
*Enables people to configure custom views of the Laserfiche repository on their iPads.

To see the full news story from Laserfiche, please click here, and make sure to check back in next week to the blog as Cities Digital will have a full review of the application posted.

With every training and consulting session that I conduct, I am reminded that no matter what my experience tells me, you can never be sure what specific functionality or tool will trigger that spark in a client’s eye and present a real solution to an everyday pain. For some clients, Laserfiche Workflow will present a foundation to achieve all the automated business processing that they’ve been waiting for. Other clients will be blown away by the robust searching capabilities that they can use to quickly and easily get to the information they need; and for some, a tool as simple as Snapshot can create instant buy-in to the solution.

So I was recently conducting an in depth Laserfiche training session, which was approaching the two hour mark. While I’m happy to report that there were no nodding heads, note passing, or side conversations within my classroom, the mood was generally tranquil. End users were paying attention, asking some questions, and taking diligent notes, but we just hadn’t come across any features that were blowing their minds and really getting them excited about the product. Eventually we got to the point of talking about input methods.

As I began to explain the virtual print capabilities of Snapshot, a discussion broke out on how easy it would be to digitally sign documents created on electronic letterhead, and print those directly into Laserfiche. Apparently there was some real discontent with the group’s printer and they spend a fortune on their letterhead; Snapshot was their savior. From there on out, the group was much more engaged and really excited over the solutions Laserfiche could provide for them.

It’s an obvious point, but you never can be completely sure what specific tool or feature will create buy-in amongst a group. In a classroom setting, the more you can get your trainees engaged and talking about different parts of the solution, the more likely you are to find those everyday pain points that Laserfiche can help to solve. Some users just won’t be all that excited by an overarching vision of a solution, they want to know how it will help them avoid the old printer that never works. Thank you Snapshot.

In anticipation of its release, Laserfiche has begun to preview the features of its upcoming iPad application. In the latest preview, Laserfiche introduced the concept of “Libraries” and multi-selection of entries for the purpose of working with documents in a batch capacity. Of course, Laserfiche was quick to note that this is only a “preview”, so all features are subject to change. With that said, let’s review some of the previously mentioned enhancements.

So selecting multiple entries is pretty much what it sounds like, it’s just that the previous iteration of the mobile application did now allow for this functionality. Sure, when you’re working within the Laserfiche Client, selecting multiple entries is as easy as left-clicking and dragging your mouse of a selection. Within the previous mobile app, that’s not quite as easy. The latest release will provide you with the ability to check a checkbox (next to the entry) to select the entries that you would like to operate with in more of a batch capacity. Essentially it alleviates the need to perform one action at a time to a document or entry within the system.

Another feature that you might find very useful is the new Library functionality. The concept of the Library is that you may want to work with a selection of documents that aren’t necessarily all in one location within the repository. Perhaps from an organizational perspective, the documents are seemingly unrelated, but for your purposes their reference with one another is necessary. So the Library provides the ability to create some categorization of documents (the Library), and then associate said documents with that Library.

If you’d like to see Laserfiche’s news release for this exciting new functionality, as well as screenshots and step-by-step instructions for using them, click here.

Cities Digital recently had another article published to Laserfiche’s brand new and exciting Solution Exchange! In case you are not familiar, the exchange is a library of Laserfiche success stories, configurations and real world examples of Laserfiche optimizations. In this particular article, Cities Digital outlined how Financial Services Firms can utilize and configure Workflow to file client documents more efficiently and more accurately.

Even if you currently use Workflow to file your client files, you’ll want to check out this comprehensive solution, because it uses unique features and strategies with Laserfiche Workflow 8.3, which can really make a huge difference in the accuracy of your repository.

http://www.laserfiche.com/SolutionExchange/Article/10182

At the onset of an implementation, organizations often times struggle with the decision of Laserfiche completely replacing their shared network drives, or if it should be used for archival purposes only. Obviously replacing the shared network drive with a safe, secure and sophisticated product like Laserfiche certainly makes sense, but people always end up asking about “working documents”. So how can you easily and effectively address working documents and how do you manage the many versions that users may create?

You may be aware that Laserfiche actually provides version tracking as a capability for documents and files. If you right-click and select “Metadata” on a document, you’ll see that there is a tab titled “Versions”; from here you can indicate that you would like to start version tracking. While this step certainly is easy enough, it’s still manual and requires user intervention. Perhaps providing the end user with the capability to pick and choose what to version track is exactly what you want; but what should you do if it isn’t?

Laserfiche provides the ability to set version tracking at the folder level, which means all documents and files that are created within the folder, will automatically have version tracking enabled on them. The setup for this is actually really easy.

1. Right-click on the folder where you would like to have version tracking enabled, and select properties.
2. The Folder Properties window should now be open and you’ll navigate to the “Folder” tab.
3. Select the option titled “Automatically place new documents under version control”.

Now all documents and files that enter the folder will automatically have version control enabled upon them!

If you’re an existing Laserfiche user and your organization still maintains a “United” system, you’ll want to sign up for Cities Digital’s upcoming webinar “Don’t fiche United, fly with Avante and Rio”. During the webinar, Mike Richardson (of Cities Digital) will talk about the ways in which the Avante and Rio solutions could present major upgrades for your organization. He’ll spend time talking about the standard suite of products that are included in the Avante and Rio solutions, and how functionality like Workflow is truly enhancing the way people leverage their system.

If you’d like to learn a little bit more about the Avante and RIO solutions prior to the webinar please use the link below.

http://www.laserfiche.com/en-us/Products

If you’re not signed up for the webinar, please contact your representative at Cities Digital to attend.

A few weeks ago I mentioned Laserfiche’s brand new Solution Exchange, which is a library of Laserfiche success stories, configurations and real world examples of Laserfiche optimizations. Since contributions to the exchange come from both Laserfiche end users and Value Added Resellers (like Cities Digital), we felt compelled to contribute the following solution.

If you’re in the Financial Services industry and have ever wondered how you can configure your repository to easily accommodate an auditor, you’ll want to check out this article and step-by-step instructions.

http://www.laserfiche.com/SolutionExchange/Article/9964

Over the course of the last several months, many of the posts on this blog have been dedicated to the exciting functionality that Laserfiche has offered with its most recent release. Great new features in the client, jaw-dropping functionality in workflow, and a web-based admin console are some of the main highlights from the version 8.3 releases. All in all, Laserfiche could have slapped a “9” on this release if they wanted to.

So is there a downside to the latest and greatest from Laserfiche? Yes… there’s so much new functionality that end user questions are rolling in at a rapid rate! Hence the lovely article from Laserfiche detailing the most commonly asked questions about the release. Take a moment to read the aforementioned article by clicking here, and learn more about digital signatures, versioning, PDF form activities, and more!

Also, Cities Digital has provided some great webinars in recent months detailing out some of the new 8.3 features and how they could be used to achieve specific solutions. If you didn’t get a chance to attend the webinars, as a Cities Digital client you can access them through support.citiesdigital.com.

Prior to the 8.3 release of Workflow, the starting rules for a process would have to be based around set conditions and actions defined in the Rule Manager. With the latest release, Laserfiche Workflow 8.3, you now have the ability to schedule workflows to run. Ultimately, this new scheduling functionality makes workflow even more flexible and adaptable to accommodate business processes.

To utilize the new scheduling functionality, you’ll build your workflows within the designer as you normally would. Of course the one caveat is that you are not building from a point of an event taking place, but rather a scheduled basis. Once you publish the workflow, the Workflow Rule Wizard will open and you’ll notice that there are now two rules types, which include “Condition” and “Schedule”.

When using the schedule option for your workflow rules, you’ll see that you have the ability to set a repeating schedule, which could be daily, weekly, or even monthly. Additionally you will be able to re-run the workflow every “x” number of minutes or hours if you choose. There is also the ability to stop the schedule on a specific date.

If you’re having a difficult time seeing how you could use this new feature, just think about any business process that always occur regardless of actions; end of month processing or perhaps even searches that you regularly conduct within Laserfiche. Scheduling a workflow that utilizes Laserfiche’s new “Search Repository” activity is a perfect example of how you could use this new functionality.