FileHold Implementation in a Small Local Government
About the Central Coast Regional District
The Central Coast Regional District (CCRD) is nestled in the heart of British Columbia’s mid coast and is home to some of North America’s most spectacular scenery and natural beauty. The area encompasses some 25,000 square kilometers and includes five electoral areas in the unincorporated communities of Bella Bella, Bella Coola, Denny Island, Ocean Falls and Oweekeno.
Incorporated in 1968, the CCRD is the local government serving a population of less than 4,000 residents. The Regional District provides local and regional protective, recreational, environmental and transportation services to area rate payers.
The Need to Organize Electronic Information
The electronic document filing system at the CCRD was a home network set up. Staff had accumulated files on their individual computers that were not accessible to other staff members. There was also a shared folder that everyone used. This fractured filing system was difficult to back up, a challenge to find anything, and impossible to organize. In order to bring everything together into one library, they needed a records management software program that would follow LGMA Records Management guidelines. The Administrative Assistant of the CCRD was tasked with getting their electronic files in order, both past and present.
The needs of the CCRD are unique as they are located in a rural area and there are no local IT service providers. They would require remote IT for install, training, and support for any software that was chosen. The records management software they chose would also need to follow the LGMA Records Management Manual for Local Government Organizations. And, of course, budget was a large part of the decision process.
After extensive research, it was decided to go with a partner of FileHold, MicroCom, as they could provide both the IT support and software.
The Implementation Process
FileHold software assisted the CCRD in their efforts to go paperless and allow them to retain their very formal filing hierarchy with retention and disposition policies. The fact that CCRD is located in a remote area made them a perfect match for FileHold’s proven ability to deploy, train, test and support a customer without the need to travel and be on site, keeping the cost of the solution affordable.
The installation process consisted of the CCRD IT Consultant preparing a server to FileHold specifications. They chose to configure a Hyper-V Stand Alone virtual server running Windows Server 2012R2 and the free version of SQL 2014 Express. Once the server was prepared FileHold provided a pre-install server checking utility that confirmed the server was prepared correctly. Once a server has been validated by this tool the download of the FileHold software to that server can begin, FileHold guarantees this install process will take no more than 2 hours. Once the installation was complete, including a check to make sure a backup systems was in place, FileHold ran a tool called HealthChecker which performs several hundred checks that all components are installed and working correctly. The HealthChecker is used on an ongoing bases to validate the health of the FileHold software and allows technicians to pinpoint errors if they occur. Once the installation passed all tests, a series of on line training sessions were conducted by the FileHold trainer for key CCRD employees starting with Administrative training and moving through all aspects of the software.
FileHold in Use Today
Today the system is being used to manage electronic documents and records using LGMA recommended classification and retention schedules.
The Administrative Assistant and the prime user of the FileHold software, said, "The installation of the software went exactly as FileHold and MicroCom said it would. Once our server was ready, it was just a matter of installing the software and start the training. FileHold support and training has been able to assist me with any issues that I have come across. We are moving slowly into a paperless world and the FileHold software will help us get there."