Case Study: Tillamook Bay Community College

Ricoh modernized TBCC's technology infrastructure to better manage their flow of information.

About Tillamook Bay Community College

Tillamook Bay Community College (TBCC) is nestled in a very rural, coastal and remote area of Oregon. It is the smallest community college in the state, with fewer than 500 students, six contracted faculty and approximately 40 adjunct professors. Newly accredited in 2013, they now offer associates degrees, technical training and certifications in career and technical education programs from agriculture to criminal justice to the arts.

"Our president had become the college's archivist because the last three presidents threw nothing away. We had bazillions of documents in our building."
Ray Hoyt
Title III Project Director
Tillamook Bay Community College

Challenge

Tillamook Bay Community College (TBCC) had reached a breaking point. More than four decades of paper documents cluttered office space, filing cabinets and storage areas. It was time to digitize most of their paper records. Simultaneously, they needed a simple, intuitive and cost-effective way to streamline curriculum development and transform their electronic documents management (EDM). However, curriculum development software alone ranged from $40,000 to $100,000 — plus annual fees. As the smallest community college in Oregon, where every penny counts, they needed innovative ideas to economically transform their legacy information and automate their business processes.

Solution

During her first meeting with the college, the new Ricoh representative for Oregon learned the college had existing DocuWare electronic document management (EDM) software that wasn't being leveraged beyond the Student Services department. She emerged with an idea to expand the DocuWare platform to meet all of the college's needs. She just had to prove it could be done.

TBCC wanted a long-term solution, not just a quick fix. We assembled a team to demonstrate that one software platform could meet the vast majority of the college's needs — a far more cost-effective alternative to buying software piecemeal. We accomplished this by:

Mapping out the college's current processes and comparing them to the capabilities of DocuWare EDM
Holding Q & A sessions with the five college departments that needed process automation.
Demonstrating how DocuWare EDM could accomplish their goals.

In the end, we proved that DocuWare EDM was an ideal, affordable solution. It could handle 95 percent of their scanning, storing and retrieval of digitized documents. It could also satisfy about 80 percent of business process automation for multiple departments and the college foundation.

Having forged a trusting relationship throughout the process, TBCC switched their multifunction printer (MFP) fleet to Ricoh to have just one trusted vendor for EDM and printing hardware. We also on-boarded the DocuWare EDM expansion — ensuring the technology worked — and provided customized training to promote staff adoption.

Result

A group of teenage girls working on a laptop in the classroom

The digitization of legacy documents couldn't have been more impressive. In total, the college expected it to take three years, but everything was finished in just six months — far ahead of schedule. The college is now using the DocuWare technology for day-forward scanning of new paper documents. And Title III Grant funds from the U.S. Department of Education covered the DocuWare expansion cost because it met the criteria for business process improvement, increased efficiency and continuous process improvement.

Automating business processes has led to improvements both big and small. TBCC can now track down electronic documents in minutes, if not seconds. Their payroll department, for instance, has saved 65 weeks of college-wide manpower time annually by automating its business process. And 22 other similar projects are underway, demonstrating their commitment to continuous process improvement.

"Our entire campus is mobilized around the notion that students are our customers and we need to do things of value for them. Ricoh and DocuWare have helped us free up time to serve our students better," said Ray Hoyt, Title III project director at Tillamook Bay Community College.

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