A Washington public utility district has eliminated the space and cost required for archiving paper reports and greatly reduced the risk of data loss by installing the MetaViewer document management system. "We now can produce multiple copies of our data on CD-ROMs and store them in secure locations, virtually eliminating the possibility of losing data," says Gary Seroshek, Systems Administrator for the Cowlitz County PUD. "Another major advantage is that we can provide better service to our customers and management by providing almost instantaneous access to needed information."
Cowlitz County PUD is a not-for-profit, customer-owned utility that provides electricity and limited water service throughout Cowlitz County which is located along the Columbia River in southeast Washington. Cowlitz PUD maintains its financial records on an AS/400 system. Managers, accountants and customer service representatives need to access these records on a regular basis. Providing a permanent and secure archive of these records is another critical requirement which is governed not only by sound business practices but also the state mandate that PUDs maintain different types of financial records for specified time periods.
"After considering all of the options," Seroshek said, "we selected the Metafile solution. One key reason was the fact that this software package works very smoothly with the AS/400. Metafile also offers a powerful imaging system that works within the same architecture and user interface as their archive product, providing us with a clear growth path to the future. Beyond that, the software is the only one of those we considered that provides full-text search capability."
Seroshek said that the organization has substantially improved the security of critical records while saving time and money. He concluded that the support for the software has been excellent as well. "When we call with a large or small problem, they provide the answer nearly immediately. All in all, we dramatically improved the security of our critical reports while saving time throughout our organization."
