VAR Succeeds With A Web-Based Printing And Archiving System For School Districts.

School districts need help managing the mountains of paperwork they generate. They are also looking for ways to reduce the cost of providing curriculum materials to their students. SRC Solutions, Inc., an imaging VAR, has established a niche by providing school districts a Web-based system for storing documents and printing class materials. "We have developed a solution that we know works well for schools, and we're replicating that across many school districts," says Patrick Maher, a solutions principal for SRC Solutions.

The document management system SRC installs combines document imaging, a Web-based document repository, and a printing service. DocuShare, a Web-based document repository from Xerox Corp., is a key component of the solution SRC has implemented at school districts across Pennsylvania. The VAR also markets its document management system to businesses and government agencies. However, SRC decided to specialize in the education market because it has discovered that a high percentage of school districts need to improve access to documents and reduce their paper files.

SRC receives many of its installation leads from Xerox sales representatives, particularly installations under $500,000 that Xerox Global Services hands off to channel partners. A Xerox representative told SRC about the York, PA school district's need for a document management solution that would allow it to reduce paper files and provide a printing solution to cut curriculum expenses.

Develop A Custom Printing Solution For The Education Market
The VAR, which had previously installed Xerox printers at the school district, implemented an imaging system in which student, employee, and administrative documents are scanned by a Fujitsu high-speed document scanner and then stored in DocuShare. The printing module the VAR implemented allows the school district to generate customized printing jobs via a Web browser. To provide this Web-based printing system to school districts, SRC developed the TranseGO NowPrinter middleware program that integrates NowPrint, an online shopping-cart system for ordering print jobs, with the DocuShare repository of school documents. Print jobs can be automatically routed to a print center operated by two Xerox employees. Documents are printed on DocuTech 6180, DocuTech 6135, and Xerox DocuColor 3535 printers.

In marketing its Web-based printing solution to school districts, SRC emphasizes the ability to reduce the cost of providing workbooks and other course materials for students. With this system, the York school district is able to provide customized workbooks for students by paying for the copyright of the original source material and then ordering a print job. Documents are stored in DocuShare, and a teacher places an order that is automatically routed to the district's print center.

"They can produce workbooks themselves at one-fifth the cost of buying the actual workbooks," says Maher. Teachers are notified via e-mail about the status of their work orders.

Win School Installations By Providing Web-Based Document Access
To improve the York school district's access to various documents, SRC installed a Fujitsu 4097 document scanner. After a Xerox employee scans the documents, the electronic images are stored in DocuShare. "We populated DocuShare with old student records, payroll records, and HR (human resources) records," says Maher. "The majority of the school district's documents are now available to authorized employees through a Web-based search." The DocuShare program provides a workflow engine that routes documents requiring action to specific employees.

SRC also markets its document management system to school districts by showing them the benefits of providing the public Web-based access to information such as school board meeting agendas and meeting minutes. At the York school district, this system reduces the number of calls employees in the administrative office receive from the public about meetings. "They can also publish the minutes to school board meetings on the Web," says Maher.

In the future, the VAR plans to meet with York school district officials to show how a scanning system can be implemented to process student applications for the National School Lunch Program. By scanning the applications, SRC could help the district reduce the number of applications the federal government denies due to incomplete or illegible information. SRC has discovered that some school districts are losing up to $280,000 per year in federal funding due to this problem. By creating electronic documents, the school district would be able to prefill certain fields and then distribute the forms to students prior to scanning the forms into the DocuShare program.