December 2009 Newsletter
2009 was a year of highs and lows for RJS Software. Like many companies, we experienced the same challenges presented by the sluggish economy. Even when the benefits and ROI of our solutions seemed apparent, many of our customers’ planned document management and office automation projects were cut or postponed until 2010.
Despite the challenges, RJS stayed true to its commitment to grow the business and continue to provide the time-saving products companies need, along with our trademark customer service. While other companies cut staff and salaries, RJS stood firm. In fact, RJS added to its staff including new Vice President of Sales & Marketing Michael Bergstrom.
We’ve expanded our efforts to develop strategic partners by naming Cathy Allen Director of Channel Development. Cathy brings years of experience in sales with RJS as well as a strong commitment to providing our channel partners with the tools, training and support they need to add real value to their sales offerings.
We want to thank all of you for inviting RJS into your business and allowing us to help you save time and money. We vow to continue improving our existing solutions and providing new and innovative solutions based on your feedback. Happy Holidays.
Andy Roeser, Sales & Marketing aroeser@rjssoftware.com
Invest 2009 Dollars for 2010 Success
According to the popular holiday song, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” 2009 is quickly drawing to a close and many of you are telling us you have budget dollars you need to use before year-end.
By pre-paying a portion of your 2010 expenses in 2009, you not only ensure that you've maximized your current year budget dollars, you also position your company for the additional return on investment you will receive from a document management or office automation project with RJS in 2010.
RJS offers document management, report management, electronic forms, web forms, enterprise workflow, CRM and other office productivity and automation solutions. We also offer training, custom programming and consulting services to help you optimize the usage of your RJS products. If network security is your need, the RJS team has the expertise to protect your network from outside intruders.
Enjoy the holiday season and contact the RJS sales team today to plan for your 2010 success.
Richard Schoen, President, CTO richard@rjssoftware.com
KSB Hospital Ensures Healthy Document and Image Management
WebDocs powers electronic records in a hospital environment.
BACKGROUND
Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital (KSB Hospital) opened its doors in Dixon, Illinois on New Year’s Day, 1897. In addition to its 80-bed acute care facility in Dixon, it operates health centers and clinics throughout Illinois. KSB recognized that healthcare is not just stethoscopes and surgeries, but also lots of costly and burdensome documents and images that were traditionally stored on paper.
CHALLENGE
In October 2003, KSB Hospital decided to move towards the future by implementing electronic management of medical records and images. KSB purchased a document management product that had been designed specifically for the healthcare industry, but that product did not meet the hospital’s needs.
The product stored document images using a proprietary format. The format was difficult to work with, and it required the images to be kept on expensive iSeries Integrated File System (IFS) storage devices. Within a year of implementing the original software, the hospital began searching for another document management solution that would be more cost-effective and would better meet its needs. KSB found the solution it was looking for in WebDocs.
SOLUTION
KSB Hospital chose WebDocs over the other solutions they considered for a variety of reasons. For one, it was the only product that could handle the varied document source formats and platforms the hospital required. A user-friendly interface added to WebDocs’ advantage. In addition, the hospital appreciated the flexibility that WebDocs offers when it comes to where document images are stored.
WebDocs manages a wide variety of documents for KSB. For example, transcription services create documents from doctors’ dictation; documents enter the system through an HL7 data stream (a framework for exchanging medical information); medical imaging and patient identification documents are scanned in; and wound documents created in the ER are input directly into WebDocs.
When documents enter WebDocs, an account number is obtained from a variety of sources, depending on the type of document. Once WebDocs has an account number, it can automatically populate a host of other key fields by accessing the hospital’s other databases to gather that information. These index fields make documents easy to find when needed. The hospital’s HR department also uses WebDocs to manage documents. Historical employee records were scanned into WebDocs and are now kept up-to-date on an ongoing basis.
RESULTS
Compared to the hospital’s previous document management software, WebDocs has significantly reduced costs. The biggest cost-reduction resulted from the ability to store documents on low-cost, Storage Area Network (SAN)-based disks instead of the IFS. WebDocs also helped to free up considerable space previously occupied by filing cabinets.
WebDocs has also helped to improve document privacy, which is a critical issue in the healthcare industry. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), any organization that handles healthcare documents is required to ensure the utmost privacy for those documents.
WebDocs helps KSB Hospital to fulfill these HIPAA requirements. In the days of paper-based documents, “medical records moved around the hospital,” explained Larry Stevens, senior systems analyst at KSB Hospital. “With WebDocs there is no general user accessibility to documents. Only authorized users can see them.”
KSB also thinks that WebDocs puts the hospital in a good position to deal with future demands. Electronic medical records are a hot topic in the medical community and in government. As a result, they may be mandatory in the future.
“As healthcare changes and progresses, so do our needs,” said Stevens. “KSB foresees regional, if not national, health information cooperatives that will allow hospitals to share information on patients to improve the quality of care provided. The flexibility RJS has given us with WebDocs allows us to realize these goals.”
To Patch or Not to Patch
In today’s world you can’t have a Microsoft operating system without bumping into Microsoft updates and patches. The challenge to IT Mangers is when or if to implement updates and patches at all. The solution will be different for each company. Some factors to consider before updating are:
· Is the update or patch a critical security fix?
· How will it impact the software we are running?
· Will we be more secure?
Online criminals continue to stay ahead of their victims in designing and deploying creative technologies to exploit the vulnerabilities of the security risks. Failing to patch and update software means these criminals will penetrate corporate defenses sooner rather than later, so it is crucial for IT Managers to continually check with software vendors to ensure that the latest updates and patches are installed.
The RJS Services Division has the Network Security solutions you need from the firewall to the desktop and also in patch management. Call RJS today and let us craft a solution tailored to your company’s needs.
Greg Schmidt, Director of Technology Services greg@rjssoftware.com
Balance Your Workload with Document Pooling
WebDocs has the built-in capability to route documents seamlessly and effortlessly through your organization. This built-in routing is very basic, but also more flexible than it appears. If your organization receives orders, claims or invoices that are processed by many people pulling from the same stack or pool, you may want to take advantage of WebDocs’ document pooling capability.
Using the WebDocs Routing Client, you can allow multiple users to point to a common routing inbox so work can be distributed evenly across a given department. Simply point your client to the common inbox, and you will automatically be given the next document on the list. This prevents two people from working on the same document.
From this client you can do more than simply approve or reject a document. You can annotate, update index key information (possibly from your existing line-of-business application), re-route the document to a different path or remove documents from a route altogether. Contact us for more information or to see a demo.
Larry John, Technical Manager larry@rjssoftware.com
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