Denver’s Path to Integrating Enterprise Content and Business Process Management
Denver, Colorado photo.ua / Shutterstock.com
The Mile High City has been seeking a unified, cost-saving IT strategy since 2005.
The City and County of Denver is integrating its enterprise content management and business process management solutions the city announced Tuesday, a move others may emulate for the workflow and customer service benefits.
The synthesis, known as process and collaboration management, has been a long time coming for Colorado’s capital and largest city, which in 2005 under then-Mayor John Hickenlooper created Technology Services to develop a unified, cost-saving IT strategy.
Already a user of a hybrid cloud ECM from San Mateo, California-based open-software company Alfresco, Denver will begin using its enterprise BPM due to product upgrades like cloud file sync-and-share that tighten integration of the two.
"The new features in Alfresco One, specifically the ability to easily modify content models to address our unique needs, are a must-have for our agency and add great value to how our system analyst handles projects," said Gregory Richardson, City and County of Denver’s senior IT systems analyst, in its announcement. "We are currently in the process of implementing and integrating [BPM platform] Activiti and intend to continue upgrades in 2017."
IT functions in Denver span more than 70 agencies and 14 document management systems, all operating independently, until it consolidated on one system beginning with contracts.
In 2009, Denver had local tech firm Zia Consulting establish the consolidated city-county’s ongoing, phased approach to automating government processes without disrupting city services.
PeopleSoft software let city employees search and view contracts, as well as metadata, and soon after Denver unveiled an integrated procurement process.
The Denver 311 mobile case management app lets citizens report problems like graffiti, noise complaints and potholes—creating a ticket and workflow while Alfresco store images and can alert officers of serious incidents. That level of public engagement keeps the city accountable while saving employee time and Denver taxpayer money.
With Alfresco’s latest upgrades, approval flows are captured as is any content related to compliance.
"Because every piece of content is tied to a business process and vice versa, an integrated content management and business process solution can deliver great value to enterprise and government,” said John Newton, Alfresco cofounder and CTO, in the announcement.
Dave Nyczepir is a News Editor at Government Executive’s Route Fifty.
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