Ball State University to cut costs and improve organizational efficiency with IBM ECM

Employee productivity. Operational costs. Decision making. Each of these areas can be dramatically impacted when organizational data and content are difficult to access.

“We need to work smarter, not harder,” says Charles Tuite, lead enterprise content management (ECM) architect for Ball State University, a state-assisted doctoral institution located in Muncie, Indiana that is home to nearly 20,000 students. “Better access to data enables faculty and staff to focus more attention on student outreach and innovative learning projects that can distinguish our organization.”

For Ball State, like many organizations, working smarter required an agile approach to managing and sharing content.

“Our previous imaging system simply didn’t offer the capabilities we needed for retaining, managing and leveraging the information we already had,” says Tuite. “In a related, but in some ways worse problem, to get data from our mission-critical datastore on the mainframe we had to replicate information in different systems in addition to the reports we put into the system. We also had to print millions of pages of reports annually and manually process requests. This doubles the amount of storage we needed while halving the efficiency of the information gathering function.”

Efficiently managing, governing and delivering trusted information

By eliminating paper-based processes and moving from what Tuite describes as a “glorified electronic file cabinet” to IBM® ECM solutions in a service oriented architecture (SOA), the University has streamlined access to information to drive down costs and improve efficiency.

When fully implemented, the solution will manage nearly 2 terabytes of data and support about 1,000 University faculty and staff members.

One area the benefit has been widely felt has been in report generation and delivery. Using IBM Content Manager OnDemand software, IT staff can now electronically capture reports produced on the organization’s IBM System z® platform and from various reporting applications. This is dramatically improving staff and faculty satisfaction and reducing back-office labor. Previously, computer room staff had to compile, print, manually separate and then distribute these reports daily across campus using couriers.

“Staff who arrive early in the morning can access the information they need without delay,“ says Tuite. “Before, it could be a few hours before the couriers arrived with their reports.”

What’s more, says Tuite, this new process is making a huge impact on the organization’s Green initiative.

“We want to be as environmentally responsible as we can,” says Tuite. “With IBM ECM, we expect to reduce our production printing costs by 50 percent over the next few years.”

The software’s security features provide IT administrators with extraordinary control over who can access which reports without the time-consuming coding that they previously had to perform.

“With IBM Content Manager OnDemand, we can easily manage access,” says Tuite. “This has solved a significant headache for IT staff and enables us to more quickly fulfill user requests.”

Improved access to information drives greater productivity and insight

IBM Content Manager software helps University IT staff to manage, share, integrate and deliver information on demand to multiple platforms, databases and applications. For example, now human resource personnel can locate a document in an employee’s file with a few clicks of the mouse. Previously, because unstructured data, such as scanned letters of recommendation, were simply attached to the end of the file, human resource staff had to skim hundreds, sometimes thousands, of pages to find the document they needed. To aid the integration of content more thoroughly throughout the University, Ball State IT staff has increasingly been making use of Web services to bring information, such as student ID and address information, from the mission-critical store and leverage it as needed. This allows information to be captured and maintained once, with further uses coming only from the accurate version maintained in the main systems instead of from outdated copies. Combining the speed of the services with the capacity of the content management system means that needed information is available.

“With IBM ECM all of a sudden information is available—as it’s needed and where it’s needed,” says Tuite. “And with the robust security, if someone isn’t permitted to access a specific type of information, there’s no way they can.”

Streamlining content-based processes

According to Tuite, IBM ECM also helps Ball State IT staff to better manage data and content over its lifecycle and as part of University processes, such as equipment requisitions, class changes and funding requests. Now instead of having to complete forms in triplicate, distribute them via interoffice mail for approval, and then manually input them into the system, University staff will be able to complete and automatically route the forms online. This effort is central to the University’s ability to optimize organizational performance. Money and time saved through the new levels of efficiency can be redirected to support teaching and learning.

“The electronic workflow-driven process saves us time and enables us to tell where a request is in the process,” says Tuite. “The time and money saved add up to a surprising amount that can be better spent on higher-order work.”

Gaining power and performance with IBM System z

With the move to IBM ECM, the organization can better leverage its computing space and reduce power consumption. Six Microsoft® Windows®-based servers had supported the organization’s previous imaging system. When testing new services, staff had to add servers, which was difficult due to restrictions in both computer center space and electrical capacity.

Using IBM System z platform with the Novell SUSE Linux® operating system, the University has created a virtualized environment that supports IBM Content Manager, IBM Content Manager OnDemand and IBM Tivoli® Storage Manager software along with the University’s production processes.

“The sheer computational power of the IBM System z platform is so much more advanced than an ordinary Wintel server,” says Tuite. “Now, there’s no need for additional hardware because configuring additional Linux instances on IBM System z is quick and easy. Furthermore, we are not adding to our cooling overhead, our electricity costs, or the complexity of our disaster recovery efforts. We are just adding to our capacity on the industry leading platform for scalability.”

Building a platform for success

In making its selection, the University conducted an extensive RFP process, narrowing the list down to three vendors before selecting IBM.

“IBM ECM can be scaled to a degree far beyond our previous abilities and plays well with new technologies that are enriching the way we conduct business,” says Tuite. “The other products couldn’t provide the same capabilities.”

In addition to IBM Content Manager and IBM Content Manager OnDemand software, the University uses the following solutions to support its ECM initiative:

-- IBM DB2® data server which supports 90 percent of all mission-critical University applications
-- IBM Tivoli Storage Manager which helps IT administrators to effectively manage data retention and data backup and recovery processes to reduce risk and maintain compliance with legal guidelines
-- IBM WebSphere® Application Server which enables the use of IBM Content Manager solutions with new Web Services
-- IBM Content Manager eClient and IBM Web Interface (WEBi) which provide an easy-to-use, highly interactive Web client to search for documents

“Working with IBM, we have been able to leverage ECM, SOA and other tools to the point where a change can be made 24/7, and that information is updated where appropriate right away so that there is a current version of the information available at all times.”

During implementation, Ball State IT staff leveraged the expertise of several IBM Business Partners, including The Dayhuff Group (www.dayhuffgroup.com ) and Image Architects (www.imagearch.com ).

“IBM Business Partners provided specialized knowledge to help us to do things well right out of the gate,” says Tuite. “This made a difference in our ability to get our system up and going more quickly, allowing us a better return on our time investment.”

Creating new learning opportunities

One of Ball State’s missions is to offer action-oriented learning, including immersive out-of-class experiences and research that prepare students for real-world challenges. So it’s no surprise that IT staff is working toward transforming the ECM initiative into an immersive learning program that will allow students to gain experience in system architecture, data analysis and design, and implementation of content management technologies.

“The practical experience students receive in the areas of enterprise content management and mainframe computing will provide them with a competitive advantage in the job market,” says Tuite.

For more information

Contact your IBM sales representative or IBM Business Partner. Visit us at: www.ibm.com/software/data/ecm

You can get even more out of Information Management software by participating in independently run Information Management User Groups around the world. Learn about opportunities near you at ibm.com/software/data/usergroup

For more information on Ball State University, visit: www.bsu.edu

Additionally, IBM Global Financing can tailor financing solutions to your specific IT needs. For more information on great rates, flexible payment plans and loans, and asset buyback and disposal, visit: ibm.com/financing