Fred Wallace, senior systems programmer analyst for Orange County Social Services, supervises a talented team of Web developers that supports the agency’s Internet and intranet sites. There’s a silent member of the team that consistently performs to expectations, and Wallace speaks enthusiastically about how Transit Solutions has helped the agency work more efficiently.
“There used to be a hard copy of every manual on every desk,” he explains. “Updating them was quite a job, involving a lot of paper and employee time. Now, 41 electronic policy/procedure manuals reside on every PC and are only a browser click away.”
The switch to digital a few years back revealed the need for a way to automate change management of the manuals. Wallace says Transit Solutions has been instrumental in filling the need. “Since there’s not a day that goes by without some kind of change, Transit saves time converting native documents into HTML. It allows us to insert navigation and formatting components into translated pages. Essentially, Transit Solutions does it all and does it fast.”
The agency’s 4,000 employees can access any manual they need anytime, from any office location within the county. Wallace explains, “We know we’ve saved millions of dollars over the years, not only in paper, but also in productivity. We’ve eliminated 90 percent of our paper manuals, which has saved millions of dollars and countless trees. We’re saving our employees a lot of time swapping out updates, and providing them a way to stay current so they can comply with state and federal requirements.”
Tracking changes could be more than a full-time job since they are spread out over six intranet sites that serve various divisions of the agency: Administrative for internal policies; Children and Family Services; Adult Services; Assistance; Family Support; and support for CalWIN, the state’s online system. Wallace sums it up: “There are so many state and federal mandates that our social workers must review and adhere to that, without Transit, it would be a time-consuming hardship to keep track of it all.”
