SUNNYVALE, Calif., and STAMFORD, Conn., Feb. 1 -- The City of Jacksonville, Fla., has successfully tackled the problem of managing its various paper- and forms-based processes, thanks to a new digital document solution that combines the Verity(R) LiquidOffice(TM) Web-based process automation solution with Xerox DocuShare(R) 4.0 enterprise content management software. Verity Inc. is a leading provider of enterprise software that enables organizations to maximize the return on their intellectual capital investment, and Xerox Corporation is a global technology and services enterprise that helps businesses deploy Smarter Document Management(SM) strategies. The city's chief information officer, Dave Lauer, anticipates dramatic time-savings with the first application of this joint solution, developed and implemented in cooperation with Paperless Office Solutions Inc., a value-added reseller based in St. Augustine, Fla. Lauer's organization is leveraging Paperless Office Solutions' expertise to assist in developing the first workflows, and to establish use of the toolsets as a core competency of the city's technology division. "The initial use of the Verity and Xerox software was to transform business travel and expense reporting," said Dave Lauer. "We recognized the need to make the approval process uniform across all city departments, with common nomenclature and procedures. The old paper-based method sometimes took up to six weeks to complete. Now, with Verity's Web-based business process automation solution and Xerox content management software, a travel and lodging request form can be processed in days. Everyone involved immediately saw the implementation of the Verity-Xerox solution as a major process improvement for Jacksonville's city government efficiency." At 840 square miles, Jacksonville is the largest city in the United States and host of the National Football League's Super Bowl XXXIX. The city and its residents recently approved a $2.2 billion comprehensive growth management plan. As an area that experienced four hurricanes in the space of a few months, Jacksonville is also concerned with the reduction of paper documents that are vulnerable in the event of a natural disaster. In addition, the office real estate costs associated with rooms of file cabinets filled with paper forms were targeted for reduction. With the help of Paperless Office Solutions, Lauer and his team sought a combination of tools to accomplish the goal of handling forms with speed, accuracy and ease as well as manage and store them after processing for more effective and efficient records management. Selection factors that drove the decision to Verity LiquidOffice and Xerox DocuShare 4.0 software included ease of deployment, administration, use, flexibility and scalability. "The Verity and Xerox software were a powerful combination for Jacksonville," said Tony Deakins, Paperless Office Solutions' president and chief technology officer. "This implementation is a case book example of a city moving its processes from the hard copy and paper-heavy world into the digital age." Verity LiquidOffice's robustness and flexibility was found to handle complex tasks or simple actions with equal ease and reliability. The straightforward forms design capability enabled transformation of paper-based forms to digital formats, ensuring user familiarity and accelerated acceptance. "City governments have experienced dynamic growth, particularly in terms of the complexity of operational processes," said Anthony J. Bettencourt, Verity's president and chief executive officer. "With the Verity-Xerox solution, the City of Jacksonville is able to move confidently away from paper-based forms, knowing electronic workflow speeds processes while enhancing control." Xerox DocuShare will allow city personnel to have the ability to perform full-text search and access information from a central repository. The Xerox software permits content retrieval and re-use to be conducted in real time, helping people save more time. Due to DocuShare's flexibility and range of capabilities for managing content, Jacksonville plans to implement DocuShare as a standard platform for online workflows moving ahead. "Xerox DocuShare 4.0 empowers people to work collaboratively over the Web, and it is ideal for city organizations with a distributed work force," said David Smith, vice president and general manager, Xerox DocuShare Business Unit. "Its extensive capabilities and easy-to-use tools enable organizations like the City of Jacksonville to achieve immediate gains in productivity." The success of the travel and lodging request form has prompted Lauer's IT team to target the rollout of the Verity-Xerox solution to more of the city's departments and processes with the enthusiastic support of the city's executives. "One of the urban legends of city government is that approval is secured only when a 'wet signature' is affixed to a form," Lauer said. "The Verity LiquidOffice and Xerox DocuShare solution, in combination with the city's existing security infrastructure, addresses this issue and effectively promotes secure paperless routing."