(January 6, 2009) In Frisco, the ‘missing link’ takes on new meaning with the evolution of the city’s new, integrated document management system. Improved, easier access to Frisco City Council agendas, minutes and -- for the first time ever – online access to televised council meetings is now just a link away at www.friscotexas.gov.
Starting tonight at 6:30 p.m., citizens can watch council meetings in real time – or ‘live’ -- online. Meeting minutes and the ‘indexed’, video taped version of the meeting will be published within 24 hours of the end of the ‘live’ meeting.
Also for the first time, the city’s government access cable channel, Frisco Television Network (FTVN), is accessible online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“It’s an integrated solution that provides everything from city council agendas and minutes to the video streaming of those meetings, which is tied to those records (agendas, meetings). Plus, we can now provide the bonus of video on demand, giving citizens access to city programs produced for our government access channel,” said Ron Patterson, Assistant City Manager. “It’s the integration of all these records that makes our system different from most.”
Patterson describes the implementation of this new system as a ‘major shift’ in the way Frisco does the City Council’s administrative business, moving away from a manual process to an automated process.
Work on an integrated system began a year ago when Frisco recognized some vendors offered ‘turnkey’ solutions. As a result, Frisco decided efforts by individual department staff to streamline respective work processes would be better served by incorporating staff’s expertise, research and budgets into a single effort – under an integrated project umbrella, of sorts. Led by Patterson, a core team of representatives from the City Manager’s Office, the City Secretary’s Office, IT, and Communications along with a liaison team made up of a representative from every department worked together to find a solution at the direction of the Frisco City Council.
“We’re always excited about systems and processes that improve our efficiency and give our citizens greater access to their city government and essentially City Hall,” said Mayor Maher Maso. “Open government and communication are high priorities for our council, and this system compliments our efforts. Aside from saving staff time, this system is very eco friendly by reducing the amount of paper we use. Being ‘green’ is another priority for Frisco. This system is one our council unanimously decided was well worth our investment.”
In May of last year, the Frisco City Council unanimously approved staff’s recommendation to purchase the integrated system by SIRE Technologies for $232,884.
“When you compare the system’s overall cost to the savings in the staff time involved in assembling, tracking, researching and responding to information requests, not to mention the savings in paper costs. At the end of the day, the total cost is not substantially more than other products,” said Patterson.
Patterson and Mayor Maso applaud the system’s cutting edge technology, which streamlines process by providing a seamless, electronic workflow. Curt Balogh, Director of Information Technology, says the SIRE system puts a tremendous amount of information at a person’s fingertips with easy, quick access.
“The preparation of an agenda packet, which sometimes can approach 500 pages of documents, drawings, plans and other ‘backup’ materials has required the manual routing of those materials through the entire review and approval process,” said Balogh. “Because the SIRE integrated system includes electronic workflow, ‘backup’ materials can be scanned once and attached electronically to an agenda item. The materials are available for review by all interested staff and management at the same time. This significantly reduces staff reproduction time and meeting times to review materials.”
While city council agendas and minutes have been online for years, Frisco’s previous system provided PDF file versions of agendas, minutes, and oftentimes limited access to back up materials due to a file’s nature and size. The ‘old’ system was outdated and not considered very ‘user friendly’, by some. However, video streaming of council meetings and city produced television programming hasn’t been available until now.
“We’re excited to be able to give our citizens online access to our City Council meetings and the shows we (Communications) produce for our government access cable channel,” said Dana Baird, Director of Communications and Media Relations. “Now, citizens don’t need to have cable to see our programming. In fact, they don’t even need a TV. All they need is access to a computer.”
Baird adds, for residents who prefer to watch city council meetings on their televisions or ‘big screens’, Frisco cable subscribers now have another option. For the first time ever, Frisco is now broadcasting regularly scheduled city council meetings ‘live’ on the first and third Tuesdays of every month. FTVN can be viewed on Grande channel 12 and Time Warner channel 16.
Improved records management is another benefit of the SIRE integrated system. According to city staff, the integrated system enhances Frisco’s ability to track the history of any agenda item considered by city council. The system will track an item’s first appearance on an agenda, any ‘action taken’ and execution. Ultimately, the item is electronically stored and archived for easy retrieval upon a records’ request.
“How we process a Public Information Request (PIR) for items going before the council will be streamlined,” said Patterson. “Plus, finding and getting that type of information will become even easier.”
Balogh echoes Patterson’s promotion of SIRE, adding users will find a simpler, more user friendly online interface enabling them to search and find records of interest without assistance, in many cases.
“These systems also provide needed capability to ensure the City of Frisco complies with state law regarding records management and records retention,” added Balogh.
Debuting this month are minutes management and video streaming. Staff anticipates the conversion of ‘old’ records from LaserFiche to SIRE will begin in February. The new system for posting agendas first appeared online in October.
“What we’re automating is the administrative process, not the decision making. Our citizens are now able to see the same information our council is using for the decisions they make. That kind of access makes for a more open government,” added Patterson.