Australia's National Local Government Newspaper Online

Knowledge management through COLD technology*

With ongoing reform across Local Government, Councils have been coping with the problem of not only maintaining but improving service levels for customers, while keeping a cap on Council rates and doing this with less resources.

One of the answers is to deploy knowledge management tools such as an archiving and retrieval system. This can significantly improve staff productivity while dramatically cutting the cost of storage of this information. Computron's COOL solution evolved from COLD (Computer Output to Laser Disk) technology.

It replaces costly, inefficient microfiche and paper based storage of reports with rapid archiving and instant retrieval of electronic data. Taking a very practical approach, it means that Councils are able to archive information, such as rate notices, payroll reports, immunisation details or parking fine information. They can retrieve this information in seconds using COOL's sophisticated search engine.

Even when the exact report is unknown, by using complex cross file, cross index and even full text searches, information is readily located. As a further example of benefits, Councils such as Melbourne City Council have found that enormous savings can be made by archiving information produced by a legacy system and bringing it back to life with COOL before decommissioning the legacy system.

Retrieved data is presented with form overlays so that it appears in the same format as the original document, thereby giving Council staff the ability to print, fax or email the information from their desktop. This greatly improves response times from customer queries and all this can be taking place while the customer is still on the phone.

For further information contact Gilly Hen-Boisen, Marketing Manager, telephone (02) 9955 9944.

*Copy supplied by Computron.

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