RADIX Case Studies
The Commonwealth Medical College Case Study
The Commonwealth Medical College (TCMEDC) educates aspiring physicians and scientists to serve society using a community based, patient centered, interprofessional and evidence based model of education that promotes discovery and utilizes innovative techniques.
As a brand new institution, Commonwealth had the opportunity to put processes and systems in place from the beginning that would drastically reduce the amount of paper they depended on for student information. Wayne Thompson, CIO, had a vision for a virtually paperless information system, and the IT team recognized that an integrated system uniting student forms, data and documents was key to their paperless goal.
Like most educational institutions, Commonwealth utilizes numerous forms to gather information on potential students during the application process. Instead of using inconsistent paper forms created by individual users, the college chose to have Imagetek implement LiquidOffice to facilitate the generation of electronic forms. With uniform electronic forms in place, prospective students are able to log in through Commonwealth’s student portal, access the forms required in the admissions process and submit them into an automated workflow that delivers the forms to screeners and interviews at the appropriate stage in the process.
Once the electronic forms have moved through the Commonwealth workflow, they are delivered to RADIX for storage and can be retrieved directly from the RADIX document repository, or via an integrated link to RADIX in the EMPOWER student information system. The college chose RADIX and EMPOWER primarily because of the seamless integration that the two systems offered.
Shortly after implementation, screeners and interviewers participating in the application process communicated positive feedback and experiences to the IT team. Commonwealth utilizes outside clinical resources to screen and interview their potential students, so it was vital that their system would be easy to use and require little or no training. “Internally we call the electronic forms along with the RADIX/EMPOWER integration ‘EZ-Flow’,” says Joshua Jury, Director of Administrative Services. “I don’t know anyone who is not extremely happy with the admissions process.”
In addition to the EMPOWER integration, Commonwealth has enjoyed a very responsive Imagetek support team. The remote desktop support is quick and easy and eliminates the need for Commonwealth to staff a large IT team because the Imagetek resources are there when needed.
Commonwealth chose to implement their first paperless process in admissions because of the reach the process has. Nearly everyone in the college has some interaction in admissions and would be exposed to the new electronic system. “We knew there would be a little resistance to moving away from paper,” says Jury. “But once people use the ‘EZ-Flow’ system, they realize how much better it is than their previously paper intensive admissions process.”
The sheer volume of paper in the admissions process was another reason for choosing that process for the pilot implementation. Approximately 1,300 – 1,500 document packages are delivered to screeners and then interviewers per school year. Each of those packets contains 45-50 pages, making the total pages of paper eliminated nearly 75,000 in admissions alone.
In the near future, Commonwealth intends to have virtually all of their forms and documents in digital form, keeping paper copies of documents only when required for compliance purposes. Additional forms, such as procurement forms, the MDS application and internal reviews, are already partially implemented or in process. Because the forms are electronic and RADIX is a web-based system, Commonwealth can provide secure access to their forms through their website, 24/7.
To install, test and launch all of the RADIX and LiquidOffice functionality took only three months, a timeframe that greatly impressed the Commonwealth Cabinet, which includes The Dean of Students and his advisors. In regards to the success of the project, Jury says, “Other colleges are contacting us to find out what we’re doing. As we grow over the next few years, we don’t even see the need to increase resources because we have no paper overhead to manage.”