Digital Signatures Enhance Document Management System Deployment at the County of Hawai'i

It isn’t unusual for processes at the County of Hawai’i to involve paperwork that needs to be managed among parties across a number of departments. As such, deployment of an EDM system was aimed at allowing County professionals to collaborate more easily, eliminate some of the inefficiencies associated with paper-based processes, and shorten process times.

While electronic document management systems enable the shift to automated business processes, organizations that continue to rely on paper for signature approvals considerably minimize the benefits of their investment in automation. In fact, the introduction of paper into an otherwise electronic process generates results that counteract those gained from automated processes, namely improved efficiencies, shorter process times, and reduced costs. Relying on paper for signature approvals lengthens process times and hinders collaboration while generating increased organizational costs from paper-related expenses such as printing, routing, and manual archiving.

When Rodillas stumbled upon CoSign at the document management conference, she learned that the digital signature solution can integrate seamlessly with the EDM system the County already had in place. This would enable County professionals to replace handwritten signatures with legally-enforceable digital signatures for electronic documents. CoSign digital signatures supports all major file formats including those used most at the County of Hawai’i, namely Microsoft® Word and Adobe® PDF. Further, CoSign digital signatures are compliant with worldwide regulations, and provide proof of signer identity and intent, and content integrity.

With Ashida’s vision of a truly paperless office in mind, Rodillas quickly discerned a number of ways that digital signatures could turn slow and inefficient processes into faster, simpler, and more effective ones. By eliminating the need to print, route, scan, and store paper documents solely for the purpose of obtaining signature approvals, County professionals would be able to spend their time on more pressing tasks while enjoying streamlined processes and greater efficiency.

Today, every employee in the Legal Department at the County of Hawai’i – including attorneys, investigators, legal secretaries and accountants – has a CoSign license, and processes are moving along faster than ever. In many cases, CoSign is being used to sign PDF files, enabling the department to easily satisfy certain requirements such as filing legal pleadings in the U.S. District Court in PDF format.

“CoSign makes our processes so efficient,” said Rodillas. “We’re using it to sign any type of correspondence issued by our office, including legal pleadings, letters, and memos. When employees needed to take vacation or sick leave, they used to walk into my office every 30 minutes with paper documents for a wet signature approval, which could sometimes take a two-day turnaround time. With CoSign, it takes two seconds.”

Rodillas also noted that members of other departments at the County of Hawai’i have noticed the way some documents are never turning into paper, and they’re looking to adopt the solution as well. As such, the County plans to equip Department Heads, Deputy Department Heads, secretaries and members of the County Council with CoSign licenses in the near future.

“People will often tell us they’ll fax a document to us for signing. We tell them to email us the document instead, and we’ll have it back to them signed in two minutes,” said Rodillas. “We’re very satisfied; we have faster turnarounds and we’re more efficient. We are hopeful that other County Departments will enjoy the benefits as we do.” 

The County of Hawai‘i covers the entire island of Hawai‘i, the largest of the eight major islands that comprise the State of Hawai‘i.  185,000 people live on the 4,028 square mile island, and the County of Hawai‘i government ensures all residents and visitors are provided the very best service to ensure their safety and comfort. For more information please visit http://co.Hawai’i.hi.us.