IMAGES OF THE PAST AND IMAGES OF THE PAST AND FUTUREFUTURE

Donna Calabrese

Director, Office of Vital Statistics

Center for Health and Environmental Statistics

Kansas Department of Health and Environment

Kansas Vital Statistics at Kansas Vital Statistics at CrossroadsCrossroads

Archaic SystemSlow processesOverworked staff High employee turnoverWorn Out EquipmentMinimal Computerization

Old Record Retrieval ProcessOld Record Retrieval Process

• Keyed Requests into Accounting System– Paper clipped receipt with application & placed

in plastic tub (divided by birth, death, etc.)

• Manual search for certificate entry – Database– Microfiche strips– Entries in hardbound books

Certified CopiesCertified Copies

• Located & made certified copies of record• Produced photocopy of record

• On-site paper files• Microfilm reels• Retrieved from off-site storage

• Checked certificate for legibility• Trimmed, date stamped, and applied raised seal and certification statement

A Necessity for ChangeA Necessity for Change

Customer Request Turnaround Time – 5 to 6 weeks– 47 Customer complaints daily

Deteriorating Microfilm– Redox: Chemical oxidation reduction– Emulsion: Light-sensitive coating wears away

Options ResearchedOptions Researched

What have others done? Do your homework Use vendors as initial consultants

We chose Optical Disk Imaging– Took two tries to get it approved

Hired expert for evaluation of needs Changed statute to allow production of certified copies from

Optical Disk Imaging System

Project DefinitionProject Definition

Based on time and cost restraints– Most commonly requested records

Births: 1925 through present Deaths: Implementation forward Marriages: Two years after implementation forward Divorces: Two years after implementation forward

– Total of around 3 million records

Conversion ProcessConversion Process

Database conversion to mainframe (AS400) – Recent conversion to Oracle– Additional data was added to database as more DASD

(memory storage device) was obtained

Hired a vendor to convert records to optical disk– Three year project– Current project to add remaining births (1911 – 1924)

Imaging CapacityImaging Capacity

Optical juke box (OSAR) holds disks with images Maximum image capacity dependent on size of

OSAR, image size, and disk density– Old platter: held 2.6 gig each, around 45,000 images on

each– New disk: holds 5.2 gig each, around 67,500 images on

each OSAR capacity is 238 disks

– Total capacity of over 16 million images– Currently have 4.5 million images

Current Imaging ProcessCurrent Imaging Process Births

– Automatically numbered by new web-based system– Staff check original certificates– Issue only images of birth certificates

No abstract issuance of births

Deaths– Funeral homes have option of accessing system to create

and print their portion of certificate– Receive original certificates, assign numbers

Certificate placed in printer for number and bar code

– Nosologist adds cause of death code– Print abstracts of deaths to avoid 2-page certificate

Can issue image copy

Marriages & Divorces– Web-based system allows records to be filed

electronically Changed law accordingly

– Due to a “Full Court” system, only 3 counties file electronically

Issue both images and abstracts

Committing ImagesCommitting Images Batches of records (around 100 in each batch) are

scanned Scanned images are committed to FileNet© Imaging

System using an internal processing program– Stored in TIF images– Tied to certificate number in database through internal

workflow called “indexing” Certificate number ties database record and image

together– Additional document IDs

Tie related documents to the appropriate certificate Print separately

Automated SearchAutomated Search

Customer request is keyed Prompts database search based on specified

criteria If database match is found, prompts an optical

disk image search If image is found, certificate prints automatically

(if not found, request routes to a work queue) Only the open, issuable, certificate prints

Security on ImagesSecurity on ImagesSecurity checks conducted automatically

– System looks for image– System checks for protection on image– System checks for authority level of protection– System checks for authority level of user

Each document can be protected– Nine protection reasons– Five levels of authorization

Imaging Meets NeedsImaging Meets Needs

45 Vital Records staff– Register 100,000 new records annually– Receive 700 to 1,000 customer requests daily– Issue 380,000 certified copies annually– Issue 1,500 certified copies daily– Turnaround time on requests is 3 to 5 business

days.