Streamlining Correspondence Management With Workflow Automation | i3solutions

Streamlining Correspondence Management With Workflow Automation

Case Study

Transforming Correspondence
Management with
Workflow Automation

The Customer

And Their Challenge

The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), operating under the Executive Office of the President (EOP), plays a vital role in coordinating the nation’s drug policy to improve the health and well-being of Americans. Facing an urgent challenge, ONDCP found itself in a difficult position as their executive correspondence management system, Bluecast, was nearing decommissioning. This outdated system, built with obsolete technology, required a modern replacement to continue supporting the agency’s critical functions effectively.

Bluecast was essential for tracking incoming correspondence, managing event information, responding to governmental communications, and overseeing overall correspondence management. A new solution was required to handle these critical tasks seamlessly and efficiently, ensuring the agency’s operations continued to run smoothly.

The Solution

Workflow Automation

In response to ONDCP’s urgent needs, i3solutions stepped in to develop a customized Workflow Automation solution. This solution was specifically designed to address ONDCP’s challenges, with a primary focus on enhancing the Executive Correspondence Management System (ECMS).

The goal was to develop a modern, efficient system that supports the EOP’s overarching mission of delivering effective assistance to the President. i3solutions took the lead in creating a new executive correspondence tool for ONDCP, using advanced technologies like SharePoint 2019, Nintex Forms and Workflow, and jQuery.

The implemented solution features meticulously designed workflows that streamline the tracking of correspondence and events from initiation to completion. Each package in the system receives a unique ID number, simplifying tracking for ONDCP staff| and providing a clear overview of each package’s progress through the workflow.

The workflows were crafted to enable staff to review, comment, and update documents, fostering a collaborative and efficient correspondence management process. The new correspondence tool introduced by i3solutions offers significant improvements, centralizing all packages in one location with key metadata for easier tracking.

Additionally, the solution allows for multiple reviews of each package, ensuring that responses and data align with the agency’s objectives. This feature proved particularly valuable for handling time-sensitive event correspondence, enabling ONDCP to respond quickly and effectively.

Technologies

Used in the Solution

SharePoint 2019, a robust collaboration and document management platform, serves as the backbone for the entire solution. It provides a secure and scalable environment for storing, organizing, and accessing information. SharePoint’s document management capabilities facilitate the organization of packages, ensuring that key metadata is associated with each package for easy tracking. Additionally, the platform offers a user-friendly interface for ONDCP staff to interact with the system, enhancing overall usability.

Query is a lightweight, fast, and feature-rich JavaScript library that simplifies HTML document traversal, manipulation, and event handling. i3Solutions used Query to enhance the user interface and overall experience within the executive correspondence tool query ensures a seamless and intuitive use experience, allowing users to navigate the system effortlessly and efficiently.

Nintex is a powerful platform that enhances SharePoint’s functionality by providing tools for form creation and workflow automation with minimal coding. i3Solutions leveraged Nintex Forms to design user-friendly interfaces for capturing information related to incoming correspondence packages, streamlining data entry and making it easy for ONDCP staff to input and update information. Additionally, Nintex Workflow automates the entire package tracking process, with workflows guiding packages through various stages and facilitating reviews, comments, and updates. This automation reduces manual effort, minimizes errors, and ensures a consistent and efficient process from start to finish.

Measurable Benefits
and Business Impact

Greater Efficiency

Centralizing package tracking with unique IDs and automating routing reduced average processing time by 45%. What once took multiple days of back-and-forth now moves through the workflow in hours. With hundreds of correspondence packages handled each year, this time savings equates to more than 3,000 staff hours annually reclaimed from manual routing and status checks. Based on fully loaded staff costs, this translates into approximately $150K in annual productivity gains.

Streamlined Collaboration

By replacing manual email threads and disparate document versions with structured workflows, ONDCP staff now review, comment, and update documents directly in the system. This streamlined collaboration eliminates duplicated effort, reduces missed updates, and provides a consistent record of decisions. The change reclaims an estimated 1,500 hours per year that were previously lost to inefficient communication loops, delivering an additional $100K in value through increased staff availability for higher-priority work.

Increased Accuracy

Automated workflows and unique package IDs cut errors in routing and tracking by more than 60%. This eliminated over 200 misrouted or lost correspondence items annually – each of which previously required hours of manual recovery or rework. Avoiding this cycle of error correction and lost time equates to more than $100K in annual cost avoidance, while also ensuring ONDCP leadership has confidence in the accuracy of the data and decisions captured in the system.

Increased Transparency

Real-time dashboards and full audit trails now provide 100% visibility into the status of every correspondence package. This transparency allows managers to spot bottlenecks instantly, resolve issues proactively, and maintain accountability across the entire workflow. It also directly addressed audit findings from the legacy system, closing compliance gaps that had been flagged and avoiding potential corrective action costs estimated at $50K–$75K per year.