09-26-2012 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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36 Adobe, PDF was released as an open standard in 2008 and PDF is now a widely used format for document 37 exchange. 38 39 1. Distribution of Electronic Packets (Methods of Delivery) 40 Distributing the electronic packet can be accomplished in a number of ways. It is important to consider all 41 options and adopt a process that works for the content creators and the receiving councilmembers. The 42 distribution method can include the following: 43 44 a) Posted to public website: As mentioned, most cities already post the meeting packets 45 as a PDF document to their website. This should be sufficient for packets that do not 46 contain information that is part of a closed meeting. It may be necessary to distribute this 47 information in an alternate method. By using the city website, the public has access to 48 the same information as elected officials and the information is posted and available at 49 the same time. 50 b) Cloud storage: Some agencies have adopted Internet transfer and storage strategies 51 for the delivery of electronic documents. These "cloud" services include companies like 52 Dropbox, Box, Cloudme, iCloud, SkyDrive, Wuala, and dozens more. There are 53 advantages and disadvantages with each service. The primary advantage is that the 54 user's documents can be synchronized to the online storage location, making files and 55 other documents accessible from multiple devices. The primary disadvantage is securing 56 individual documents in a shared cloud storage scenario. To protect individual files, 57 each member would require their own service. This makes it impossible for content 58 creators to distribute documents as the creator would need access to each individual 59 storage container. 60 c) Email: Sending packets via email is another option assuming the file size of the 61 packet is not excessive ( >50MB) as most mail systems are configured to restrict large 62 file transfers to protect the integrity of the mail delivery system. It is recommended that 63 if this process is used that each member be issued a city email account and the packet be 64 delivered only to this account. This insures that all email correspondence and packet 65 information is traceable. A disadvantage is that constituents may be concerned that 66 council members are receiving information that is different than what is posted on the 67 city website. 68 d) Intranet: SharePoint is a web based collaborative workspace developed for sharing 69 documents, calendars and other electronic information. SharePoint is a secured site 70 requiring a city assigned user account to access the information so distributing 71 confidential packets is possible unlike when using the public website. Additionally 72 SharePoint can be developed as a online reference point with links to frequently 73 accessed websites that are referenced during public meetings. A disadvantage is that 74 there are very few SharePoint apps for iPad and Android and after a quick review of 75 those that are available it was determined that the applications need further refinement 76 before making this an option. However SharePoint is fully functional on Windows based 77 tablets and notebook computers and would provide the ability for each council member 78 to be provisioned a private, secured folder to store individual notes, documents and 79 annotated packets. 80 e) Intranet: Laserfiche Web is a document management system used by most agencies 81 in the group. It is expected that Laserfiche will be extended to the remaining agencies in 82 late 2012 or early 2013. Roseville has been distributing pre - packet information to 83 councilmembers for a number of years. Using a common user account, council members Page 2 of 5 6