Porter-Roth Associates
Document Management Consultant

About Us

Porter-Roth Associates (PRA) provides document management consulting services to companies for electronic document (document imaging,  document scanning, electronic documents) and records management technologies. PRA provides initial project planning, document management strategy sessions, requirements analysis, project feasibility studies, vendor selection, and implementation oversight services.

We do not sell or resell any hardware or software and we do not work directly or indirectly for any vendor. Porter-Roth Associates works solely with the end-users of document management technologies to help them define strategies, requirements, make go-forward decisions, and implement their project. Our typical client engagement is to review the AS IS environment and to define or project the TO BE environment. This includes listing options, benefits, costs, ROI, implementation plans, and potential vendors.

Get a quick overview of our document and records management consulting services - PRA Capability Statement 

Resume

Mr. Porter-Roth is the founder and principal consultant for Porter-Roth Associates (PRA). PRA provides a broad range of business and technical consulting services to users and vendors of enterprise content management (ECM) technologies. Mr. Porter-Roth has been an independent consultant in the ECM industry for over 20 years. He is a frequent speaker and writer for associations and publications ECM including AIIM, ARMA, and the SharePoint Users Group.

He is the author of the following books: 
Request for Proposal :  A Guide to Effective RFP Development
Writing Killer Sales Proposals
RFP Guidelines (AIIM TR-27)
Proposal Development: How to Respond & Win the Bid

Mr. Porter-Roth is a DocuSign Certified Administrator

Mr. Porter-Roth is an AIIM Master of Information Technologies (MIT) and a Certified Document Imaging Architect (CDIA) He has chaired various standards committees at AIIM including the RFP Guidelines (TR-27) Committee, OCR/ICR Committee, and the Knowledge Management Committee.

Download the complete Resume

Client List

This is our current client list. All of these engagements concerned some aspect of electronic document management consulting. Specific engagement information and references are available upon request.

Example Projects

The following are brief overviews of our projects. This is not a complete list but provides information on the type of projects undertaken.

San Luis Obispo County (SLO) Strategic Assessment & Plan

Provided a strategic assessment and plan to the SLO Assessor's Office. Assessment included scanning all paper parcel files (approximately 190K) and uploading them to a document management system. Assessment also included a review and recommendation for staying with their current document management vendor or moving to a new vendor. SLO decided to accept my recommendation to stay with OpenText for their document management system and to work with BMI Document Scanning services for converting the parcel files to digital images.

California State DOT Strategic Assessment & Plan

Served as a document management specialist for a study about current document management capabilities at Caltrans. Provided an overview on document management systems, current technology directions, review of basic ECM functionality including paper capture, OCR, electronic document capture, workflow, and records management. Helped develop a working framework for the future system needs including strategic direction, change management, document management technologies, and potential implementation strategies. Developed and clarified business, functional, and technical requirements.

Enterprise Document Management Procurement

Worked with an international food services company to determine their need for a document management system. Company has multiple locations in the U.S. and has no consistent document management procedures or system capabilities. Developed high-level functional and technical requirements for paper documents and electronic documents as well are workflow and records management requirements. Interviewed multiple vendors including ECM vendors, system integrators, and document management services companies. Company accepted my recommendation to contract with DataBank / Hyland OnBase for document management services.

Enterprise Document Management Study

Provided a detailed functional and requirements review of the Bank's current operation and recommended an ECM solution. Developed detailed functional and technical requirements, worked with the Bank's back office systems to understand potential requirements, and provided strategic direction for the project. Project included paper documents, electronic documents, a variety of "captured" documents from screen prints to faxes. ECM components include: paper capture and OCR, electronic document capture, workflow, and records management.

Electronic Signature (eSignature) and Electronic Contracts (eContract) Project

A company was completing all of their contracts by printing the contract (2 copies) sending them to the customer via courier services, including a courier service return envelope for customer signature, and returning the fully executed copy to the customer by courier. This process was expensive, time consuming (taking weeks), and required FTEs to manually track and update the contract status with the courier service and customer. By moving to an eSignature / eContract process, the company was able to significantly decrease the manual work required to complete the contract process (less expensive process) and to complete contracts quicker and with fewer errors. We converted over 180 paper contracts to electronic contracts with embedded scripting to show the electronic signature signing icons. We also designed custom workflows to allow for the unique signing processes for this company. DocuSign was the software used for the project.

Enterprise Document Management Study

A commercial real estate company was having difficulties with finding and sharing documents, among other problem areas. This company did not have a document management system and was looking for help in deciding which DM system would be appropriate for them. I reviewed their current situation and made recommendations. Recommendations included fixing existing problems, instituting more control over current processes, and simple fixes for existing issues. No document management system was recommended until current issues were addressed.

Strategic Assessment & Plan

An insurance company was already using an ECM system but did not think it was optimized for their use. I was asked to review the system operation and determine if it was being used correctly and if there were other ECM systems that may be better for their particular application. I did a study and found that the current system was being underutilized and that there were several major issues with their internal work processes. My report pointed out the major issues and provided several options for staying with the current vendor or moving to a new vendor. One of primary concerns with the incumbent vendor was whether they could integrate with the back office insurance system being used. This was researched and options provided.

Box Implementation Project - High-Tech Company

Provided the initial analysis and feasibility study. Considered three cloud-based companies (Box, Office 365 & SpringCM) and chose Box.com for the solution. I also implemented the system at the company, including managing the initial corporate provisioning and provisioning for each employee and each department. As the project leader, I led the effort to establish the basic architecture, migration of content, and training. We were able to migrate all departments onto Box, close the file sharing system (read only), close two other cloud file sharing applications, and close employee use of the "C" drive as their primary storage. Project also included developing and building a new corporate Intranet to replace three existing Intranets and to link all department files (in the Intranet) to the corresponding department in Box. Successfully closed two Intranets (remaining Intranet is used by Engineering and was too heavily hyperlinked to close) and linked files in the Intranet to files in Box. For example, all marketing collateral was linked from Box to the Marketing Intranet. Our goal was to make a single source for files and to eliminate copies of files located in various Intranets and other storage locations.

ECM Reassessment Project - City Government

Was asked to reassess the current ECM system installed at the City and determine options for staying with the current system or going with a new system. Interviewed all City departments to establish a baseline of functionality and requirements, provided options for new systems, and provided basic costing information for new systems. Determined that the current system was very underutilized and that it was not implemented correctly. Also determined that there were other systems capable of working in that environment that were more cost effective and provided options.

SharePoint Implementation Project - Energy Company

Participated in the design, development, and implementation of a SharePoint system. This is an enterprise-wide system that will have approximately 70,000 users when it is completely implemented. Provided consulting in information management strategies including migration of content.

Inactive Records Destruction Project - Energy Company

Client had approximately 1.3 million boxes of inactive documents and records in several locations. The client wanted to legally destroy as many boxes as possible before consolidating the boxes into one location. We developed a methodology to sample the contents of boxes, verify the integrity of the information, and have owners approve destruction of reviewed boxes. Project was successful and the ROI was immediate. (Also reduced potential legal liability of keeping documents that were past their destruction date.)

Backfile Conversion Project - County Assessor

Reviewed current paper property records and developed an RFI/RFP. Participated in vendor demonstrations and selection.

Backfile Conversion Project - County Recorder

Reviewed current microfilm records and developed an RFP. Participated in the vendor selection. Provided vendor oversight after contract award.

Document Management and Workflow Assessment

This engagement studied an existing document imaging and workflow application in a banking environment to determine whether current document imaging and workflow technology could be updated and improved. Primary goals were to establish better tracking of customer applications, improve the time to approve, simplify order entry procedures, and enhance customer service capabilities.

Enterprise Imaging Study

This engagement provided an enterprise document imaging feasibility study. The application was general image processing for each department and the initial study was based on seven departments, including accounts payable. The product of the study provided a go/no go decision for document imaging and workflow technology. Also included in the study were a vendor analysis, cost-benefits analysis, procurement assistance, and implementation support.

Municipal Court System

This study was for a County Municipal Court System. This study reviewed the operations of the Courts and recommended feasibility of document imaging technology. The study included a cost-benefits analysis, survey of qualified vendors, model implementation plan, and a vendor recommendation. 

California State Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals receives appeal documents in hardcopy from the Trial Courts, the appellants, and the State. These documents are sent in multiple copies and used by the Judge in making a decision. This study determined whether submitting documents in electronic format was possible and what were the ramifications of electronic submission. The study included a review of current practices and procedures, a review of electronic formats available for submitting documents, and a review of the potential storage methods for maintaining the electronic documents. Recommendations were presented at a meeting of the District Clerks.

RFP Development, Writing, and Review

Assisted with the development of a major RFP effort for an international banking project. Provided RFP management, writing, and development of the customer demonstration. Also worked on developing pricing scenarios and contract review.

Document Imaging RFP  - Bank

Reviewed and commented on the final RFP. Participated in rewriting of RFP sections prior to it being sent to vendors.

Document Imaging RFP - Manufacturer

Reviewed and commented on the draft RFP. Participated in rewriting of RFP sections prior to it being sent to vendors.

RFI/RFP Workshop and Development - European Patent Office

Provided an RFI/RFP workshop for the project team. Continued with assisting with the development and writing of the RFI and RFP, reviewed draft documents, and evaluated final RFP. Participated in review and evaluation of vendor proposals.

Speaking Engagements

Below is a partial list of our speaking engagements. We are available to speak at your company, company webinar, or other event, about cloud computing, document management, and processing reengineering. Please contact us about your event.

Review a selection of my presentations on SlideShare Presentations

AIIM - Annual conference - multiple times

ARMA - Annual conference - multiple times

AIIM Wednesday Webinar - multiple times

AIIM Chapter events

ARMA Chapter events

San Francisco SharePoint User Group

San Francisco SharePoint TechCon

AIIM - Cloud Collaboration Strategies and Technologies  http://bit.ly/swQ5su

ARMA San Francisco Cloud Collaboration Strategies and Technologies

AIIM Chapter Webinar, Nebraska Cornhusker Chapter - Cloud Collaboration

San Francisco SharePoint User Group - Cloud Collaboration Technologies

AIIM Managing Information Conference, San Francisco - Cloud Collaboration http://bit.ly/rVyjHq

AIIM Wednesday Webinar, Gain Process Efficiency http://bit.ly/LuGeIC

CloudSlam '12 Moderator for Panel on Information Growth and Big Data http://cloudslam.org

ARMA Silicon Valley, Cloud Collaboration Strategies and Technologies

Kodak Global Directions 2012 http://bit.ly/MeFT9Z

AIIM Chapter Las Vegas, The New IM ToolBelt

ARMA Chicago Chapter, The New IM ToolBelt

AIIM Detroit Chapter Meeting, Cloud Content Management and Strategies

AIIM Service Company Executive Forum - Cloud Technologies Overview

Salt Lake City - Executive Briefing on Content Management and Document Imaging

AIIM Conference Extreme Information, New Orleans - Cloud Content Management Governance

AIIM Webinar - Selecting the Right Document Collaboration Solution

MER Conference - ERM and Cloud Systems Panel

Nevada State, E-Records Forum (I'll be speaking on E-records in cloud applications)

IIMC - Cloud Collaboration: Managing Risk and Retention (International Institute of Municipal Clerks)

IIMC - BYOD - Policies, Procedures, and Technology

ARMA - Why ECM Systems Fail

Publications

Below is a partial list of books, reports, and articles we have written.

Books

Request for Proposal: A Guide to Effective RFP Development
Addison-Wesley Information Technology Series 2001

Document Conversion Guidelines
Electronic Document on Amazon

Writing Killer Sales Proposals
Entrepreneur Press 2004

Proposal Development: How to Respond and Win the Bid
Oasis Press 3rd Edition 1998

Electronic Imaging Request for Proposal (RFP) Guidelines (TR-27)
Association for Information and Image Management

Articles (brief listing)

Finding and Working with System Integrators
Storage Management Solutions (SMS) 

Designing an Imaging Request for Proposal 
Faulkner Technical Reports, Inc.

Selecting and Implementing an Imaging System 
Faulkner Technical Reports, Inc.

Electronic Imaging Printers, Current Technologies and Requirements in Today's Office Document Environment 
Editor for the Association for Information and Image Management

Electronic Imaging Display Devices, Current Technologies in the Office Document Management Environment 
Editor for the Association for Information and Image Management

The Ergonomic and Human Factors Associated with Electronic Image Management Systems 
Editor for the Association for Information and Image Management

Top

Independent | Unbiased | Objective

Document Imaging | Electronic Document Management | Records Management | SharePoint

Consulting in Electronic Document & Records Management Technologies

PRA is not affiliated with any vendors, is not a reseller of any products, and provides objective document management consulting services.