How MCS Streamlined Housing Services with Faster Document Scanning

Introduction

MCS (Management Computer Services) is a family-owned and operated company dedicated to a single purpose: providing a high-quality software for Public Housing Authorities. In 2003, MCS created the company’s flagship product, PHA-Web, a cloud-based platform that automates and accelerates housing authority workflows. Users of the software are not only housing authority case workers, but also property managers, applicants applying for housing, tenants who are currently residing in the units, and landlords that partner with the housing authority to offer affordable housing. Traditionally, the level of paperwork involved in public housing is overwhelming. From applicant intake to rent reviews, waitlists and property inspections, every function involves documents and forms that must be uploaded, processed and archived. PHA-Web was designed as a solution to make daily tasks for housing authorities easier, by making document capture more efficient to acquire and store digitally.

Integration was far easier than expected. We had the POC working in just a week.

– Nick Bessey, SVP Engineering, MCS

Challenge

To house a single family, there is a multitude of forms and documents that need to be filled out, reviewed, submitted, and stored – not just for the housing authority, but also for the tenant and landlord. In just one month, a housing authority may process over 10,000 documents. These might include waiting list applications, tenant certifications, property inspections, work orders, rent reviews or family forms. The challenge was to streamline this process to relieve the paperwork burden for local authority housing workers and speed up the housing process.

The typical PHA-Web users are local housing authority employees, who manage different aspects of the housing process. Applicants may submit applications for housing via an applicant portal and tenants can perform functions like making rent payments through a dedicated tenant portal. Similarly, landlords can work with the housing authority through a dedicated landlord portal.

Originally, authorities had to scan each document onto their computers and then upload it to the PHA-Web software. The objective for PHA-Web was to remove that extra step and enable workers to capture documents directly into the software.

Solution

The team had already developed a Document Imaging component within the software, to provide a fully configurable digital filing system. This cloud-based storage was designed to have unlimited storage capacity to handle the consistently high volume of paperwork and to be fully secure for privacy and compliance. The next step was to make the capture process seamless.

MCS decided to buy a commercial SDK rather than develop their own capture software from scratch. Since the software had been developed in JavaScript, finding a document capture SDK that could fit seamlessly into the existing document imaging component was key. Dynamsoft’s Dynamic Web TWAIN was a natural fit with these requirements and had already been proven in many similar SaaS customer deployments.

Using the free trial, a proof of concept (POC) was up and running within a week. Integration was smooth. Seamless document capture was made accessible through 27 different points within the software – throughout the tenant manager, property manager, financial and admin components and the portals for applicants, tenants and landlords. Dynamic Web TWAIN is now fully integrated with the PHA-Web Document Imaging module.

Our users can now easily upload paperwork directly into our housing software.

– Nick Bessey, SVP Engineering, MCS

Impact

Previously, users needed to scan a form to their personal hard drive and then upload to the PHA-Web application – a two-step process that doubled the work. Now, capture is a one-step process, making day-to-day life easier for housing authority staff. Paperwork is now captured directly into the SaaS platform. Workflows throughout the housing authority are more efficient, while also being fully compliant. As a result, applications are processed more quickly, which allows housing authorities to perform their work faster, resulting in a more efficient operation for all stakeholders involved.