A Paperless Proposal

There's a short back story that goes with this post.  I'm subscribed to the 30th Legislature of the Virgin Islands' Facebook page and on February 20th I run across this post:

Senate President calls for 50 percent paper reduction


CHARLOTTE AMALIE, Virgin Islands - In an environmentally friendly effort to cut costs, Senate President Shawn-Michael Malone has set a goal of reducing the Legislature's paper usage by half.

In a memo forwarded to all senators and the 30th Legislature's Division Heads, Senator Malone directed that plans for cutting both paper and copier use be developed and implemented by March 1, 2013.

"We now have technology available that affords us an opportunity to use less paper," Senator Malone said. "Other jurisdictions have gone to a near paperless system with all employees instead using tablet computers - we aren't there yet, but this is certainly the direction we are headed. "

Paper and copying costs make up a sizeable portion of the Legislature's budget, Senator Malone said.

"Not only will we save money, but locally we will also save space in our landfills and cut down on the amount of trips we make each week to dispose of our trash," he said. "On a global scale we save trees, energy and reduce the pollution created by the production of paper. It is a positive move on all fronts. I would like to thank all of my colleagues and the Legislature employees for taking on this challenge."

Senator Malone said that, in addition, the Legislature would work to make more documents available to the media and the public on the body's web site: www.legvi.org.

"We want to get to a point in the near future where documents circulated on the floor are immediately scanned in and available for review electronically," the Senate President said. "This increases transparency and participation in the democratic process."

Upon reading that all my old IT instincts clicked in and I thought it would be a hoot to actually draft up a guidance on how organizations can go "paperless".  So I've devoted my free time for the past week to producing this blog's first ever publication entitled Paperless: The Renegade Version. Click on the link to download it.  I think it's an interesting read and I tried really hard to explain any jargon I used.  You can also click on the image below to download it. Please send me your feedback and if you do employ it I'd love to hear how it went.