Case Study: Kane County, Illinois achieves seamless web-based critical document management with Fortra Webdocs

Kane County Manages Critical Documents with WebDocs

Kane County Clerk’s Office in Geneva, IL manages critical public records—marriage licenses, birth and death certificates—stored on an AS/400 and accessed via an in‑house COBOL application. An imminent OS/400 upgrade (V4R3 to V5R1) revealed incompatibility with their existing IBM WAF/Visual Info document system, which would have forced a costly, simultaneous software and OS upgrade. The county needed a solution that would run on the current OS, integrate with COBOL, support 5250 terminal printing, provide web access, and allow a phased migration.

They chose HelpSystems’ Webdocs after a trial. HelpSystems and The Burnham Group migrated more than 300,000 images from optical platters to disk, wrote custom import and integration code (including new tracking IDs tied into the COBOL app), and adapted printing to handle special certificate layouts. Webdocs went live in January 2003; subsequent OS upgrades (V4R5, then V5R2) proceeded smoothly, front‑line staff saw no disruption, and the county gained faster, browser‑based access and a future‑proof document management platform.

Kane County, Illinois

Peggy Stover

ITD Staff Member