Adjamian Affiliated

As a full-service marine geophysical company, Fairfield Industries, Inc., manufactures and sells seismic equipment, acquires and sells seismic data, and operates a fleet of seismic vessels operating in the Gulf of Mexico. As the Texas-based firm's Hugh Turner points out, these operations generate a lot of paperwork, some of which is absolutely vital to the organization. Prior to installing Laserfiche, however, Fairfield stored valuable contracts, leases and other documents the same way it stored all its paperwork-in bulky file cabinets.

Laserfiche has helped Fairfield eliminate the file cabinets and store these critical documents more securely. In fact, Turner says that Laserfiche's granular security options played a major role in earning department heads' trust for the new system-and have had an overwhelmingly positive impact across the organization.

For example, Fairfield sometimes retains an overriding royalty interest (ORRI) in an oil-drilling venture that's based on the data Fairfield provides. "An ORRI provides us with a percentage payment on all revenue that's produced using our data," Turner explains. "Sounds simple. But oil exploration is a complex business. It may be a couple of years before a well is drilled. Partnerships and joint ventures may be formed and dissolved along the way."

Royalty payments are overseen by Fairfield's landman. In order to do her job, she needs access to documents owned by numerous departments. For example, she needs to review the marketing department's correspondence folder in order to track ownership changes and to check a well's production status. She also needs to review the accounting department's accounts receivable data to ensure that Fairfield is getting paid in accordance with the contracts. However, "like everyone else, our department heads don't like sharing information outside their department unless they can be sure the information isn't misused," Turner says.

Laserfiche provided an ideal solution to this problem. "With Laserfiche, we can provide the landman with instant access to the documents she needs-yet still protect confidential information in compliance with HIPAA and other regulations. Also, the Audit TrailT feature helps us track document access, so we can easily see when we need to make adjustments to security.

"We've always done a lot of data sales, and we knew that our data was good. But our income from ORRIs never seemed to be as high as it should have been," Turner continues. "Thanks to Laserfiche and the new processes we've implemented, our ORRI income has increased tenfold in the last few years."

Like the landman, the Fairfield customs agent uses Laserfiche to cross departmental lines and retrieve the information she needs to keep operations running smoothly. "When our ships and crews return to port, the Department of Homeland Security requires extensive documentation about the ship and everyone on it," Turner says. "Using Laserfiche, our agent has 24/7 access to everything she needs, from the ships' certification information to personnel information to the US Customs Bonds. Without Laserfiche, it'd be nearly impossible for her to do her job.

"Every day, there are a number of situations where we need to refer to our documentation in order to keep our business running," Turner concludes. "We couldn't keep up with those demands if we were still relying on file cabinets."