The University of Dayton is a top-tier research university in southwest Ohio, known for its welcoming community, real-world learning opportunities and commitment to student success. At the heart of its administrative operations is the Office of Legal Affairs, which plays a crucial role in ensuring legal compliance, handling legal matters, and providing strategic legal counsel to support the institution’s mission and objectives. As demands – and their collection of documents – grew, it became clear the team needed a better way to organize and collaborate on work.

Challenge: Documents Were Everywhere

Prior to adopting NetDocuments, the University of Dayton’s Office of Legal Affairs had no centralized place where all documents were stored. There were thousands of paper files and documents were saved on individual computers, which led to significant challenges, especially in sharing work, managing institutional knowledge, and being able to respond to requests efficiently. The need for a system that allowed seamless sharing and effective management of documents was crucial to the legal team’s goal to better serve the university.

“Before NetDocuments, we didn’t have any sort of document management system, no centralized storage. Everything was separate.“

Nicole Adams, Senior Paralegal and Business Manager, University of Dayton Legal Affairs

Solution: A Trusted Cloud Document Management System Built for Legal

The University selected NetDocuments for its reliable cloud-based platform, essential for remote access to documents and work flexibility. NetDocuments was eventually able to integrate with the university’s email services, allowing direct saving and searching of documents from email to the document management system.

The implementation process involved digitizing extensive paper records, including six file cabinets full of real estate files. This task was a critical step in transitioning to a paperless environment. Administrator Nicole Adams, alongside the general counsel, spearheaded the training and adoption process for the legal team, ensuring a smooth transition to the new system.

“We’ve moved all of our contracts, all of our real estate documents, litigation files, everything onto NetDocuments that way we’re all easily able to access whatever we need again either remotely or when we’re in the office.”

Nicole Adams, Senior Paralegal and Business Manager, University of Dayton Legal Affairs

Benefits: How the University is Seeing a Difference with NetDocuments

The adoption of NetDocuments by the University of Dayton’s Office of Legal Affairs has brought about a series of transformative benefits, reshaping how the team interacts with and manages their extensive collection of documents and archives.

Here are just a few ways NetDocuments has proven to be a game changer:

• Remote Access: The cloud-based system enables the team to have access to documents wherever they need to work.
• Enhanced Collaboration: External administrators were set up as users, giving them easy access to necessary documents across hundreds of properties.
• Quick Search: The implementation of OCR (optical character recognition) and advanced search capabilities drastically improved document retrieval processes, saving time and reducing the need to start from scratch for every new project.

“Our biggest thing was just to be able to support the larger university and all the needs as a whole and to be able to do that as efficiently as possible.” 

Nicole Adams, Senior Paralegal and Business Manager, University of Dayton Legal Affairs

University of Dayton’s Legal Team Achieves New Heights with NetDocuments

The Office of Legal Affairs at the University of Dayton has redefined efficiency by integrating NetDocuments into their workflow. This transformative move has not only eliminated the need for paper but has also equipped the team with advanced tools for managing a vast array of documents with ease. The result is a streamlined process that enhances their ability to support the university’s broad and diverse needs effectively. Through this implementation, NetDocuments has demonstrated its substantial impact, showcasing how targeted technological solutions can revolutionize operational capabilities in higher education’s legal sectors.

“I can’t even begin to imagine how many documents we have saved in NetDocuments now, but we’re completely paperless and it’s great for us.”

Nicole Adams, Senior Paralegal and Business Manager, University of Dayton Legal Affairs