Product Update: RFID File Tracking

Dec 11, 2007Back in 2000, 3M introduced an RFID application designed to help law firms, universities and research libraries keep tabs on volumes of files. 3M said the file-tracking system would save time, reduce labor and provide a quick return on investment. Other suppliers, including FileTrail and Tagsys, began offering similar solutions. So what's happened in the past seven years? Has RFID file tracking fallen by the wayside—or are companies and organizations adopting the application and reaping its benefits?

Fulbright & Jaworski LLP, a large U.S. law firm, is using 3M's RFID file-tracking system in all seven of its offices that handle intellectual property and technology (IPT) cases. The firm is one of more than 50 end users of the 3M file-tracking system, and while the majority of those companies are law firms, the solution has also been adopted by universities and research facilities.

Before implementing the RFID file-tracking system, Fulbright & Jaworski used a bar-code system to establish a chain of custody for each file. But most attorneys and paralegals didn't take the time to scan the bar code and key in employee and location codes, so labor costs associated with searching for case files in the seven offices reached more than $1.5 million yearly. Those costs have been reduced by nearly 50 percent under the 3M system. The firm spent roughly $277,000 on the entire project, says Lisa Simpkin, project manager of the RFID implementation, and it recouped the cost in eight months. In addition, the IPT offices are now generating more revenue because attorneys are able to bill more hours.

Sughrue Mion PLLC, another firm that specializes in IP law, adopted an RFID file-tracking system in 2000, using tags and readers from Checkpoint Systems and records-management software from FileTrail. It used to take the firm more than 20 hours to complete a file inventory, but that now takes approximately five hours, says Jody Rosenburg, the firm's director of operations.

Lhermet La Bigne & Remy, a Paris-based law firm, recently ran a trial in which it tracked 10,000 files and realized a significant time savings. The firm adopted the system this summer to track its full collection of 30,000 files and books. The system was deployed by Ident, a European RFID systems integrator specializing in the tracking of documents and other media, using Tagsys tags and readers.

RFID file-tracking systems make sense for companies that need to track the whereabouts of tens of thousands of files that are constantly being accessed and moved around an office by employees. Time-management studies may show that employees waste hundreds of billable hours searching for missing files, or companies may just sense they have a problem. The district attorney's office in Marin County, Calif., knew its manual file-tracking system was failing when staff members began to receive multiple e-mails from colleagues searching for specific case files. "We were getting them five or six times a day," says York Westgate, the D.A.'s technology support analyst, "and we estimated that all those e-mails consumed the equivalent of one and a half full-time employees' time." Since the D.A.'s office deployed 3M's file-tracking system three years ago, Westgate says, it now receives only one or two e-mails per week.

FileTrail recently upgraded its system to make it more efficient. It had been identifying files with high-frequency passive RFID tags, which required that the files be 8 inches or less from a reader's antenna (3M and Tagsys also use HF passive tags). That read range was sufficient for tracking files at close range, on shelves and desks, but the HF system often failed to read tagged files when employees removed them from the file room. That's because the RFID antennas installed around the doorway could not read the tagged files if employees held them under their arms or tucked them into briefcases.

FileTrail now uses EPC Gen 2 ultrahigh-frequency tags, which have a read of range more than 20 feet. The system also enables employees to locate a file to within a desktop. And a mapping tool lets employees input a specific file number and then navigate a digital floor plan of the office to see the file's location and the name of the person who last checked it out.

Tom Pemberton, FileTrail's vice president of product strategy, says the longer read range isn't the only compelling factor behind UHF technology—the UHF tags he sells cost 35 cents each, whereas HF tags for file tracking typically cost from 75 cents to $1.40 each. And UHF readers now cost less than HF readers. While it's not cost-efficient for some companies to switch their HF systems to UHF ones, says Pemberton, FileTrail is now using UHF in all its new installments. The Seventh Judicial Circuit Court for Prince George's County, Md., for example, installed the UHF system in August 2006 to track files for some 30,000 to 40,000 cases annually.

Who's Who in RFID File Tracking


• 3M


• Checkpoint Systems


• FileTrail


• Tagsys