The State of Maryland Securely and Efficiently Handles Critical Documents with GoAnywhere MFT

Simplifying Licensees’ Uploads of Sensitive Documents

Before GoAnywhere entered the picture, supplemental sensitive licensee documentation was collected through email. This process had file limitations and wasn’t as secure as the DLLR liked. Their IT team added logic to protect email recipients against error or malicious intent, like receiving the same document multiple times, but the process remained complex. To get submitted files to the right record and the right board, the IT team created a makeshift document imaging solution that required manual intervention by clerical staff to work.

But it was only a temporary fix. When the makeshift document imaging solution couldn’t keep up with their needs, Joe Petrosino, DP Programmer/Analyst Supervisor at the State of Maryland DLLR, discovered a safer and easier way for licensees to upload documents—and for different boards to receive/approve those documents. The long-term solution was GoAnywhere’s Secure Forms module.

"We regulate 40 different boards and occupations. Credit reports and other sensitive documents are vital to the verification of their continued licensure," Petrosino said. The critical nature of this process meant dealing with a heavy load of documents on a regular basis, especially since they need to reapprove licensure every two years. With Secure Forms in place, Petrosino and his team were able to replace their existing manual process with a front-facing website that included an embedded GoAnywhere form.

"With this form, the licensees simply type in their registration number, which is basically the key of the document," Petrosino said. GoAnywhere then determines which of the 40 boards the document should be submitted to. "The board then gets a notification once they receive the document so they can review to make sure it meets their standards before they issue a license."

Petrosino and another developer on his team use GoAnywhere’s projects, workflows, and forms to ensure all of this happens smoothly. "We rely on GoAnywhere’s workflows quite heavily," he said.

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The use cases for GoAnywhere’s Secure Forms module are endless. "We use it for many other purposes besides just credit reports," Petrosino said. "We allow them to upload any documents the board may need for each of their licensees. That way it’s flexible, not just dedicated to one function."

Ultimately, Secure Forms has helped save the DLLR time and money. "The time [saved]," he explained, "is the time it would take to find the expertise or software that would allow us to upload external documents into our system and satisfy the requirements of sending documents securely." With GoAnywhere, they were able to avoid a cumbersome request for proposal (RFP) process because they already owned the software. Adding Secure Forms and a DMZ Secure Gateway, GoAnywhere Gateway, was easy to do and reasonably priced.

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The software also helped eliminate the time staff spent on received emails. "[GoAnywhere] could save a staff person at least 30 minutes per document," Petrosino said. "That’s a big time savings." Before, when customers would send in documents, they would sometimes email the documents to DLLR staff by accident. The staff would then need to look up the sender’s name and license registration number, and manually upload the documents to the project they created. Now, GoAnywhere automates this process, eliminating the possibility of user errors, misplaced files, or overlooked documents.