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Archive Scanning Whitepaper The Design, Planning and Procurement of Large Scanning Projects; what you need to know before you digitise a document archive. By Adrian Kougianos Clockwork Print July 2011
1.0 The business case for digitising your archive
Most organisations have a physical document archive that has grown over the years. This includes
filing cabinets, bookshelves, archive boxes or Compactus shelving that store a litany of different
business documents.
In recent years electronic document management systems (EDMS) are taking over from physical
document archives and document controllers will need to decide what to do with the information
locked in these archives.
These archives aren’t always a high priority for office managers, so, putting off the decision to
digitise is understandable. Even so, most office managers agree that physical archiving is not an ideal
way for storing historical documents and, whilst the decision can be delayed, ultimately they must
choose to either destroy, store or digitise these documents.
The argument for digitising a physical archive is strong. As you’d expect scanning your archive will
give you all the benefits provided by your EDMS so the business case is similar to that of installing an
EDMS in the first place. We’ve gone through some basic reasons why document controllers and
office managers choose to digitise their physical document archives:
Reason 1: Reducing Storage Costs Perth office space is at an all‐time premium and it doesn’t look like that will change any time soon.
Costs associated with filing cabinets include the floor space they occupy, the cabinet itself plus the
paper within it. Reducing the number of filing cabinets in your office can reclaim thousands of
dollars of poorly utilised office space. Whilst offsite storage can reduce the cost, especially for those
in the CBD, it introduces its own unique problems and ongoing charges.
Reason 2: Reducing Retrieval Costs A large part of the cost of your archive is the time it takes to retrieve documents from it. Finding
documents can be difficult in large, disorganised archives and chew up a lot of labour time. Even the
best organised physical archive will soak up hours of your employee’s time. Retrieval times and costs
can grow considerably when documents are stored offsite. Compared to the time taken to search
through an EDMS the long term cost of retrieving electronic documents is considerably lower.
Reason 3: Meeting Statutory Requirements Depending on your industry you may have a legal requirement to retain certain documents.
Government instrumentalities have a more pressing need to retain documents for longer periods of
time. The period can be as long as 20 years once a document becomes inactive. Scanning your
archive allows simple access to the documents without having to worry about the safety of the
document for 20 years or more.
Reason 4: Surviving a Disaster Physical archives are susceptible to fire & water damage. Scanning your archive allows you to create
multiple redundancies for these documents in separate locations across the business. In the event of
a disaster, business interruption is reduced to the absolute minimum.
Reason 5: Maintaining Archive Integrity Physical archives deteriorate over time. Using the archive also can interfere with its integrity; files
can go missing and papers can be returned to the archive in the wrong spot making any index less
reliable. Digitising the archive halts the process of document ageing and misfiling, preserving the
integrity of the archive at the time it was scanned.
Reason 6: Future proofing Your organisation never knows what’s going to happen in the future. Legal challenges may require
evidence of original documentation. Critical design flaws in the future may require reference to
original plans. As some buildings are designed to last one hundred years, it’s unlikely your
predecessor will be able to find those blueprints from 2002 in 2102 unless they’re in a safe and
accessible place.
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All office managers and senior document controllers will eventually be faced with the decision to
either destroy, store or digitise their ageing physical archives. One of the main purposes of this white
paper is to give you a brief understanding of the decisions you may need to make when considering,
planning for and implementing a large archive scanning project.
2. Planning an Archive Scanning Project If you’ve made the decision to digitise your physical archive the next stage is to design your project.
Archive scanning is a straightforward process but a lack of preparation results in roadblocks and
inconsistent results. Without planning you may end up with an archive that is not fit for its intended
purpose.
We’ve listed below some of the basic elements that you should consider as part of any large
scanning project. By reviewing each step and having an answer to the questions posed you’ll have
created a basic plan for a successful scanning project.
Step 1 : Presorting Not everything in your archive is of value. Rather than scan every item, you may choose to pre‐sort
the archive, selecting the important documents and discarding the rest. Presorting can be a difficult
and time consuming job that requires knowledge about what is and isn’t important so a skilled
person from your organisation is required to do presorting.
Step 2: Document Transport, Security and Retrieval If you’ve got multiple sites or offsite storage you should consider how you’ll securely transport your
documents. Once you’ve got archiving boxes on the go you’ll also need to know where they are at
any point in time because occasionally you’ll need to retrieve a document that’s queued in the
archive scanning project. Clockwork provides courier services to and from businesses to ensure a
complete chain of custody. This makes transport safer and retrieving the documents much easier.
Step 3: Disassembly Instructions Your archive will contain loose sheets of paper, but will almost always contain bound items, booklets
and folders . Sometimes entire ring binders and even books with spines can be lurking in your
archive boxes. You need to know upfront how to deal with each item. For example if scanning a book,
you can choose either to guillotine the spine & scan each loose page, or scan the book page by page.
The decision has implications for the cost and timeframe of your project.
Step 4: Scanning Technology Requirements Different items in the archive require differing technologies to scan them. For a basic project you’ll
need options for small format scanning including A4 and A3 sizes. Anything larger than SRA3 will
need a large format colour scanner. Irregular items or items with high relief may require a
photographic service. Finally you may also require specialist services for scanning photographic
negatives, microfiche, magnetic tape and other obsolete physical & digital archiving technologies.
This becomes especially important when your archive is old.
Step 5: Quality Considerations Depending on the reasons behind digitising your archive for you may opt for different levels of
image quality. For example if your archive is for legal purposes you may need to scan at the highest
quality level that preserves all information, including colour, borders or notes such as PostIt NotesTM.
Alternatively if your archive is for information only you may opt for a lower level of quality, for
example black and white scanning that ignores information in the margins or handwritten notes.
This choice should be made considering your own needs right now and the future needs of anyone
who will use the archive.
Step 6: Error Checking & Recording In a large archive scanning job you can’t make the assumption that every single page will be scanned
correctly first time so checking for errors and loss of information is one of the most critical processes
in a successful project. It takes special skill and a natural attention to detail to make sure no
meaningful information is lost. You will need to determine how much time you wish to spend
checking scans. Is missing the occasional few pages from your archive acceptable or is it imperative
you scan every single page? Note that archive scanning is a human process, so if you want 100%
accuracy you will need to pay for it. Even then exceptions do occur.
Coordinating and recording what has already been scanned must occur, to prevent duplications in
the archive scan database so look for a system that has failsafe mechanisms to ensure scanning
takes place.
Step 7: File Processing Instructions Once you’ve got the scan data you need to know how to process it. The basic processing rules for
archive scanning will require you to:
Choose a file format
Choose a file naming convention
Opt to rotate landscape images, or keep everything in portrait
Insert bookmarks
Parse information through an OCR engine for search capability
Add metadata
There are many more settings to consider before you start, but this detail forms part of deeper
planning process.
Step 8: Exceptions It’s rare for an archive scanning project to be just neat bundles of loose A4 sheets. Archive boxes
commonly contain older electronic formats like Zip discs, USB storage and CDs and you’ll need to
provide the operator instructions on how to handle these. Some boxes can include damaged
materials, imprinted materials or faded blueprints. You’ll need to know what to do with these items
when it comes time to scan them. If you don’t have a plan for exceptions it’s a guarantee that your
scanning project will grind to a halt almost immediately!
Step 9: Reassembly The scanning process will strip every document to its components so that it can fit through a
scanning device. You’ll need to provide instructions on whether you want the document
reassembled. Choosing not to reassemble can save considerably time and cost during the project.
You can choose to reassemble as per the original or stack neatly without reassembly.
Step 10: Upload and Storage Methods Archive scanning generates significant volumes data. You’ll need to know where this data should be
stored, how it should get there and what sort of redundancy is required. Clockwork can help with
the process of uploading to a site like Aconex, Documentum, EMC or integrate with your custom
document management system on request.
Step 11: Treatment of the Originals Once your documents have gone through the entire process you’ll need to decide what to do with
the originals. You can opt for secure destruction of all or part of the documentation. Alternatively
you may choose to retain the physical documents, stored in a method that saves the maximum
amount of space. Of course the more thorough the scanning process the less likely it is you’ll need to
retain these documents.
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Hint: Clockwork already has a step by step design program for ensuring every question is answered upfront which you may wish to
take advantage of.
3. Resourcing an Archive Scanning Project You’ve got management buy in and a rough plan of attack. You now need to determine a budget and
the best way to resource the project. The three most common ways of staffing an archive scanning
project are:
Option 1: Contract a scanning service The easiest, fastest and best value for money method is to contract a scanning service. Contracting a
scanning service:
Requires no project management resources
Offers the most experienced operators for fastest project execution
Provides industrial rated scanning equipment and includes specialty services such as
microfiche scanning and photography, fragile document scanning and document
repair.
Facilitates continuous processing for fastest execution
Offers documented processes for Quality Assurance
Presents advanced processing options for you to consider
Allows integration with MIS or doc management systems on request.
This method is recommended if there is no management experience in the project, if the archive is
large, complex or old or if the desire to do the work within the organisation is low. Contracting a
service means you don’t have to worry about human resources, training and QA processes and the
smooth and continual operation of the project will require minimum input from you. Typically most
medium to large businesses who don’t have dedicated document management teams will choose
this option.
Option 2: Recruiting employees experienced with archive scanning or using
existing document management employees Depending on the size of your project and the strength of your management team, you may have
capacity within your organisation to run an archive scanning project. Building your own scanning
team:
Requires project management resources to design, plan, execute and maintain
essential project functions.
Allows you to recruit experienced operators sourced by your HR department
Requires dedicated office space
May require an increase in budget to purchase or rent specialist scanners. Note that
you still may need to outsource particular documents that are too large or difficult
to scan
May have an impact on the day to day workload of your document control team
Presents advanced processing options for you to consider
Allows direct integration with MIS or doc management system.
This option is generally considered by large corporations with dedicated document control teams
and requires backing from HR and both internal training and also external training from scanning
equipment providers. Scanning work is labourious and it can be difficult to retain staff who are
dedicated scanner / checkers who also have a high rate of accuracy. Document management staff
also cost a company considerably more per hour so it’s important that the overall cost of the project
be managed.
Option 3: Using temping staff and renting or buying a dedicated scanning
machine
For small projects of low importance temping staff are sometimes hired from the local temping
agency. This is the most hands on approach and typically the slowest as temp staff usually don’t
have the speed or accuracy associated with trained document controllers or reprographic staff.
Choosing this method means:
Hands on management is required to make all project decisions as temp staff will
not have the authority or inclination to make critical judgements
Your operator will have little or no experience
There is no recourse with the temp staff once the job is complete so if quality
becomes a consideration after the scan there is little you can do about it.
You’ll need office space
Basic scanning equipment required, but you may still need to outsource the
exceptions.
Batch Processing that is slowed down by exceptions
Low Capacity equates to long project length
Time based charges means there is no incentive to finish the project on time.
This method is suggested for small projects where scan quality and QA is not as important. For larger
projects resourcing this way is not the best value for money.
Hint: Management is the critical component of a successful archive scanning project. If experienced management resource is lacking from your project either delay the project until you have the appropriate management resource or contract a scanning service.
4. Procurement – Quotes or Tendering For the purposes of this whitepaper we’ll assume that you’re resourcing this project by contracting a
scanning service.
Procuring a quote for an archive scanning job is always challenging because of the many variables
involved. It’s common for large scanning jobs to go out to tender. There are a number of companies
in the marketplace who can quote. Below is a list of procurement tips for you to follow:
Tip 1 : Have enough information on hand We commonly get clients asking for a fixed price per box without knowing how many documents
they have and what state the documents are in. You’ll find many companies will just refuse to quote
if you can’t give them at least an indication of what you have. Be prepared to invest some time so
that you can provide counts for an average archive box including the number of A4, A3 or larger than
A3 documents. Alternatively commission a survey of the documents so that you know what you’re
dealing with.
Tip 2: Look for value not lowest price Most procurement services already focus on value but this is especially important when it comes to
scanning services. Archive scanning projects are labour intensive and require constant management,
so a very low scanning quote either means lax management on behalf of the supplier or that the
supplier plans to externalise the burden of managing the project onto you.
Tip 3 : Know what’s not included in the price Unfortunately many clients are not aware of what isn’t included in their archive scan quote . To
ensure you don’t get a nasty surprise once you begin the project make sure you ask what’s not
included in the price. Less reputable companies will quote impossibly low prices to win your business
and lock you into the project. Once the project starts you can suddenly find that things as basic as
disassembling and reassembling originals aren’t included in the price.
Tip 4 : Find a specialist Anyone with a scanner and a sales pitch can sell you an archive scanning project. Your best bet is to
find a specialist who can manage the project and provide you a useable archive. Look for someone
with experience and references who can provide case studies. No supplier can provide a reliable
quote without requesting at least some basic information so be wary of salespeople who fire a price
at you off the top of their head. Finally, if a supplier is not prepared to visit you and at least take a
look at your archive on site, strike them off your list of potentials.
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Hint: If you don’t have the time you can always commission Clockwork to accurately survey your document archive.
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