Johannesburg, 17 Jan 2007
Scanning and document imaging technology is an invaluable tool for organisations and government departments alike to capture information and store it more safely and inexpensively in electronic form.
Paul Mullon, information governance executive for Metrofile, discusses what additional value government departments can achieve through back-scanning.
Government departments sit on mountains of paper and generate and collect countless new documents on a daily basis. They also send truckloads of records to the National Archives in compliance with the National Archives and Records Service of South Africa Act 43 of 1996.
As indicators of the sheer volume of documents in government:
* In 2003, the holdings of the National Archives exceeded 140km of shelving.
* Of the billions of documents that government departments generate, National Archives commits to preserving only 5%, a target that it finds difficult to attain not for lack of documents but for their sheer volume, and the fact that many documents are not archival in nature.
Scanning, therefore, has a significant role to play in government departments. However, while the introduction of scanning and imaging technology can help government departments to better manage their processes and document environments, and reduce costs associated with storage, it presents them with a conundrum. Departments understand that back-scanning of existing documents will enable further reductions in storage costs and improve access to records in electronic format and thus ensure better public service delivery, cost saving and internal efficiency. But how much back-scanning must be done? Departments must draw the line about what they back-scan and once documents have been scanned, the original must not be neglected.
Stating the case for scanning, a survey conducted by the Association for Image and Information Management (AIIM) revealed that organisations deploying scanning and document imaging in their operations enjoy a higher satisfaction rate than other technology-related implementations.
Straight and narrow
When initiating a back-scanning project, some best practices are:
* Ensure the right equipment is in place to cater for the high volumes, supported with the right staff;
* Do not back-scan everything;
* Scan only those documents that are still active and necessary to perform a service; and
* Once a document has been scanned, ensure a document management procedure is followed and the electronic and paper documents correctly archived.
To ensure a successful back-scanning project, first determine what documents will best serve the department in electronic format. Then make sure all the necessary preparation work is performed on the documents that will be scanned. There are many factors that influence scanning accuracy and speed. Gathering documents into meaningful batches and preparing them properly ensures they can be easily scanned, and hiccups in the process can be ironed out before the scanner is warmed up.
Once the actual scanning has been completed, it is necessary to make sure that the department's indexing needs are met. There would be little value in back-scanning if the documents could not be found again in their electronic format. The degree to which the scanned documents are indexed depends entirely on what the department needs; so be sure to know what this is. A little analysis done up-front will save a great deal of time wasted later.
Scanning and back-scanning documents as they enter the department is a valuable undertaking to improve operational efficiency and customer service.
Share