Digitizing Records – Is It the Right Solution? Ms. Kathryn H Nevins, CRM March 2017

The Question Digitize or not to digitize – how to know? Just like setting up your RM program start with the basic 5W’s: Why? Two questions here for RM reasons or the customer/business What? How much? How long? What standards? Who is the customer for this? Return on Investment (ROI)/Does it really make sense? From AIIM.org website: What is Imaging? Imaging allows organizations to capture paper-based information and convert it to electronic images that are stored in a computer electronically.

Why digitize? Does the office look like this? Or is the boss saying do this – but doesn’t know what this project will entail?

What to digitize/How much? What questions : Only permanent records? Long term records that are used frequently? Short term records that are taking up to much space? One of a kind records Will these go into an RMA/webpage/share location/SharePoint portal pages? Who's the customer for this information? How much: All Only those that the boss wants Some of what the boss wants/you want/customers want Only permanent Only one of a kind

How long should this take? Well that depends: Are you going to have this done with personnel already on staff? If so then: What equipment What is the throughput of the equipment Will you Q&A as you scan, after your scan or not at all (i.e. accept risk of the output not being complete) Will the organization be able to absorb the cost of redirected resources and/or expenditure on equipment Or will you contract out the project: Make sure the requirements are crystal clear Watch out for project creep/good idea fairies = more money Based on your requirements will the organization support the amount of time Will the customer be able to wait that long?

Standards Which standards should you use? State government – ran a google search for “digitization standards for Florida” and received 430,000 results to be used ISSO standards - ran a google search for “ISSO digitization standards” and received 177,000 results to be used National Archives – click on link to see their strategy Internally created and required What should the desired output be for your organization? PDF-A (with OCR text) or just an image PDF 300 or 600 DPI Metadata decisions – i.e. how much metadata will you need if you OCR?

Last Steps Identify customer – normally comes out as you layout the requirements Assists with driving the Why and How Long questions Return on Investment (ROI) OR as more commonly known – what do I get back? In a structured analysis is annotated as manpower returned to other duties, money saved in physical storage space used, space saved in offices working areas In an unstructured analysis – does it make sense to spend the money on this project? Last question: Does it make sense? If the answer is No you don’t if Yes be ready to begin!!

Other resources Google: Run a search for “digitization checklist” and find resources (free and not so free) for this subject (345,000K) National Archives – see previous hyperlink Peers FL ARMA Chapter

Questions/POC Kathryn H Nevins, CRM 813-529-6297 Kathryn.h.Nevins.civ@mail.mil