There are many reasons to digitize your paper documents, but it can be hard to know where to start. With the steps in this article, you can experience increased efficiency and lower costs for your business.
After completing document scanning, indexing and hosting of your paper files, you will see improved search ability and rapid access to your records. Your team will have more time to focus on important tasks, as opposed to spending hours looking through paper documents.
Converting your paper records to digital documents in-house requires a lot of time and effort. Bay Area Records provides various solutions that can make this process quick, cost-efficient and simple.
However, in order to ensure that your document scanning project is successful, here are a few things to consider before you the start of your project:
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Determine What You Need From a Document Scanning Project
Is it a one time or ongoing project? Are your digital documents only for archival purposes or will they need to be accessed on a regular basis? What are the various types of documents that are involved in the project (e.g. Human Resource, Finance, Research, Medical, Other).
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Understand Your Workflow Needs
Every company has unique workflow needs, and it is important to understand yours. What are current and future document retrieval needs? Are you looking to incorporate an automated workflow process?
Whether you need to scan an individual backfile legacy record project or are looking for a document management solution for multiple types of files on a go-forward basis, Bay Area Records can help with our high-speed scanning services.
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Assess Your Paper
Review your paper files. Are your documents standard size? Chances are that most pages are 8.5 x 11” paper, but there might be some irregularities that could slow down the scanning process. Do your records include small receipts or oversized documents?
How many documents do you have? Read one of our previous blog posts to learn how to get a good estimate of your record volumes.
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Indexing
Indexing is the process of applying logic to your documents and determines how your documents will be organized and retrieved electronically.
If you work in accounts payable and are sending invoices for scanning and indexing, details such as invoice number, invoice date, PO number and invoice amount may be critical data fields for finding a specific document.
If you already have a document management system or will store your digital images on an internal shared drive then you may require specific index details be included in your digital file naming.
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When Scanning Is Complete
Once your paper records are digitized you may want to preserve the original paper documents as backup; while it is now rare that digital records are not considered sufficient for legal purposes, some industries still prefer to have both a digital and hard copy paper records on file. If you plan to keep original paper records this is an important decision to make in advance of starting a scanning project as files may need to be reconstituted as part of the scanning process. Document destruction after scanning is the more common approach, and usually considered best practice so that only one “original” copy of any record exists. If one of your objectives from record scanning is to recover floor space and reduce storage costs then destruction of paper originals is certainly the recommended best option.
Odiss™ Document Management Software
Bay Area Records offers its clients a document management system that is simple to use from any location at any time. Odiss™ Document Management Software is Bay Area Records’ cloud-based document archive with workflow capabilities. It provides:
- Secure and compliant cloud archive
- User access permissions
- Full audit trail of users and actions taken
- Direct upload and indexing capabilities
- Robust integration capabilities
- Reporting and analytics by document type, volume or data
Odiss™ eliminates manual processes and makes your company more efficient, saving money and time.
About Bay Area Records
Bay Area Records’ OdissTM Software is developed, supported and maintained by Octacom and strictly follows industry-specific guidelines and policies in order to maintain the utmost security and discretion in every sector and is compliant with all data laws in Canada.
Our document scanning services provide an affordable and convenient solution for the conversion of paper records into a digital file format. Whether you have a one-time imaging project or require ongoing document scanning, we guarantee the timely and precise conversion of your paper documents and files.
To learn more about Bay Area Records’ Document Scanning Services, please contact us today.
