Sara, before you jump wholesale into a massive backfile conversion, you should bear in mind that the savings from eliminating storage of the paper alone will NEVER pay for the conversion (I have an Excel workbook that "crunches the numbers", if you need an analytical proof).
Instead, you may want to consider a method commonly known as "scan on demand", which, simply put, is to scan records (or groups of related records) as they are requested for use. This is MUCH less expensive, time-consuming, resource-intensive, and risky, than converting the whole backfile. If you are using a commercial records center for storage, your provider will usually offer this service.
To specifically answer your question about a document management system, you mention that your employer is an engineering firm, so you should look carefully at document management systems developed or tailored specifically for the engineering market, such as those offered by McLaren Software (http://www.mclarensoftware.com/), Bentley Systems (http://www.bentley.com/en-US/), or Intergraph (now owned by Hexagon AB) (http://www.intergraph.com/).
There are other engineering document management systems, but these are the ones I recall "off the top of my head."
Most document management systems tie in to scanners (both standard and wide format), but you can also purchase, if necessary, "document capture" software such as that offered by Kofax (http://www.kofax.com/).
I assume your company is using a CAD system to produce its current drawings. So, do you plan to "vectorise" the drawings? Vectorising is the process of converting the scanned raster image to a data set that you will import into the CAD system.
Finally, if your company's records are long-lived (>20 years), be aware that electronic systems of any kind are a really bad choice for long-term preservation.
Good luck,
Fred Grevin
[log in to unmask]
Fred Grevin
[log in to unmask]
212-788-8615 (office)
347-436-5360 (cell)
Please excuse the brevity of notes sent from my Blackberry
----- Original Message -----
From: Sara [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, November 07, 2010 07:36 AM
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [RM] Digital Archive Software
Hello,
I am trying to convince the company I work for to scan their inactive
records into a database that any employee can search. This should cut down
on off site storage retrieval costs and allow users to instantly find the
documents they need. I am wondering if anyone could suggest some software
that would facilitate this.
I am looking for something that is secure, and I want to be able to add
customized tags (this is for an engineering firm, so we don't necessarily
want to use the same descriptive tags a more academic archive might use). I
also want something that will migrate easily in the future, so nothing too
obscure or unsupported.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Regards,
Sara
List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]
List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]
|
