It sounds like each situation and group of managers who deal with the
problem can come to very different conclusions.
I fall more on the side of keeping it in house. We had never imaged before
as of two years ago. We bought new equipment, worked with IT on a procedure
to migrate the documents and trained good personnel on a very aggressive
schedule. We've now completed all the back-imaging from our business case
and have kept up with the day to day imaging.
To some degree I think there are two important factors. One is that you
can't simply throw money at imaging and solve it in or out of the company.
We took our learning curve pretty seriously and have stuck to good
practices. We don't have top notch scanners, nor do we have perfect
software, but we were realistic about the amount of documents we could scan
and we have some of the best imaging personnel possible. That's my second
point that you have to hire and pay market to good personnel to do your
imaging.
The thought of imaging doesn't seem like it's a difficult task, but to image
a large quantity of documents with high quality results and be able to do
that day after day, year after year, does take a special individual. Until
you find the right individuals I can sure see how scanning in house could be
a nightmare. Having said that and having researched the costs of
outsourcing, I know we save a pretty good amount of money having a solid
in-house imaging department.
As we hit times of higher quantity we've been fortunate to have some
qualified "hired guns" who can come in for us on a temporary basis and
provide relief until the surge is over.
-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Josh Price
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2005 12:08 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Cost of Converting Paper Files to CDs, Why not just outsource?
Have Film Copies along with your CD o
I tend to disagree with Hilary. We had one of our clients spend close to
$100,000 in equipment and around $30,000 in training only to get very
frustrated with the process and out source it. Their H.I.M. director said,
"The amount of back log records we had haunted me in my dreams every night
until we appointed your company to do the work for us!..." Proof is in the
pudding.
Joshua Price
Director of Marketing & Sales
Records Management, Inc. &
Blue Sky Imaging Inc.
628 Lovejoy Rd. Bldg. 2
Fort Walton Beach, FL 32548
Tel: 850-243-4433
Fax: 850-244-4612
Cell: 850-699-4669
Direct Connect: 186*131442*1
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hilary Axelson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2005 10:50 AM
Subject: Re: Cost of Converting Paper Files to CDs, Why not just outsource?
Have Film Copies along with your CD o
>I am a Records Manager and I also disagree with the statement "it is
> better to outsource your scanning" It is always wise to have quality
> checks in place-the best way is having one person scan and someone with
> authority doing quality checks. I instill "pride in work" to all my
> employees and they have done a good job knowing they have contributed to
> a VERY worthwhile purpose. When you outsource, they have no vested
> interest in the documents they are scanning, but we, in records know the
> value of our documents.
>
> Respectfully,
> Hilary Axelson
> City of Las Cruces
> Records Manager
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Steven Whitaker
> Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2005 9:38 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Cost of Converting Paper Files to CDs, Why not just
> outsource? Have Film Copies along with your CD o
>
> I disagree with the statement that "it is always better to oursource
> your scanning"
>
> Best regards, Steve
> Steven D. Whitaker, CRM
> Records Systems Manager; City of Reno
>
>>>> [log in to unmask] 01/06/05 04:41AM >>>
> I agree, CD's are fragile if not handled properly. Some of you may
> already
> know this but along with your CD or DVD (you can get copies of all your
> data
> on CD/DVD within them a self-contained database) request back ups you
> can
> have stored off site, one also needs request a copy and backup of
> your
> documents/images on 16mm film from your conversion service bureau. The
> film
> can legally replace the original paper allowing you now to dispose of
> the
> paper, and the film is legally admissible in court and considered a
> replacement of original paper by the gov't as well. If you have an
> electronic index file (like excel or ASCII file), coding or indexing
> costs
> are reduced significantly because those indexes are turned into
> barcode
> separator sheets that automatically code the fields that identify the
> document or document set.
>
> It is always better to outsource your scanning, even if it is only a
> couple
> of boxes a month (you may still get volume discounts even if it is not
> done
> all at once). The capital expense of purchasing, cleaning and
> maintaining
> scanners is a nightmare, technology is always changing. Hiring, paying
> and
> training individuals to do the job is risky and costly, the person may
> not
> have a vested interest in scanning all of the documents nor scan them
> properly. Who is accountable for mistakes found years from now? Not
> the
> employee, the person who hired them or upper management that made that
> decision. How about the learning curve? Why not start getting an
> immediate
> return on investment by outsourcing the project and having access to
> your
> documents electronically immediately? Smooth Solutions guarantees 100%
> QC
> of all images and we can go onsite. Full references provided. Please
> let me
> know of any projects in the pipeline or would like more information.
>
> Kathy Land
> Business Development Manager
> Smooth Solutions, Inc.
> Document Scanning, Indexing and Conversion
> 16mm, 35mm, Microfilm, Fiche, Paper and Large Format, &Color
> Scan: Binders, Folders, Film Libraries, Stored documents etc.
>
> 300-2 Route 17 South, Suite 4
> Lodi, NJ 07644
> Ph: 973-249-6666 x107
> Cell: 201-741-6725
> Fax: 973-249-6667
> [log in to unmask]
> [log in to unmask]
> www.smoothsolutions.com
>
> Departments we work with;
>
> Records MIS/IT Legal/Contracts
> Facilities Engineering Research & Devel
> HR Finance Manufacturing
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
> Behalf Of Peter Kurilecz
> Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 12:00 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Cost of Converting Paper Files to CDs
>
>
> On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 11:45:58 -0400, Belrose, Sharon
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>>I was told that none of their law firm customers re using CDs for
> permanent storage.
>
> your original posting didn't mention that your project was for
> permanent
> records.
>
> as has been discussed numerous times on the list CDs are not suitable
> for
> the long-term storage of permanent records. if the records are truly
> permanent then consider microfilm instead of CD.
>
> but are the records truly permanent? Don't they really belong to your
> clients?
>
> respectfully
>
> peterk
>
> List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
> Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
>
> List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
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>
> List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
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>
> List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
> Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
>
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