Scope - What are you Scanning

Here we determine what documents really need to be scanned, how many files, how many pages, image format, index values and how the scanned files will be named.

This is a great opportunity to purge very old documents and files. Do you really need to keep copies of invoices from 10 years ago? 

If you are only required to keep certain files for 7 years, consider scanning documents that are less than 5 years old. 

Clean pages are so much easier to process than ragged old, coffee stained pages. 

More importantly, condition affects the preparation component of a scan project. Prior to actually scanning a document, every staple and every paperclip needs to be removed. Every sticky note needs to be moved to a spot that won't cover information. Torn or folded pages need to be repaired or flattened. 

The condition of your files is 90% responsible for the cost and time a project will require.

How will the scanned images be accessed? Do you have a Document Management Solution we will need to load the images into? Are you planning on storing the images on a file server? This will help determine the indexing method we use.

If the images are simply going to be PDF or TIFF files, we will need to know exactly how you want the files named. 

If there is a Document Management Solution, we will need to know what index or metadata you require with each image file so we can configure a "Load File" to make sure the images are properly ingested into the DMS.

Is there a source file or database we can use to retrieve accurate index or metadata from? For example, if we are scanning invoices, do you have a data table where we can lookup the invoice number and pull back the vendor information? 

What resolution do you require the images to be scanned? A resolution of 150dpi is typically suitable for black and white text documents. Maybe you need a higher resolution for more detailed documents. We can scan up to 1200dpi but normally 300dpi is great.

Do your files need to be scanned in Colour?

Do you want the ability to search the contents of the files? We can OCR (Optical Character Recognition) your files, allowing you to find specific words within your PDF files.

If the scan project has a definite deadline, we really need to know what it is. This could impact the cost of the project. We may need to apply more resources to your project to ensure we meet your timings.