This guidance supplements the corporate scanning policy and the other policies found on Records Management section by outlining the practicalities of setting up a scanning operation.
You will need to know:
- What the information is – identify the key data fields, and whether you can generate sufficient metadata for future retrieval of information. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) applies equally to digital and hard-copy information, so consider retrieval from the outset
- Why we process it – if it relates to people, your department’s data protection audit register gives the lawful basis
- When to dispose of it – if it is a record, the retention schedule gives the retention period
- How and Where it is currently used – multiple services may rely on one source; some users may need it frequently and immediately, others only from time to time
- Who the information asset owner is – the information asset register gives the name.
Your information governance lead or the corporate records manager can help with any of this.
Make a plan
Assess the costs and benefits of scanning: identify the problem before assuming scanning is the solution. Are you running out of storage for hard-copy records? Does your storage space leave your records insecure or hard to access? Compare the cost against offsite storage or other alternatives. Look at the outcomes of similar digitisation projects in other organisations. Think about the risks involved, and your long-term security and digital preservation needs. Develop the scope of your scanning operation.
Will it cover…
- all of the information, or only a proportion of it?
- back-scanning, that is, processing a legacy of paper records?
- day-forward scanning, that is, the scanning of newly received paper documents?
- Optical Character Recognition (OCR) so the images are text-searchable?
- anyone else’s intellectual property, such as non-DCC copyright? If so, consult Legal Services
- personal information? If the move from paper-based to electronic processing affects the interests of data subjects in a meaningful way, conduct a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA).
Complete a scanning proposal and risk assessment, using the template at the end of the Scanning Policy. As you work on the proposal, identify people who rely on the information and consult them, giving plenty of time to respond. Allow extra time for consulting external stakeholders. You may also need to contact Legal Services, Audit Services, Records Management and Information Security.
The proposal says what to do with the originals after scanning. You might destroy them all, keep them all, or only keep originals with a long-term retention requirement. Or you might focus on those which a regulator, auditor or court is likely to ask for. It is rarely cost-effective to weed files before scanning, unless a high proportion is known to contain redundant, obsolete or trivial information (ROT). If your scanning preparation procedure includes removing ROT, you need to train operatives for this.
Hard copy records, digital access copies
Advantages:
- you can afford a light-touch scanning process if the originals are safe
- you can work from the originals in the event of technical failure
- you can free up key storage areas by storing originals cheaply offsite
- you can transfer historically significant originals to Derbyshire Record Office
Disadvantages:
- conflicting versions: colleagues may alter the original without updating the copy, or vice versa
- the costs of storage can mount up, even using offsite services
- information security measures need to cover both the digital and hard-copy versions
Digital records, destroyed originals
Advantages:
- you can access electronically-managed information remotely and flexibly – handy for home-working and the council’s drive towards Modern ways of working
- you can free up key storage areas by destroying the originals
- you can transfer historically significant digitised records to Derbyshire Record Office
Disadvantages:
- after originals are destroyed, any failure in the scanning process is irreversible. You may mitigate this risk by keeping the originals for a set period, to allow detection of errors.
- digital records are harder to preserve over the long term, because of file format obsolescence, bit-rot or damage to storage media.
- some people only trust paper and will resort to printing images out
Identify, assess and manage all risks. If you can’t find ways to manage them satisfactorily, don’t just plough on and hope for the best. Taking prompt action is fine, rushing is not. If you are under pressure to meet an unreasonable deadline, talk to your information governance lead, senior relationship manager, or the corporate records manager.
Keep the record’s qualities
The qualities of a record according to the international standard (ISO 15489) are reliability, usability, integrity and authenticity. Consider each aspect when planning to scan:
Reliability
Think about the completeness of the digitised files. Do you plan to scan blank pages of original documents, so that you can show nothing has been omitted? Will you scan everything in colour? This may affect the reliability of the digital version, depending upon the informational role of colour in the original. Ask stakeholders about their requirements, to make sure images are captured with the right sharpness and resolution.
Usability
Digitisation is self-defeating if there isn’t adequate access to the information afterwards. Consult your stakeholders about preferred file formats, and ensure they are regularly checked to avoid obsolescence – the Digital Preservation Coalition’s Bit List of digitally endangered species would be a good starting point. The information needs to be held in a secure system, available to everyone who needs it. When calculating costs of digitisation, consider the costs of software licences or staff training.
Integrity
Structure the digitised images to reflect the arrangement of the originals, so you can tell which documents were held together in the same physical folder, or which folders were processed together as a series. You could store the electronic files in a hierarchy of folders that reflects the relationship between them, or show that relationship in the metadata.
Authenticity
Record the important scanning decisions as you make them. Imagine a scenario in which someone claims the digital images are inauthentic. How do you disprove this claim? You show the scans were created through a robust process, followed by people who had been given proper training. You show the trail of evidence about what was scanned, how and when. This trail needs to last for as long as the records themselves, ideally in the metadata of each file. Include information such as the hardware and software used. This helps with quality assurance, for example, identifying a malfunctioning scanner.
The scanning process
Survey the documents, to work out how easy or difficult it will be to scan them properly. The process can be affected by each document’s physical state (for example, paper size, weight, binding or staples) and visual attributes (for example, colour or tonal range).
Scanning operatives should always work to a written procedure. This might cover:
- physical state - where the physical state is not compatible with the scanning hardware, you could work from a photocopy. Alternatively, you might use an overhead scanner or camera, or continue to rely on the original only
- paperclips, staples, fasteners etc: these should be removed, while avoiding damage to the document.
- stick-on notes: ensure the note does not cover other information. If it does, find a way to capture the information, e.g. by scanning the image with and then without the attachments
- physical amendments such as correction fluid: your scanning procedure could instruct scanner operatives to record that these are visible
- copying copies: it may be important to note when a document being digitised is itself a copy
- integrity: ensure that all pages of a multi-page document are kept together and in the appropriate order before, during and after scanning
- where large documents (such as those bigger than the scanner) are scanned, edges should overlap to ensure there is no loss of information
Quality assurance and review
There is no single test for whether scanned records are good enough. You should set a quality threshold which matches the significance of the information and the risks associated with it being damaged or lost. Quality assurance (QA) checks need to be completed within a reasonable time after scanning. You might build in some random sampling, to evaluate the sharpness of image, colour contrast, or completeness of metadata. Your QA procedures should allow you to halt scanning while resolving any issues: these might be technical (e.g. hardware needs to be serviced) or organisational (for example, documents are being scanned that we agreed to weed out).
If this is a one-off scanning project, you should review its successes and failures, typically a few months after you start making use of the digitised resources.
If this is a continuing scanning process, you should review it regularly, in accordance with the Corporate Scanning Policy.
This page is based on records management guidance note GN2021007 (v2.01), available on the EDRM.