Collection of documents for scanning for most projects is our own transport and staff. The collection is usally done with existing archive boxes, or archive boxes that we provide. We do not normally charge for the boxes as they are used for many projects once the paper has been securely shredded at the end of the project. Every box is labelled with a unique job and box number. The labels are kept anonymous for security reasons. The vehicle will have enough fuel to come directly back to our office.

Often clients can provide us with a list of files from, for example, their HR management system. We can use this data to generate a barcode for each file.  If index data is not available, we will index the files at this point.

Each barcode is then placed with each file. This then keeps the files traceable, we will know what box each file is in. Each file is now a unique record in our database. This data is then used later in the process to run a 100% File Present Verification Process.

Before documents are scanned, all the staples, paper clips and bindings need to be removed. This is a very manual process and is often combined with inserting the barcodes.

The documents are now ready for scanning. We have a number of scanners, mainly Kodak scanners that we use in our production. We generally use midrange document scanners. This gives us a chance to constantly monitor the quality of the output and deal with any paper jams and multi-feeds.

Here our software systems will search for barcodes and each time the software finds a valid bardode on a scanned document, it will split the scanned file, and name the file with the barcode number. The barcode number is usually the unique record ID from our database.

The index is usually complete at this point. The barcode is linked back to the database, so we know exactly what the file is.

Some projects where data is not provided in advance or where we can use Advanced OCR Data Capture Processes, then this process happens at this point.

During the scanning process our operators constantly monitor the images that are being created. Our midrange scanners provide enough time for this process. Random statistical quality controls are also in place to check batches of documents, in the event of a failure, batches being rescanned.

Here we can now run queries on the scanned files that have been created and relate this data back to the original index information that was provided. Discrepancies are investigated and reported.

Most of the work that we return is PDF these days. A PDF can contain searchable OCR text, which can be searched upon, or extracted and used within a Document Management System. This is the process that OCR processes the raw scanned files and creates a searchable PDF, or a separate text file in the case of files that cannot contain text, such as TIFF or JPEG scanned files.

Every project if different. Some require a scanned document to be returned in a Windows folder structure, some will require a separate index file, such as a CSV, Excel, Access database. At this point our processes are designed for the clients specific requirements, the scanned file format, TIFF, PDF, PDF/A, and the formatting of the file names and index formats are produced at this point.

All data is sensitive and our suggestion is that all data should be encrypted to AES 256 standards, whether we are sending the data on a USB, DVD, or via our Cloud Service.

Once encrypted, the data will be returned to you. We have secure cloud services for this, secure mail, or personal delivery. Where a physical delivery is happening, the data will be securely double wrapped.

There are 3 options after scanning:

• Securely deliver the documents back to you.
• Securely store the documents in a purpose build warehouse.
• Securely shred the documents once you have Signed a Destruction Authorisation.

Data is kept for an agreed amount of time, usually 2 months, in order for the data to get onto your systems, and become backed up. After this, the data will be securely removed from our already encrypted systems.