Our process
How a digitization project actually runs
A project moves through ten stages: assessment, collection or on-site setup, document preparation, scanning, text recognition and data extraction, indexing, quality verification, secure delivery, system integration, and ongoing records support. Preparation and indexing, not scanning, are usually what determine cost and duration.
The process
Ten steps from a records room to a working digital archive.
Select any step to see what happens in it.
We look at what you actually hold: volumes, document types, condition, how records are currently filed and what has to stay retrievable during the project. This is what a real quotation is built from, and it is the step most often skipped.
Why the assessment matters more than the scanner
Most disappointing digitization projects were mis-scoped, not badly scanned. An archive that looked like four hundred uniform boxes turns out to contain three decades of inconsistent filing, a run of bound registers nobody mentioned, and a shelf of drawings that will not fit any production scanner.
That is why we assess before quoting. It is slower to start and it produces a number you can actually rely on.
Where projects usually go wrong
- Preparation effort is underestimated, because it is invisible until someone opens the boxes.
- Indexing depth is decided late, after the price has been set around a shallower scheme.
- Nobody agreed what happens when a file is needed back during the project.
- The receiving system was not configured, so the finished archive arrives as a folder of PDFs nobody can use.
- Retention decisions were deferred, and material that should have been dispositioned got digitized at full cost.
Each of those is cheap to avoid at the assessment stage and expensive to fix once production has started.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a digitization project take?
Duration is driven mainly by preparation rather than scanning speed. Removing staples, repairing damage and sorting mixed material takes longer than capture on most archives. Volume, document condition, indexing depth and whether work happens on-site all change the answer, so timelines are set after a pilot batch rather than estimated blind.
Can we keep using our records while they are being scanned?
Yes. For archives that remain in active use we agree a retrieval route before collection, so a specific file can be pulled and sent back to you, usually the same day. Where recall demand is high, on-site scanning is often the better choice because nothing leaves the building at all.
Do you run a pilot before the full project?
For anything substantial, yes. A pilot batch establishes real throughput, exposes condition problems the initial survey missed, and lets you review image quality and index accuracy before volume production starts. It is also how a credible timeline and price are derived rather than guessed.
Who checks the quality of the output?
Images are checked for completeness, legibility, orientation and page counts, and index values are sampled against source documents. Anything failing goes back through capture rather than forward to delivery. You also review the pilot output and sign off the standard before production scales up.
What happens to our documents when the project finishes?
That is your decision. Records are returned, kept in storage, or securely destroyed with a certificate, but only on your written instruction. Some record classes must be retained in original form regardless of digitization, so we never destroy anything on our own initiative.
Tell us what is in your archive.
Send us your page or box estimate and we will come back with a scoped approach, a security plan and a written quotation.
Or call +971 55 430 1681