Backfile Conversion Services

Conversion of existing paper and microfilm records (‘backfile conversion’) can be a very time-consuming and expensive issue – sometimes exceeding the cost of the system itself. Careful analysis of this issue can often lead to substantial savings in the backfile conversion activity.

The following aspects are analysed:

• the existing documentation
• the requirements of the system
• legal requirements
• regulatory requirements
• audit requirements
• other commercial and operational requirements

We  evaluate the documents currently held, and advise on the most appropriate ways of proceeding. We assist clients to reduce the cost of scanning their backfile by identifying those documents whose scanning is critical to success. We advise on retention scheduling and retrieval criteria.

The deliverable is a report identifying the recommended action to be taken with the various document classes, including:

• identification of vital records.
• whether to scan, retain in physical format (locally or off-site) or dispose of the documents.
• indexing requirements – these may be a sub-set of the indexing criteria used for ongoing documents to reduce costs
• elimination of duplicates
• retention schedules

Clients who have benefited from this Service:

• BCWA
• British Gas