Section 4: Document Imaging Cost Considerations
The decision to convert documents or records to digital images is based on business need. Keeping records “just in case” a legal need may arise is not a legitimate business need.
The costs to scan hard-copy originals simply for retention purposes are not usually justified in comparison to the lower cost simply to box and store records that have a relatively short retention period and that are not subject to frequent retrievals.
The industry average to scan records is between $0.08 and $0.15 per page. A standard box of records is 3000 pages, typically costs about $250.00 - $450.00/box to scan with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and metadata. The cost to store on a system is another factor.
Considerations in cost to scan paper include:
- Anchor: #GPNIQHCQ
- Document Preparation. Anchor: #ENMVKPEY
- Scanning (200 - 600 Dots Per Inch - DPI). Anchor: #LFXHMJPR
- Indexing (# of Fields). Anchor: #GUQHYXIF
- Auto Classification of Documents. Anchor: #VUVQDDEI
- Searchable (Optical Character Recognition) Format. Anchor: #CAHEGUDB
- Bound materials, Drawings, Photos, etc. Anchor: #DYJPSIWS
- Image Enhancements. Anchor: #EOSFQXWX
- Notes (Post it Note or clipped) Capture. Anchor: #BLTVCREQ
- Pick Up, Delivery. Anchor: #YQTMVSQP
- Hosting Images. Anchor: #YHPCLBMB
- Output File (Preferably Portable Document Format (PDF) or Portable Document Format/Archive (PDF/A). Anchor: #MFITFWPP
- Storage of Materials. Anchor: #NLDDDPLW
- Software Costs. Anchor: #UUAOAYIP
- Transmission of Documents to TxDOT repository. Anchor: #OHHHVRWH
- Document Destruction After Quality Assurance (QA) Quality Control (QC) is performed and validated by TxDOT.