our process

The question we are most often asked is: can I destroy the original documentation once it has been scanned?

And the answer is, as long as you follow the correct process in committing your records to digital image: YES.

The guidance that should be followed when converting paper records to electronic format depends upon the type of records being scanned: for general business records which need to be retained for 6 years for VAT inspection purposes HMRC guidance should be followed. IFAs and investment companies requirements for record keeping are governed by the FSA, whilst the Law Society provides guidance for Law Firms. Extracts from these organisations web sites that are relevant for electronic document retention can be found by clicking here.

Whichever body provides guidance on electronic document storage there is an important British Standard (BIP 0008) which lays down the process steps and guidelines required when converting paper records to legally admissible electronic records. The selection of a supplier whose process for conversion complies to this standard is essential.

1 undertake pilot

All of our jobs start with undertaking a small pilot in order to set specific scanning parameters to meet individual client requirements.

2 specification sheet

There are a small number of variables which need to be agreed prior to undertaking a project which include agreeing indexing and processing criteria, image resolution (from 100 to 600 DPI), image format (TIFF, PDF, or JPEG for example) and overall record processing (colour, black and white, simplex or duplex scanning). Undertaking a pilot ensures that you, our customer, input into the overall process and that subsequent work is undertaken to the specification agreed with you.

3 work schedule

We will agree collection and delivery dates with you and manage your project to this agreed schedule. We process all our work in batches, which means that each collection we make has a unique reference allocated to it, and can be tracked individually through our process.

4 document preparation

Documentation will be sorted in preparation for scanning. this means that we will remove staples and treasury tags and we will mark documentation that needs to be processed differently - where colour scanning is required, for example land registry plans and photographs. Documents are sorted to the specification agreed with you and poor quality original documents are flagged in order that the images can be enhanced when they are processed

5 document scanning

Our scanning equipment is preset to settings for image quality to control the output of images to pre-agreed customer settings. These settings will have been determined with you through the processing of a small number of test files prior to the processing of the main body of the work. Any original documents that are of poor quality will be processed at individual settings by the scanning operator to enhance the image to an acceptable level. The scanning equipment used has double feed and staple detection functionality to ensure that all pages are scanned.

If an index has not been previously supplied to us then the index of records will be built during the scanning process.

There will be a visual check as to the quality of all images through the scanning process by the operator. This check is supported by a software audit of images to detect any possible image corruption issues and also an ad hoc audit of images during image preparation prior to burning images to DVD/CD. If any image quality issues are detected at these stages then the images are reworked.

6 delivery

Images will be delivered back to you on CD or DVD for transferring onto your internal computer systems. We generally provide 2 sets of data discs in order that you can keep one set of discs off site for data recovery purposes.

7 original documentation

Following delivery of the images we provide a period of 30 days for clients to satisfy themselves that the work has been delivered to the agreed specification, following which a destruction confirmation certificate is signed which acts as an instruction by you that the original documentation can be securely destroyed or returned.

8 file retrieval service

Whilst we are processing your documentation we provide a scan and return file retrieval service.

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home contact us company what we do our process document scanning quality control microfiche conversion security shredding paper recycling web hosted archive technology the benefits market sectors case studies pricing calculator facts about paper links and downloads	our process The question we are most often asked is: can I destroy the original documentation once it has been scanned? And the answer is, as long as you follow the correct process in committing your records to digital image: YES. The guidance that should be followed when converting paper records to electronic format depends upon the type of records being scanned: for general business records which need to be retained for 6 years for VAT inspection purposes HMRC guidance should be followed. IFAs and investment companies requirements for record keeping are governed by the FSA, whilst the Law Society provides guidance for Law Firms. Extracts from these organisations web sites that are relevant for electronic document retention can be found by clicking here. Whichever body provides guidance on electronic document storage there is an important British Standard (BIP 0008) which lays down the process steps and guidelines required when converting paper records to legally admissible electronic records. The selection of a supplier whose process for conversion complies to this standard is essential. 1 undertake pilot All of our jobs start with undertaking a small pilot in order to set specific scanning parameters to meet individual client requirements. 2 specification sheet There are a small number of variables which need to be agreed prior to undertaking a project which include agreeing indexing and processing criteria, image resolution (from 100 to 600 DPI), image format (TIFF, PDF, or JPEG for example) and overall record processing (colour, black and white, simplex or duplex scanning). Undertaking a pilot ensures that you, our customer, input into the overall process and that subsequent work is undertaken to the specification agreed with you. 3 work schedule We will agree collection and delivery dates with you and manage your project to this agreed schedule. We process all our work in batches, which means that each collection we make has a unique reference allocated to it, and can be tracked individually through our process. 4 document preparation Documentation will be sorted in preparation for scanning. this means that we will remove staples and treasury tags and we will mark documentation that needs to be processed differently - where colour scanning is required, for example land registry plans and photographs. Documents are sorted to the specification agreed with you and poor quality original documents are flagged in order that the images can be enhanced when they are processed 5 document scanning Our scanning equipment is preset to settings for image quality to control the output of images to pre-agreed customer settings. These settings will have been determined with you through the processing of a small number of test files prior to the processing of the main body of the work. Any original documents that are of poor quality will be processed at individual settings by the scanning operator to enhance the image to an acceptable level. The scanning equipment used has double feed and staple detection functionality to ensure that all pages are scanned. If an index has not been previously supplied to us then the index of records will be built during the scanning process. There will be a visual check as to the quality of all images through the scanning process by the operator. This check is supported by a software audit of images to detect any possible image corruption issues and also an ad hoc audit of images during image preparation prior to burning images to DVD/CD. If any image quality issues are detected at these stages then the images are reworked. 6 delivery Images will be delivered back to you on CD or DVD for transferring onto your internal computer systems. We generally provide 2 sets of data discs in order that you can keep one set of discs off site for data recovery purposes. 7 original documentation Following delivery of the images we provide a period of 30 days for clients to satisfy themselves that the work has been delivered to the agreed specification, following which a destruction confirmation certificate is signed which acts as an instruction by you that the original documentation can be securely destroyed or returned. 8 file retrieval service Whilst we are processing your documentation we provide a scan and return file retrieval service.	T T T Latest News BIP 0008 Legal Admissibility and record retention LawNet news from our branches archived news
Contact : thecabinetoffice, HEAD OFFICE: 3 Station Yard, Station Road, Hatton, Derbyshire, DE65 5DU Telephone : 08458 123 567 E-Mail : enquiries@thecabinetoffice.co.uk Design and build by GemBiz