Costs and risks associated with back-capture digitisation
This section of the guidelines discusses the costs and risks associated with back-capture digitisation projects, along with ways to mitigate the risks.
Back-capture digitisation projects can have many potential benefits
Get more information on why undertake back-capture digitisation?
It is important, however, that your organisation also examines the costs and risks of digitisation. These should be outlined clearly in business cases along with risk mitigation strategies, where relevant.
Costs of digitisation
Do not be misled by advice that digitisation is cheap. Costs can be considerable and may vary according to the scope and aims of a project and the quality of digital images required. Common costs include:
- digitisation software, hardware and upgrades
- training and support for staff involved in digitisation work (some training may be offered as part of contractual agreements with software and hardware suppliers)
- space for digitisation to occur
- health and safety assessments and measures
- conservation work for any fragile records (where relevant)
- staff time to plan, establish and document the project with suitable parameters and benchmarks
- staff time to retrieve and prepare records, digitise, apply metadata, do quality control checks, return original paper records to storage, monitor and evaluate projects
- costs of manual metadata collection if required for back-capture projects
- managing variables like non-uniform or poor quality originals
- technical infrastructure and storage space for maintaining new digital copies
- providing software on desktops to view digital images
- training and change management strategies for all relevant staff including those accessing digital images
- ongoing maintenance and update of systems
- managing digital images over time (where relevant), for example, costs of migration.
The length of time it takes to physically digitise a collection of records is often underestimated and often represents the highest costs of any digitisation project.
If your organisation is outsourcing the digitisation project, your cost assessments will need to include costs provided by outsourced providers (often based on the number of pages digitised) but also the staff time required to:
- plan, establish and document the project with suitable parameters and benchmarks
- select contractors that can meet project needs and negotiate terms
- prepare (and possibly transport) records to and from the service provider
- liaise with contractors throughout the project
- perform checks and monitor and evaluate services provided
- train contractors in how to safely handle your records, particularly if they are required as State archives.
Get more information on inhouse or outsource.
Costs can be compared in the business case or cost-benefit analysis to:
- costs of inaction, for example, if we don’t do anything, what might that cost the organisation?
- cost savings that can be made by destroying original paper records (where relevant) and thereby reducing paper storage costs
- cost savings brought about by improving practices, providing better access to the records.
Note: Technology and data storage costs may be able to be reduced somewhat by trading quality for speed and smaller file sizes. However, in projects where the records have long-term value or are required as State archives, or need to be used as evidence of business activity, a high degree of quality must be maintained. This is to promote the longevity of the images and ensure they are authentic representations of the original paper records.
Get more information on managing digital images in your organisation.
Risks of digitisation
The following table outlines some potential risks and means to mitigate them:
| Risk | Risk can be reduced by |
|---|---|
| That money will be wasted or additional risks incurred by poor selection of records | Ensuring selected records support project aims and are well chosen. Get more information on selecting the right records for back-capture projects. |
| That the complexities of digitisation can be underestimated | Researching, planning and managing requirements for the project. Get more information on planning for business process digitisation projects. |
| That the costs of digitisation can be underestimated | Defining all expected costs as part of planning and ensuring adequate resources over the project’s lifetime. Considering how complex processing requirements or infrastructure needs may affect costs. |
| That original paper records cannot be destroyed after digitisation | Ensuring awareness of disposal requirements for original records before digitisation. Get more information on disposal of original paper records after digitisation. |
| That original paper records, including State archives, will be destroyed without authorisation. | Ensuring awareness of disposal requirements for the original/source records before digitisation. Implementing quality assurance measures to ensure that no unauthorised disposal takes place. Requiring senior approval for any disposal to take place. Contacting State Records NSW before digitising records required as State archives. |
| That original paper records will be damaged during the digitisation process | Training staff in handling records and maintaining original order, providing supervision, and building in quality assurance checks. |
| That digitisation will not produce an authentic representation of the original record | Identifying essential characteristics, setting benchmarks for reproduction, defining technical and metadata standards, and ensuring rigorous quality assurance checks. Developing and documenting business rules and procedures. Get more information on technical specifications, metadata requirements, benchmarks and quality assurance. |
| That digital images are not stored or protected appropriately | Managing images per the organisation’s records management program, ensuring secure storage, and using appropriate systems. Get more information on managing digital images as records, information security FAQs and relationship building for information security and management |
| That digital images will not survive and remain accessible and useable for as long as they are required | Using suitable technical standards, applying appropriate metadata and planning for longevity, (for example, migration). Assigning appropriate metadata and defining funds for ongoing management. |
| That there will be problems with service providers (for outsourcing arrangements) | Defining, documenting and communicating clear benchmarks and standards. Monitoring performance and ensuring all requirements are built into contracts. |
Note: Technology and data storage costs may be able to be reduced somewhat by trading quality for speed and smaller file sizes. However, in projects where the records have long-term value or are required as State archives, or need to be used as evidence of business activity, a high degree of quality must be maintained. This is to promote the longevity of the images and ensure they are authentic representations of the original paper records. See Managing digital images as records for more information.