An extremely simplified guide to planning a document imaging implementation at the University at Albany using the Nolij Web document management system from Perceptive Software Inc. We need to analyze what we have and how we use it to develop the best structure for our digital storage and to plan an effective use of the workflow technologies available to us. Details on just how to classify what documents presently exist and their purpose in the existing business process is the subject of a larger guide on the askITS Wiki of UA. https://wiki.albany.edu/display/askit/Document+Imaging+Implementation+Planning+for+Campus+Customers

1. Any administrative office seeking to digitize has to assess its needs and processes to choose a conversion strategy that
fits best. UAD can advise an administrative office on three basic strategies:
 Day forward conversion: Determine date and begin scanning selected, or all, records from that day on
 Image on Demand: Convert documents as they are requested from storage
 “Backfile” conversion: Completely convert all historical records
Deciding which strategy to pursue is based largely upon the frequency of retrieval (aka the activity rate on records), the
volume of historical records and the volume of records created as we move forward. Classifying documents into
functional categories is not something UAD can actually do for the office. However UAD can assist in the process of
building a document classification scheme while sharing established UA terminology in use for Nolij Web.
There is more than one objective in this process:
1. We wish to avoid duplicating information but ensure we can easily find what we need.
2. We want to ensure that FERPA, privacy, FOIP and related security concerns are all addressed.
3. We need to consider the retention/purge of the documents in our new digital records.
The office can begin the process of building a real-time records inventory and indexing with these steps:
 Why are these documents being encoded? What is the value of preserving a digitized copy of the document in
a format that will allow an almost exact future replication?
 List ALL the various kinds of paper documents in place now.
 How often are the original hard copy documents currently retrieved?
 Describe the indexing scheme for documents already in digital form
 Group the documents into sets of related items**
 List where documents are right now and how they are retrieved.
 List ALL document restrictions, identify which documents are limited in circulation and why
 List ALL people who access the documents.
 Describe how various people get documents now: what is referenced in pulling documents for their use.
 List the retention periods for document groups – how long they’re held, de facto archive plan(s)
 List all time periods when a surge in document production/collection happens
 List the groups of documents in order of importance/sensitivity
 List the document groups again in order of usage frequency.
 If we had only one field, aside from Albany ID, for calling up documents – what field would it be?