Case Study - Scanning
Paperless working at Redbridge Borough Council
We digitised 13m archived documents for the London Borough of Redbridge. As a result, they’ve been able to reduce office space, enable flexible ways of working and deliver instant access to historical records.
New ways of working
Facing growing demand and reduced budgets, the London Borough of Redbridge kicked off a major transformation. Agile working was a key goal, with laptops replacing PCs and remote working becoming the norm. They also needed a new office strategy.
With basements and warehouses full of historical paper records, it was clear they had to go digital.
Phased approach
Phase 1 involved scanning and indexing 13m documents from Planning and Children’s Services. We worked closely with Redbridge to plan it, taking into account location, sensitivity and the volume of the departments’ records. Firstly, we scanned each page as a searchable PDF. Then we indexed them to NEC Document Management as cases rather than document types, which made them easier to find.
We also included a scan-on-demand service for urgent requests. This meant scanning any document sent to our business centre and returning it digitally in just a few hours.
Great results
Phase 1 finished on time and on budget. Any mistakes in the paper files were also corrected at the point of scanning, meaning Redbridge were ready for the introduction of GDPR.
We’re now helping Redbridge plan the completion of Phase 2, scanning live files and creating a digital archive for their legal team. They’re also considering a move to the hosted version of NEC Document Management to deliver further efficiencies.
