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City of Covington, GA Police Department - Conversion of over 450,000 pages of law enforcement records.

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Spartanburg Technical College - Conversion of over 300,000 Student Records.

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Increasing numbers of businesses, municipalities, schools and other organizations are turning to document imaging to increase efficiency and clean up the clutter.

Yet purchasing a document management system is only half the equation. It’s also necessary to convert all the paper records into digital documents. “Backfile conversion is the first step toward image-enabling an organization,” said Jeff Gordon, president of Simple Solutions Group, an Atlanta company that specializes in data access and information management.

Many businesses simply don’t have the hours or the manpower to accomplish the task. “It’s labor-intensive and time-consuming,” said Gordon. “Most organizations have decades of paperwork stored in file cabinets and storage rooms all over the facility or in off-site locations. And each file must be prepared individually. It’s an overwhelming job.”

The City of Marietta (GA) Police Department is a prime example. On any given day, the suburban Atlanta city generates hundreds of vehicle accident reports, property incident reports, crime reports and arson investigation reports. Not only are there a lot of files, but many of them contain hundreds of documents, including criminal records, case histories and photos.

The department purchased a state-of-the-art imaging and archiving system but soon realized it didn’t have the staff needed to convert all the paper documents into electronic files, which involved manually retrieving each file from the cabinets and preparing its contents for scanning – pulling staples, taping torn pages and stacking the documents according to size. Also important was matching photos and bar codes with names.

The department needed help. Pam Gordon, from Simple Solutions Group, supervised the backfile conversion process. “It was a demanding project, because we had to scan some of the documents, particularly the color criminal ID’s, more than once in order to get a better resolution,” she said.

Also challenging was making sure the name on each file matched the bar code on that file. That wasn’t a simple task, because criminals often use other names. In fact, Gordon noted, some criminals had a half-dozen or more aliases.

The City of Covington (GA) Police Department presented a similar situation. The department, which had purchased a new document management system, quickly discovered that it didn’t have the manpower necessary to handle the time-consuming task of backfile conversion.

Again, Gordon worked closely with her team to scan the department’s files into the new document imaging system. “We had our prep work down to a tee,” she said, noting that she helped staff prepare documents at the beginning of the project and then monitored them closely to make sure the job was performed accurately and efficiently. A typical workday began at 7:00 a.m. and often lasted until after 5:00 p.m.

Today the two police departments are operating more efficiently and smoothly than ever. Now that Gordon and her crew have scanned and indexed the records, locating a document is easy. Instead of searching through the cabinets for a particular record, employees simply log on to one of the computers connected to the electronic file system. If an officer thinks he knows the identity of a suspect, for example, staff can run a computer search by last name or ID number instead of looking through files or massive photo albums.

According to Stacey Cotton, police chief for the City of Covington, the archived records ensure that the department meets government requirements. “The law requires police departments to keep certain criminal records for 25 years or longer,” he said. What’s more, current crimes are often solved based on information from the past. “Law enforcement lives and dies by documentation.”

Gene Estensen, MIS director for the City of Marietta, agrees. “A crime reported today may not get solved until next year,” he said. “Now, the various components of each case are documented in one place. The department knows who was interviewed, how many search warrants were issued and the exact location of the evidence. Nothing falls through the cracks.”

Clients are delighted with the service Simple Solutions Group provided. “They were the best,” said Cheryl Vaughn, records manager for the City of Covington Police Department. “We didn’t experience any problems, and they finished the job right on schedule.”

Police Chief Cotton agrees. “I was impressed with the company’s ability to assess our needs and then develop a system to meet them. The conversion process was extremely efficient. They were completely focused on the task.”

Cotton doubts the department’s own staff could have accomplished the job. “It would have taken at least a year, because our employees have so many other duties.” In fact, he concludes, “I don’t know if we ever could have done it ourselves.”