Archived Records

While most school districts recognize going paperless ‘day forward’ will be the easiest and most cost effective decision to begin using OfficeScope there are many schools that consider a ‘back-filing’ project because they simply need the storage space for other things. If you find yourself in a situation where getting rid of the old paper is an urgent matter there are a few things to consider first:

There is not a software or hardware product in the world that will “do the work for you.” While OfficeScope provides the fastest and easiest methods to file documents it still takes a physical human to sort the documents, remove staples, flatten wrinkled pages and feed the scanner. Depending on the condition and amount of old documents this can be time consuming and costly. So, whether you “outsource” a vendor to do the work for you, have a current employee do the work or hire a part-time employee…you are still paying for human labor.

Back-filing is about creating a STRATEGY and setting the right EXPECTATIONS. It took decades to amass and file all that paper. It won’t be gone tomorrow. Make sure to pick a starting point and execute the right way. We will be there to help guide you through the process, but as long as you take your time you won’t get overwhelmed.

Some of your documents may be so old, faded or corroded that scanning them would be impossible. While you might get 70-80% of your physical space back there may still be a small portion of documents that have to stay in paper.

 CURRENT EMPLOYEES:

This approach would be a “long term” plan. Your employees don’t have the time to dedicate their entire job to scanning. Although, perhaps you have one or two employees that can dedicate a few hours a week to scanning -- If that’s the case you will see your storage room slowly shrink over time.

If you have a more immediate need you can directly hire a part-time employee to be dedicated to scanning. This often will cost LESS than outsourcing the project to another company. The reason is the hourly rate you pay the employee is probably the same hourly rate the outsourced company pays for the labor…but then they tack on more for their own profit.

There are many companies that can do all the scanning for you. This is easily the fastest and most efficient way to “get rid” of the old documents, although, it is by far the most costly. This is only recommended if you have an urgent need to get rid of the documents along with the budget to pay for it. It shouldn’t be done just because it would “feel good to see the paper gone”.