DOCUPACE File Back Scanning Guide July 2011
When you begin using Docupace, one of the first questions you should ask is Am I only going to scan my day forward (new documents) in or am I also going to scan in my old documents? If the answer is New and Old, you will be quickly kicking off a Back scanning project. Before starting this project, it is important you answer some key questions: 1. When will you start back scanning - Immediately, wait a few months, etc.? 2. Who will do it - Existing staff, temp, outsource, etc? 3. When will they (staff) do it - An hour a day, full time to completion, 2 clients a week, etc.? 4. Do I have the right scanner? 5. How will they do it? Remove staples, organize files, remove dead files/accounts, etc.? 6. What are the financials around the project - Cost benefit of keeping the old documents versus time spent scanning and destroying? 7. How do I want to organize the electronic files Lots of detail or less detail for older documents? As you can see, there are a lot of questions that should be considered PRIOR to starting a back scan project. Having this plan detailed in advance will guarantee you not only an attainable goal set, but more importantly an achievable success. The concept of any good back scan operation is to define a repeatable procedure that helps you process a high volume of documents-within a logical organizational setup, in as short of time as possible. This white paper will guide you through answering these questions to help you achieve your goal of a successful back scan. 1. When will you start back scanning? Though Docupace is a simple and intuitive imaging and document management solution, it is highly recommended that you become a Docupace expert prior to beginning any backscan. The more you are familiar with the nuances of the system, the easier it will be for you to tackle the (perceived) daunting back scan job. This would apply for any new system you use not just Docupace. 2. Who will do it? This can be the toughest question. When tackling this issue, some initial questions to ask are: Is my staff fully utilized today? o If No, that is good as you have built-in staff readily available o If Yes, you will need to determine if they can still reallocate some additional time weekly to perform some limited back scanning. Granted, this may take your back scan longer to complete, but at no additional cost to the firm. What are my efficiencies from Docupace?
o Please keep in mind that the staff should see some automatic efficiencies in your new business/ day forward scanning (as opposed to paper filing) utilizing Docupace. Therefore, even if your staff is fully utilized prior to using Docupace, some free time may open up once they start the new business scanning. You should watch this time closely as you can repurpose existing staff directly to back scan. Do you have temporary staff available? o If Yes, do they understand your documentation well enough to electronically file without substantial supervision. This is obviously a good, lower cost alternative. o If Yes, but they don t understand the filing right now, can someone help train or guide them? This may also work provided correct supervision. o If No, are you willing to bring someone in specifically to perform backscanning? Temporary staff is always a very VIABLE solution particularly during the summer months when many offices have their staff s children home for the summer and looking for employment. They are trustworthy, generally cost less and your staff knows their traits well already enough to supervise them! Am I willing to outsource? Upside: Project can get completed quickly without hiring staff Downside: Generally more costly and still requires onsite staff to oversee in addition to provide project management. Also, there is always a trust issue when you have outside people touch your sensitive documents. Once you ve identified who will do the backscanning and how much time they will allocate, you are ready to tackle the next decision: when during the day will they scan. 3. When will they (staff) do it? A lot of this depends on the question above regarding WHO will be doing it. If you plan on leveraging your existing staff resources and can only allocate small amounts of time, there are a few potential approaches: 1. Simply block out time every day. For instance, between 11-12 on Monday, Wednesdays and Friday. This way, you are sure to lock in some time. 2. Set a goal that every time a client comes in for a review, that client s file will be cleaned/scanned/completed. This isn t a fixed time approach per se, but makes sure the staff manage their time according to their daily schedule. 3. If you utilize a temp, the schedule is obviously more flexible around the temp s time. As a note, you should consider having your more knowledgeable staff always available to make sure they can answer any questions the temp/support staff might have.
Whatever the time amount you decide, it is important that management identify this as a fixed responsibility. The scanning operators must not be allowed to push this off for some or other reason. Back scanning does not rank as one of the more fun responsibilities within an average work day, but a critical one nonetheless once you ve committed to going paperless. 4. Do I have the right hardware (Scanner)? The only hardware you need for a back scan may very well be the same hardware you use for your day forward scanning a scanner! Most offices already have some type of system that has scanning capability: a desktop scanner, a desktop All-in-one, or perhaps a larger network scanner. When deciding if the scanner you have is sufficient for the back scan, you need to consider a few things: Is speed of scan critical? o If Yes, you will probably eliminate the All-in-one desktop scanners as they generally can only scan 10-15 pages per minute. (These are the models you buy at any Staples or Office depot and generally cost approximately $300-$400.) Additionally, these systems can only scan 25-35 pages per batch (single scan). That is not much if you plan on scanning an entire account s worth of information. Will the scan put a burden on the existing machine (timewise)? o If Yes, you may eliminate the all-in-one devices (again) and perhaps even your network scanner - particularly if these are your primary systems for printing, copying and faxing. The additional task of scanning may simply overwork the system. (The Allin-one does additionally have a limited daily capacity - # of pages that can be scanned per day regardless of the speed. This may be only 750 pages). If you decide to purchase a new scanner, you need to identify a scanner that will support both your back scan and day forward. Most advisors believe they need more than they really do. For an individual producing advisor or a smaller field office, a scanner that scans at 20-25 pages a minute is more than sufficient. Usually these scanners can support approximately 1500 pages in day. So the speed is convenient for both back scan and day forward scanning and the daily load is very suitable for a backscan. The price is usually around $400-$600. Docupace or your broker dealer can provide you a list of suggested scanners. 5. How do I determine the order to scan? Each office has different objectives in back scanning and there is no right way or wrong way. Some methods:
1. Start clients alphabetically from A to Z 2. Select scanning MVP clients first, or perhaps set a rank for your client base and process in that order 3. Less structured but just as efficient, scan a client folder prior to them coming in for a review In all these cases you ve set the process in place for how the back scan should be managed. 6. What are some of the tricks to back scan? This is probably the most important question to answer. How you can answer this could SIGNIFCANTLY reduce your work effort. Again, best practices differ among the different offices. The usage of these tricks will depend on how you run your business and want to manage your electronic files. Keep in mind, the objective of any back scan is to try and scan your old records in as efficiently and as QUICKLY as possible. How you set up your files for scanning will help determine this. Do you find that you often retrieve older documentation? If you do, you may consider separating out more documents as separate records in the system. o Upside: You can find all your archived documents easier because you will be able to search for them individually. o Downside: It will take you significantly more time to back scan these document records individually. In the end, you may retrieve these old documents so infrequently, the saved time for easier retrieval in the back end will not nearly cover the time/costs on the front end from all the extra scanning and indexing. o In most cases, advisors rarely go far back in time to retrieve documents and therefore it makes more sense to bundle documents rather than separate. Some examples: Bundle all correspondence together as a single document and note the date range in the description field Bundle all file notes together as a single document and note the date range in the description field Bundle all ClearingFIrm forms Bundle all BD Forms How many documents do you want to store (versus need to store)?. Make sure you understand your Broker Dealer or RIA s document destruction and retention requirements. You may be storing documents that you don t need to any more such as closed accounts that have been inactive for a specific duration, or deceased client files. Even if you do want to keep these files (a closed account for example) a worthwhile trick here is to bundle the set as a single document record and add some appropriate notes in the record about the file. In this example, you could have scanned an ENTIRE client folder/account as a single document and indexed and captured it in less than a minute!
In many cases, a great side benefit of back scanning is that it gives you a chance to clean up your files. Now is your chance to make sure it isn t just garbage out/garbage in. Many reps have indicated that they reduce their document count by 10-25% just by cleaning up the accounts during back scanning! If you are affiliated to a broker dealer that is already using Docupace for back/home office processing, it is very possible that many of your filed documents are already in the system when you start. If they are, the first step in your process is reviewing account by account what is already in the system. Those scanned records can (pursuant to the BD) be removed from your files for automatic destruction. You may then be left with substantially fewer documents than expected to scan. When can I shred? This is a question for your broker dealer or RIA. You must make sure you have approval to shred prior to doing so. This document is only intended as a guide on how to electronically store your records so you are in a position to shred- according to your BD/RIA guidelines. What Next? Assuming that you have used the system for a while and are familiar with its use/functionality and have determined who will do the back scanning- and when they will do it, it is time to get set up. A Setup: Generate Document Type Coversheets If you are not using barcodes directly on your forms (depends on your BD and Docupace solution please consult your administrator), you will need to create document type coversheets. These coversheets will be used to individually index document records during the back scan (to be discussed in further detail later). 1. Go to the Administration tab 2. Select the Client Document Types (for example) link 3. Select Submit to be presented with a list of the document types available in the system 4. Select the check box to the left of the document types you plan to use in the backscan. Then select the Barcode button
5. Individual coversheets will appear. Print these out 6. You may need to select the next page to capture the other document types. 7. Make multiple copies of each document type. These coversheets may be used heavily during the backscanning process and will be used for EACH backscan. That is why you will make multiple copies of each (step 7). Some offices will make copies of the most often used coversheets in different light colors so they can easily pick these out when needed. SUGGESTION: Rather then get involved in mixing and match document type coversheets to your documents that you are going to scan, select a SINGLE document type coversheet called Unindexed Documents. For each document that you wish to separate within the account, place this coversheet. b. Start Back scanning! Create the Account Level Coversheet The Account Level coversheet will be the first page of your set when scanned. For each client account, you will start with this coversheet. 1. Locate the client account/subfolder in the system that you plan to backscan. If the account is not in the system already, create it. (Note: Again, this assumes you are already familiar with Docupace, how to search and retrieve client account folders, create new client/account folders, etc.) 2. Select the check box to the left the account and then select the barcode button at the subfolder level
3. A barcode coversheet will appear (if it doesn t, make sure your popup blocker is disabled and follow steps 1-3 again). Print the coversheet. 4. You will see the both the client information and the account/subfolder information on the coversheet. This way you can validate you have the right coversheet C. Organize the Packet (Batch) to scan You will now begin organizing the packet 1. Page 1: The account level coversheet already created (from B. above) 2. For EACH document (or set of documents) that you want to separate as a single record in the system a. Place the appropriate document type coversheet over the corresponding pages. i. For example, you would place the Unindexed document type barcode coversheet on top of the page (s) that would be included in this document record in the system b. Place the document(s) with the barcode on it i. If you don t want additional barcodes to be recognized on further pages, put vertical lines through the barcode 3. Continue placing the appropriate coversheet(s) on top of each document(s) or the document with barcode
4. The batch/packet described above would look like this: a. Client/Account coversheet b. Document type 1 coversheet c. Document (any # of pages) d. Document with barcode e. Document With barcode and 2 documents with barcodes crossed out f. And so on... 5. Once you have captured all the documents, scan the batch RESULT: Individual document records will be created directly in the client account folder based on the indexing classification of the document type coversheets! D. Complete the Indexing Though the majority of the indexing is complete, you may need to perform some light indexing at the document level such as document date or a note about the document/document set. 1. Search for and retrieve the account folder 2. You will now see individual records created for EACH document that you created a coversheet for. Each document will have the corrected document type associated to it. As suggested above,,,all document records will simply say Unindexed. 3. Select Edit on the first document, the split screen will appear 4. Add any additional values you think might be pertinent 5. TRICK: Rather than press Submit to complete the indexing and then edit the next document, simply select the Next button at the bottom of the page 6. This will take you to the next document in the set to index 7. Once you ve passed through all the documents, now select the submit submit. All the changes that you made will now be completed and committed to the system. 8. Success!
Best Practices 1. Indexing Correspondence Older Correspondence perhaps can be bundled by year or set of years. That way you aren t indexing correspondence individually. Once you ve gathered the set of documents (captured chronologically) and scanned them, in the notes field simply identify the date range of the documents. If in the rare occasion you need to search for an old piece of correspondence you ll be able to identify the record based on date range. From within the document, simply scroll through the documents until you find it the document in question. 2. File Notes Same as correspondence 3. Utilize archive Document Type For older Non-essential essential documents, you may want to simply bunch them together as an Archive document type. In the notes field, you can index it with date range of documents. These could be old forms. 4. Closed Accounts/Deceased Clients Should you decide you want to still store these records, it is suggested to scan these as a SINGLE record. You are only storing these for compliance/safekeeping. No need to over index. 5. Clean up folders: Push the staple removal/file clean up to low cost users Conclusion Never to be misinterpreted as easy, back scanning your old records will though provide you long term benefits including security, space reclamation, secession plan value add and of course general piece of mind. Following these simple steps will make the experience and easier one. Troubleshooting 1. My documents didn t go to the right client/account folder rather they went to the unindexed cabinet? A couple of possible issues: a. Make sure the first document type coversheet is directly behind the client/account coversheet. If it wasn t, the system will not know where to route the initial document or how to associate it and it will ultimately then send everything to the unindexed cabinet b. You cannot separate documents with the generic document separator sheet if you start the packet with a client/account coversheet. They must be system document type coversheets. c. Make sure that the first coversheet is indeed a client/account coversheet and not just a document type coversheet. In this case, since there is no client/account locator, the system will not know where to route other than the partially indexed cabinet in this case
2. The documents didn t all split correctly? This could be due to the scanner not reading the barcode correctly. Look at the document set and see if the barcode sheet is still intact- it is part of the document (not stripped off). If it is, this means that it was not read. Check the quality of the barcode to see if it was smudged or speckled (black and white lines are not clear). If the barcode quality is poor, the Docupace barcode server will not read the barcode rather it will treat is as simply another image in the document.