US Department of Energy

The US Department of Energy’s Facilities Department had 53 years of accumulated official record documents related to their headquarters building, Forrestal, in Washington, DC, and their Germantown, MD campus. The DOE enlisted archSCAN’s help for a document digitization and management project to research, organize, catalog, and digitize archival documents pertaining to the buildings and campuses. archSCAN scanned over 20,000 engineering drawings and 350,000 small-format paper documents. archSCAN, LLC also organized and standardized the filing and naming conventions for 60 GB of digital documents and files. A document management solution was created that is user-friendly, increases productivity, and cuts paper storage costs.

• Quick access to federal records increases productivity– DOE staff no longer have to leave their desk to find what they need!
• All archival records merged together in one place—not spread across campuses, rooms, and electronic file locations
• Digital conversions and document imaging done right—files are correctly indexed and metadata captured.
• User-friendly electronic records library– allows DOE to find information FAST
• Sustainable professional records management—new projects are indexed and filed correctly going forward
• Disaster recovery and response times are greatly reduced

The Department of Energy’s official construction and engineering record documents were disorganized, both paper documents and digital records. Staff were frustrated because they could not find information quickly. They had to spend hours searching for documents in record storage rooms that had been neglected over decades. The DOE staff needed to increase productivity and improve accuracy and response time. At first, the DOE tried to organize the documents themselves. They spent about three hours in their plan room and hardly made a dent in the work that needed to be done. They didn’t know where to begin or how to tackle the huge project of organizing and cataloging their paper construction document files. Therefore, they procured archSCAN’s help and expertise on how to solve their document management problems. After months of large-format and small-format scanning and indexing, archSCAN created a digital searchable library of the DOE’s invaluable building documentation. Users can search for their records digitally with the database or simply by browsing the files in well-organized file folders. The end product, an electronic record library, is simple, logical, and accessible to anyone who needs to find information fast.

• 20% increase in productivity and work-place happiness- no more searching for lost documents!
• 50% reduction records storage costs
• 75% reduction in cost of printing, mailing, and filing paper documents
• 84% of businesses achieve full ROI in less than 18 months
• Additionally, it takes less time to fix problems because staff have access to the necessary documents. Fewer construction mistakes are made because all of the information is available at the onset of the project, which leads to fewer change orders. Staff are happier because they can do their jobs more efficiently and accurately.