Costs and risks associated with back-capture digitisation

This section of the guidelines discusses the costs and risks associated with back-capture digitisation projects, along with ways to mitigate the risks.

Introduction

Back-capture digitisation projects can have many potential benefits. See Why undertake back-capture digitisation? for more information.

It is important, however, that your organisation also examines the costs and risks of digitisation. These should be outlined clearly in business cases along with risk mitigation strategies, where relevant. See Planning back-capture digitisation projects for more information on business cases.

Costs of digitisation

Do not be misled by advice that digitisation is cheap. Costs can be considerable and may vary according to the scope and aims of a project and the quality of digital images required. Common costs include:

digitisation software and hardware and upgrades
training and support for staff involved in digitisation work (some training may be offered as part of contractual agreements with software and hardware suppliers)
space for digitisation to occur
health and safety assessments and measures
conservation work for any fragile records (where relevant)
staff time to plan, establish and document the project with suitable parameters and benchmarks
staff time to retrieve and prepare records, digitise, apply metadata, do quality control checks, return original paper records to storage, monitor and evaluate projects etc.– costs of manual metadata collection if required for back-capture projects can be particularly high
managing variables like non-uniform or poor quality originals
the technical infrastructure and storage space for maintaining new digital copies
providing software on desktops to view digital images
training and change management strategies for all relevant staff including those accessing digital images
ongoing maintenance and update of systems
managing digital images over time (where relevant) e.g. costs of migration.[1]

If your organisation is out-sourcing the digitisation project, your cost assessments will need to include costs provided by outsourced providers (often based on number of pages digitised) but also the staff time required to:

plan, establish and document the project with suitable parameters and benchmarks

select contractors that can meet project needs and negotiate terms
prepare (and possibly transport) records to and from the service provider
liaise with contractors throughout the project
perform checks and monitor and evaluate services provided
train contractors in how to safely handle your records, particularly if they are required as State archives.

See Inhouse or outsource? for more information.

Costs can be compared in the business case to:

costs of inaction, e.g. if we don’t do anything, what might that cost the organisation?
cost savings that can be made by destroying original paper records (where relevant) and thereby reducing paper storage costs
cost savings brought about by improving practices, providing better access to the records etc.

Note: Technology and data storage costs may be able to be reduced somewhat by trading quality for speed and smaller file sizes. However, in projects where the records have long-term value or are required as State archives, or need to be used as evidence of business activity, a high degree of quality must be maintained. This is to promote the longevity of the images and ensure they are authentic representations of the original paper records. See Managing digital images as records for more information.

Risks of digitisation

The following table outlines some potential risks and means to mitigate them.

Risk...	Can be mitigated by...
That money will be wasted or additional risks incurred by poor selection of records (e.g. low use records or records that could be destroyed) See Selecting the right records for back-capture projects	Ensuring selected records support project aims and are well chosen
That the complexities of digitisation can be underestimated See Planning back-capture digitisation projects and other relevant parts of these guidelines	Researching, planning and managing requirements for the project
That the costs of digitisation can be underestimated	Defining all expected costs as part of planning and ensuring the organisation has adequate resources over the lifetime of the project Considering how different or complex processing requirements will impact on costs e.g. need for more manual metadata collection Considering the ICT infrastructure and system architecture requirements for the potential volume of digital images in scope including any costs for new systems to store digital images Considering the long term costs of managing digital images Reviewing project aims and selection decisions if resources cannot be guaranteed
That original paper records cannot be destroyed after digitisation e.g. due to legal reasons to retain them in original format, intrinsic value or other reasons See Disposal of original paper records after digitisation	Ensuring awareness of disposal requirements for the original paper records selected for digitisation before embarking on a digitisation project
That original paper records, including State archives, will be destroyed without authorisation See Disposal of original paper records after digitisation	Ensuring that staff are aware of disposal requirements for the original paper records selected for digitisation before embarking on a digitisation project Building staff training and quality assurance measures into projects to ensure that no unauthorised disposal takes place Requiring senior approval for any disposal to take place Contacting State Records NSW before embarking on the digitisation of records required as State archives Arranging for the transfer of records required as State archives to Museums of History NSW
That original paper records will be damaged during the digitisation process See Managing original paper records	Training staff in handling records appropriately and maintaining their original order Providing supervision where necessary Building in quality assurance checks to guarantee protection of original paper records Contacting State Records NSW before embarking on the digitisation of records required as State archives
That digitisation will not produce an authentic representation of the original paper record that is fit for purpose See Technical specifications See Metadata requirements See Benchmarks and quality assurance See Staffing digitisation programs and projects See Policies, procedures, standards and documentation	Identifying the essential characteristics of records that must be reproduced so they are fit for purpose Creating quality benchmarks to ensure that essential characteristics are reproduced Ensuring that commonly offered digitisation features like image manipulation are not used or do not affect the authenticity and reliability of the digital images Defining suitable technical and metadata standards Providing staff training and supervision where necessary Providing rigorous quality assurance checks (either of images or samples of images) Developing and documenting procedures and standards
That digital images are not stored or protected appropriately See Managing digital images as records	Ensuring digital images are managed according to the organisation’s records management program Capturing digital images into a recordkeeping system where they can be accessed only by authorised users, secure from alteration or deletion, in context with related records, protected from disaster and kept for their required retention periods Ensuring that master images are not stored on removable media where they can be at risk
That duplicates or derivatives are not managed appropriately See Metadata requirements for more information	Ensuring digital images and their duplicates are managed according to the organisation’s records management program Adopting well defined metadata with relationships between records to ensure that it is very clear whether the original exists, which is the ‘master’ and which are derivatives, and what purpose they are for
That digital images will not survive and remain accessible and useable for as long as they are required See Managing digital images as records See Technical specifications	Ensuring suitable choice of technical standards for the record’s retention period Ensuring digital images are managed according to the organisation’s records management program Ensuring appropriate metadata is assigned Ensuring that their longevity is planned for e.g. migration on an average of 5-7 years to maintain information accessibility and integrity Defining funds for ongoing management in business cases and making them available when required Assessing the impact of technological and storage decisions on the longevity of images
That there will be problems experienced with service providers (in contracting-out arrangements) See Inhouse or outsource?	Ensuring that the organisation has defined, documented and communicated clear benchmarks and standards required to contractors Where possible, choosing contractors who have dealt with the type of project you are embarking on Ensuring that all relevant requirements are built into contracts Regularly monitoring the performance of contractors

Organisations should define in business cases which of these and other risks apply to their projects and how the risks will be managed.

Footnotes

[1] The Europeana project, an initiative of the European Union, examined the costs of digitising Europe’s cultural heritage and concluded that the costs of preserving and providing access to a digital asset for a period of 10 years would be 50-100% of the initial cost of creating it. Collections Trust, The cost of digitising Europe’s cultural heritage. A report for the Comité des Sages of the European Commission. Prepared by Nick Poole.

Costs and risks associated with back-capture digitisation

Introduction

Costs of digitisation

Risks of digitisation

Footnotes

State Records NSW pays respect to the Traditional Custodians and First Peoples of NSW, and acknowledges their continued connection to country and culture.