How to Digitize Records on a Budget: 3 Steps to Cut Scanning Costs by 50%

How to Digitize Records on a Budget

Step 1: Stop the Flow of Incoming Paper

Ditch the paper and get more good days done

Before you start a scanning project, take a hard look at how your organization ended up with so many documents in the first place. If you don’t fix the processes that created the paper, scanning will just convert a physical problem into a digital one.

External documents. When paper arrives from outside your agency, the best practice is to scan it into your ECM immediately. We’ve studied processes where a client interacted with the same record five or six times, scanning it multiple times along the way. The final scan was just for long-term storage. If you scan incoming documents on the front end instead, you get the efficiency of using your ECM software to route, search, and interact with it from day one.

Internal documents. Which departments are generating the most paperwork right now? Chances are, those departments aren’t using your ECM to its full capacity. Scanning is only a band-aid if those teams aren’t on board with going digital. (Check out one client’s advice on a people-first approach to department buy-in.)

Step 2: Index and Organize Your Records

Stay ahead of the audits and out of the weeds

One thing that makes records scanning so intimidating is knowing where to begin. If you’re like many of our clients, you may have a dirty little secret: you don’t actually know what records you have. Maybe there’s a closet of poorly sorted boxes you hope no auditor ever asks to see. Maybe this has been going on far longer than you’ve been in your role. If that sounds familiar, know that you aren’t alone.

That’s why we recommend undergoing an indexing process before starting any scanning job. This step provides insight into the current state of your documents. It helps you find misfiled records, identify what’s eligible for destruction, and see the real scope of your project.

You’ll create a database with multiple indexes for each file. For a Department of Health medical record, the entry might include the patient name, medical record number, and date of birth. One thing that needs to be on every entry is the document’s retention policy. That’s how long you’re legally required to keep the record based on federal, state, or internal policies.

Every state manages retention differently. New York publishes detailed retention schedules for local governments. California requires notification to CalRIM before destroying state records. Washington State distinguishes between non-archival records (which can be scanned and destroyed) and archival records (which require state archives involvement). The Texas State Library advises agencies to think carefully about the sunk costs of digitizing records that will be disposed of soon or could have been disposed of years ago.

The takeaway is the same in every state: know your retention schedules before you scan a single page.

Here’s a real-world example. One hospital authority asked us to scan 250,000 medical records. During our on-site review, we discovered their hard copy files mixed pediatric and adult records together, even though those record types have very different retention requirements. We suggested sorting first: pediatric records into their own boxes, adult records into boxes grouped by retention date. It turned out that 90% of their records were eligible for destruction. That single step saved $800,000.

If you partner with MCCi on this process, it typically takes us just a few weeks. It’s a timesaving step you don’t want to skip.

Step 3: Scan in Priority Order

Process the high-value records first and get more good days done

After indexing your records, create a spreadsheet detailing what to scan first based on retention and frequency of access.

On average, 30% of records held by our newer clients no longer need to be retained at all, which means they don’t need to be scanned. Other documents may be approaching their disposal date, so spending time and money scanning those doesn’t make much sense either.

Prioritize scanning the document types that your team accesses most often. This gives you the highest return on investment because clerks and staff can immediately save time by pulling those records up digitally. From there, work backward through less-urgent documents while spreading the cost of your project over time.

Here’s a simple framework for deciding what to scan first:

Scan now: Records accessed daily by multiple staff. Active case files, permits, and accounts payable documents. FOIA-sensitive or audit-critical records. Large-format documents consuming expensive floor space.

Scan later: Infrequently accessed records with long retention periods. Historical archives that rarely get pulled.

Don’t scan at all: Records past their retention date that are eligible for destruction. Duplicates. Documents near their disposal date. Records that already exist in digital form elsewhere.

For legacy records that are rarely touched, consider a scan-on-demand approach. Instead of digitizing the entire backfile, scan individual records only when they’re requested. Since the vast majority of filed records are never accessed again, this can eliminate a huge volume of unnecessary scanning.