Section 4: Document Imaging Cost Considerations

The decision to convert documents or records to digital images is based on business need. Keeping records “just in case” a legal need may arise is not a legitimate business need.
The costs to scan hard-copy originals simply for retention purposes are not usually justified in comparison to the lower cost simply to box and store records that have a relatively short retention period and that are not subject to frequent retrievals.
The industry average to scan records is between $0.08 and $0.15 per page. A standard box of records is 3000 pages, typically costs about $250.00 - $450.00/box to scan with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and metadata.  The cost to store on a system is another factor.
Considerations in cost to scan paper include:
  • Document Preparation.
  • Scanning (200 - 600 Dots Per Inch - DPI).
  • Indexing (# of Fields).
  • Auto Classification of Documents.
  • Searchable (Optical Character Recognition) Format.
  • Bound materials, Drawings, Photos, etc.
  • Image Enhancements.
  • Notes (Post it Note or clipped) Capture.
  • Pick Up, Delivery.
  • Hosting Images. 
  • Output File (Preferably Portable Document Format (PDF) or Portable Document Format/Archive (PDF/A).
  • Storage of Materials.
  • Software Costs.
  • Transmission of Documents to TxDOT repository.
  • Document Destruction After Quality Assurance (QA) Quality Control (QC) is performed and validated by TxDOT.