Town of Whitby
Scanning of New and Historical Building Permit Files
Project 1: July 2018 – Ongoing
Project 2 March 2021 – Ongoing (finished within 90 days)
Project 1 Objective: The Town of Whitby was seeking a vendor for the provision of digitizing new building permit applications, reports, and construction drawings, on a “go-forward” basis. An average of 7 banker’s boxes of documents and 4-8 rolls of large format drawings are picked up, digitized, reassembled, and returned on a bi-weekly basis by our dedicated team.
Project 2 Objective: The Town of Whitby was seeking a vendor for the provision of digitizing Historical building permit applications, reports, and construction drawings. An estimated total of 135 banker’s boxes of documents, and approximately 2,500 large format drawings make up the collection. 20 Boxes are picked up, digitized, reassembled, and returned on a bi-weekly basis by our dedicated team.
Project 1 Turnaround time: Documents pick-ed up are to be completed every two weeks, until the contract expires, and all optional years are exhausted. We have been digitizing for 2 full years and are currently providing our services for a third year as we have received an extension (optional year).
Project 2 Turnaround time: Estimated total of 135 boxes to be completed within 90 days of project commencement. DOCUdavit is completing 20 Banker’s boxes of documents every two weeks and will be finished 15 days ahead of schedule. Images are delivered bi-weekly via Secure FTP.
Project 1 & 2 Results: The department is very satisfied with our work since it was completed on time, under budget and with an additional 63 boxes completed in the final days of the project. Images are delivered bi-weekly via Secure FTP.
Logistics:
Project 1:
- 154,840 pages equal to or smaller than 11” x 17” were scanned
- 10,588 pages larger than 11” x 17” were scanned (Large Format)
- Individual documents were indexed with a Unique numerical document ID
- Individual documents are given a unique document ID, barcoded, and associated with the Town of Whitby’s existing metadata in XLSX format. By doing so, the Town is able to upload the scanned images to their digital repository and have the images automatically associate to the correct metadata.
Project 2:
- Approximately 135 boxes total
- 191,635 pages equal to or smaller than 11” x 17” have been scanned so far
- 179 pages larger than 11” x 17” (Large Format) have been scanned so far
- 8,641 Files were coded to 4 fields of data per file; files are named per municipal address and Permit Number
Project 1 & 2:
- Boxes are batched by pick-up date, and barcoded upon entry into the facility
- Each individual file is barcoded to keep track of the document throughout the scanning process; that same unique barcode number was used to associate the naming and or metadata collected from each file to the scanned images
- Files are indexed/named using proprietary software during scanning, customized specifically for this project
- Metadata was collected and coded manually from handwritten notes
- An uninterrupted level of service is being provided, as well as cross-training to ensure knowledgeable personnel are always available.
- Quality Assurance of the images was done to verify image quality, metadata accuracy, and indexing accuracy
- Completed files and their associated metadata (if any) are uploaded to a Secure FTP every two weeks
- Fluctuations in document volumes are mitigated by adding or removing resources, to ensure that the project is always completed on time
- Scanning is being performed at 300 dpi in all colour, with OCR
- The final images were saved as PDF files
Original documents are securely returned bi-weekly.