Does your scanning comply with BS 10008 ? Evidential weight and legal admissibility of electronic information

Do you comply?

Are you aware that if you scan your paperwork in house and there's a chance those documents may need to be presented as evidence in court, it's important to scan to the British Standard BS 10008:2008?

If you do not have the systems and processes in place already for your documents to be legally admissible in court, how much time, effort, and money are you willing to spend on implementation?

Papershrink already comply with the previous standard BIP 0008 and we will soon have an important announcement to make so watch this space.

Save yourself the trouble of scanning and complying, safe in the knowledge that Papershrink have already put all the processes and procedures in place, and your documents will be admissible in court not only for the near future but as long as the documents need to be kept legally.  This could be as long as the lifetime of an employee, for example.

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What is legal admissibility and why is it important?

Legal admissibility concerns whether or not a piece of evidence would be accepted by a court of law. To ensure the admissibility, information needs to be managed by a secure system throughout its lifetime (which can be for many years). Where doubt can be placed on the information, the evidential weight may well be reduced, potentially harming the legal case.

BS 10008 ensures that any electronic information required as evidence of a business transaction is afforded the maximum evidential weight. The process is based on the specification of requirements for planning, implementing, operating, monitoring and improving the organization's information management systems.

What is BS 10008?

BS 10008 is the British Standard that specifies the requirements for the implementation and operation of electronic information management systems, and to the electronic transfer of information from one computer system to another, addressing issues relating to the authenticity and integrity of the electronic information.

These issues are important where the electronic information could be used as evidence in court. BS10008 also addresses document scanning processes and the provision of a full life-history of an electronic object throughout its life.

The requirements specified in BS 10008 are generic and apply to any corporate body, large or small, whatever the nature of its business. The extent of application of these requirements depends on the corporate body's operating environment and complexity.

It applies to electronic information in any form, therefore applies to paperwork scanned in-house.  Are you compliant?

Alan Shipman, Chairman of the BSI committee responsible for the development of BS 10008, said:

"The new standard is an

important step in ensuring the admissibility of evidence in the UK. It has been developed by a wide range of experts in the field of document management as a specification of good practice".

What does the standard include?

•  The management of electronic information over long periods, including through technology changes, where information integrity is vital
• How to manage the various risks associated with electronic information
• How to demonstrate the authenticity of electronic information
• The management of quality issues related to document scanning processes
• The provision of a full life history of an electronic object throughout its life
• Electronic transfer of information from one computer system to another
• Covers policies, security issues, procedures, technology requirements and audit ability of electronic document management systems (EDMS).

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How is BS 10008 different to the Code of Practice?

BS 10008 covers the scope of all three

parts of the Code of Practice (BIP 0008-1, BIP 0008-2, BIP 0008-3).

By complying with BS 10008, it is anticipated that the evidential weight of electronic information transferred to and/or managed by a corporate body will be maximised, by ensuring its trustworthiness and reliability.

Compliance with BS 10008 will assist in minimising the risks involved with the long-term storage of information in an electronic form.

Will the Code of Practice (BIP 0008) no longer be available?

The Code will be updated in accordance with BS 10008. Implementation of the recommendations given in the latest edition of the CoP will assist with compliance of BS 10008.

Source – BSI website 2010-03-04

Any council, solicitor, financial advisor, doctor in fact any company that scans sensitive information in house and that may need to present documents in court, needs to be aware of BS 10008 and its impact now and in the future.

In fact scanning sensitive documents may mean looking after sensitive information for a person’s lifetime.

Implementing BS 10008 will take your time, money and a lot of hassle. Papershrink already have BIP

008 in place so why not send the scanning to us and save you the trouble?

If you are thinking about scanning in house we have written an in house scanning fact sheet that will help and guide you and tell you how you can set up in house.

We offer impartial advice

When you are part of a large organisation or a sole trader, outsourcing business services can have an immediate impact on your company's profitability.

Papershrink have factsheets on all these topics so please feel free to download any of them or email me direct s.craft@papershrink.co.uk

BPO scanning

Digital mailroom

Invoice processing

Store and scan service

0844 414 0650 (local rate)

Any scanning topics you would like us to cover?  Email me at s.craft@papershrink.co.uk

Sharon Craft ACIM

A christmas card for everyone.

Business Process Outsourcing...What is it all about ?

Business Process Outsourcing...What is it all about ?


According to The Business Services Association (BSA) outsourcing is defined as follows:

"Outsourcing involves shifting activities that were previously carried out within a firm or public authority to an outside company (the 'supplier') which can do them more cost effectively."

The BSA represents companies providing business and outsourced services in the private and public sector. The BSA website. The following link is a report that was published in November 2008 listing the facts and figures of how BPO outsourcing contributes to the national and global economy. Page 5 of the report gives an excellent overview of outsourcing and its many forms. A UK Success Story Nov 08.

In the UK the combined turnover of companies belonging to the BSA, was c.£14.3 billion and c.350,000 people are employed across the country. These figures show business process outsourcing is a well established and cost effective means of running a business.

As a company, we are committed to providing you and your organisation with seamless integration. You won't even notice we are there, except when you look at the bank balance.

Domestic or offshoring ?

There is some confusion around the word "outsourcing" and what it really means. The majority of people understand it to denote: business services sent out of the country to be completed by foreign workers, e.g data entry.

There are other ways of interpreting "outsourcing" as a service. There is also "domestic" outsourcing. Your services don't leave the country at all. It can be as cost effective to outsource in the U.K as to send the work abroad. Companies who specialise in providing particular services (i.e. document scanning) are expert at what they do, and therefore more efficent.

It saves you money and time by not having to recruit, train and manage staff, buy equipment or provide space.

Digital Mailroom

A digital mailroom is just one of the outsourced services that Papershrink provides. We will receive your post, open and sort it to your pre-agreed requirements. We will scan it and upload into whatever system you require.

Reducing costs is at the forefront of everyone's mind and you have to ask yourself whether you really need a mailroom.

Wouldn't you prefer to save time, money and space by outsourcing it? Whether you are employed in an organisation with 500 employees or a sole trader, implementing a digital mailroom is quick, easy and extremely cost effective.

Papershrink are different to other digital mailroom providers because we do not sell digital mailroom software. We can upload the scanned images into your existing electronic document management system, offer you an online option, FTP your scanned mail, or even email it to your inbox.

We can provide a complete bespoke service for you to read your mail remotely or even locally on your own PC. If you decide to use Papershrink's online hosting system, all your scanned mail is held online and backed up with us, indefinitely. As part of the service you therefore have a disaster recovery solution included.

Visit our Digital mailroom page or give us a call, for a no obligation chat.

Invoice Processing

This scanning service, offered in collaboration with the P2D Group, allows organisations receiving large numbers of purchase invoices (typically over 1,000 invoices/month) to drastically reduce the cost of running their payments department.

We will receive your purchase invoices via a dedicated PO Box at our premises in Peterborough. All invoices will be scanned and the resulting images are processed via a specialist OCR engine which will identify all relevant information: supplier name, invoice date, line items, total, VAT, etc.

The information is collated into an electronic file (XML or csv) which in turn is uploaded directly into your financial system, be it Sage, Pegasus, QuickBooks, Access and many others.

NO MORE keying in purchase invoices and the accuracy is guaranteed at 99.9%.

For a more detailed explanation, take a look at our invoice processing factsheet

Invoice Processing Survey

Papershrink would really appreciate a few minutes of your time. There are 6 questions in our invoice processing survey. The purpose of the survey is to understand the link between market sectors, amount of people employed and volumes of invoices processed

Don't worry, we will not be asking for your details at the end either. We hate that as much as you do!


Invoice Processing Survey

We would really like to know what you think.


Thank you very much

AIIM Electronic Records Management Trends

Check out this SlideShare Presentation: on Electronic Records Management

AIIM Electronic Records Management Trends

View more presentations from Atle Skjekkeland.

Papershrink in the Peterborough Evening Telegraph for document scanning.

I thought I would share with you the piece that the Peterborough ET has written on Papershrink, its a good news story,  there are some still about thank goodness.

Please read on...

PAPERSHRINK is expanding. The Peterborough document scanning business has reported a busy last six months and it envisages that growth in 2010 will be even quicker.
Sales are up by 15 per cent year on year, and over the next 12 months the company could double its capacity.
"Several initiatives that we put into place at the back end of 2008 - targeting different markets and partnerships - are beginning to come to fruition," said managing director Elisabeth Belisle.
"For example, the company has become an accredited partner with giant accountancy software provider IRIS, and has also entered into a joint venture with a medical records specialist.
"We have also employed four more staff in recent months, to add to the existing 12.
"In addition, we continue to take on apprentices via the Peterborough College of Adult Education. We currently have three apprentices who are on day release, and study for the IT NVQ Level II."
In broad terms, Papershrink Ltd converts paperwork into electronic files. There are two key aspects to the business.
Firstly, converting archives - these are large scanning projects which have included household name clients such as Electrolux and Ikea. These are usually space-driven decisions.
Secondly, there is ongoing scanning work, which are access-driven decisions.
One example where both facets have been featured is Peterborough company Dresser Rand (formerly Peter Brotherhood). Papershrink scanned all the company's technical manuals, dating back over several decades, and is now scanning the technical manuals as they are published.
A firm of data shredders disposes of the paper which, in turn, is recycled into other products. This is in keeping with its ISO environmental certificate.
There is also a storage facility which helps companies to spread the cost of archiving.
Papershrink moved to its current site, in Maxwell Road, Woodston, almost a year ago after outgrowing its premises at nearby Workspace House where it had been based for five years.
Elisabeth was looking to start up in business in 2000/2001, and was considering document scanning. It was an area she "knew something about" during her time working for the Environment Agency.
She said: "With space so expensive in the UK, there was a need for such a business. There was definitely a future in it."
Elisabeth started out on her own, in the conservatory of her home. She had a small scanner and was prominently optimised online under "document scanning". It wasn't long before the enterprise ran out of space in the conservatory, and garage, which led to the move to Workspace House.
"The future looks good, the hard work is paying off," she said.
Since the business started, turnover has increased about tenfold and profitability about threefold.
But there a number of keys to unlocking the future, according to Elisabeth
These include increased sales, more staff, on-going training of existing and new staff and ensuring that documents continue to be scanned to a standard whereby the electronic files are valid in court.

A very nice write up for Papershrink.

Papershrink and IRIS Resourcing are accredited partners

Papershrink and IRIS outsourcing have become accredited partners,  Papershrink fills in the gap between IRIS accountancy services and clients documents being digitized. 

If you are considering outsourcing your accountancy work, you will need top quality images to ensure all documents are clear and easy to read. For fast and accurate data entry, bookkeeping and/or production of accounts. We are an accredited IRIS Partner and have been working with IRIS Resourcing for two years.


Why should you consider outsourcing?

Outsourcing part or all of the work that is currently done in house essentially means you will have some spare time within the practice. What you do with that spare time is up to you:

1-You can take on more clients and increase both your turnover and your bottom line; OR

2-You can make some staff redundant and increase your bottom line for the same turnover; OR

3-You can start offering other services which will add value to your clients businesses. Services that will re-enforce your client relationship and help differentiate your practice from your competition.

But how do you get the paperwork to India? Sending the originals is risky, takes a long time and is costly. The best way is to scan. And that's not always as easy as it seems.

First, you’ll need a scanner that can handle cheque stubs as well as odd size invoices; a scanner that detects multi-feeds or you’ll have pages missing; a scanner that can adapt the contrast and brightness automatically from one page to the next or you’ll have to stop between the orange TNT invoice and the pink Viking one to adjust manually.

Second, you’ll need someone reliable and meticulous to operate the scanner and make sure all your images are clear, otherwise people doing the data entry won’t be able to do it and you’ll end up wasting time dealing with exceptions. Have you got the right person on board already? Or will you need to hire someone to scan, so you can outsource the data entry in order to avoid hiring… ?? Defies the purpose doesn't’t it?

Once the paperwork has been scanned it's then transferred via FTP to India.  No physical documents leave the U.K. 
 
If you would like to discuss this service further please go to Papershrink.

Choosing a document scanning bureau you need to consider 7 things.

Here is the October 09 newsletter I sent out last week.

Just because you don't subscribe doesn't mean you should be able to read it.  Although if you do subscribe you can read it first !

Any subjects relating to document scanning that you would like to see written about then please let me know.  I am happy to help.

Subject: Choosing a document scanning bureau...7 things to consider

Choosing a document scanning bureau ... 7 things to consider

Papershrink Ltd Newsletter










A LOT has been happening since the last newsletter we sent out earlier this year.

This is just a taste of what's been going on ...

• A new website launch, please tell us what you think here

• Papershrink are now accredited IRIS partners helping IRIS Resourcing

• Increased security throughout our new premises

• We have also launched a new arm of Papershrink called Papershrink Med Consultancy

• Formed a new partnership with p2d and launched our invoice processing service

• Attended 4 exhibitions of IRIS World, up and down the country.

IRIS world was a huge success and we hope you came and spoke to us. If not feel free to ask us about how we work with IRIS Resourcing and ask for a free trial pack

We are here to save you time, save you money and save you space.

We always want to give you helpful advice, hints and tips so here are the 7 top tips for choosing a document scanning company.

1. Can you have a free trial?

How is the company's customer service? How clear are the images? How are your individual needs met? All these can all be assessed at no risk with a free trial.

2. Cost

Make sure you compare like for like. Use the same amount of sheets to quote on, and document types and sizes. Using an online estimator can help give you an idea but your specific needs might result in a different quote. You need to ring up and talk to a few bureaux.

Check for hidden costs, how do you compare like for like between bureaux? Is the prep time quoted in hours? How would you verify the number of hours worked? Costs for preparation can be hidden, so be aware.

Paper sizes can also be used as a hidden extra cost. Has the bureau given you prices for both A4 and A3 sized prices? Will they charge for anything slightly longer than an A4 as two A4s? What happens if you want to scan a mixture of sizes? Ask the bureau for a full breakdown of their prices.

3. Storage of Documents?

Consider the security of the premises your documents are to be stored in. Are the premises adequately protected and secure?

4. Confidentiality.

Has everyone at the bureau signed a confidentiality agreement? Is the bureau registered as data controllers at the Information Commissioner's office? Has everyone been CRB checked?

Can the bureau replicate your paper filing system or are you being persuaded to choose a new way of finding your files? Does the bureau comply with BIP0008?

5. Collection and delivery.

Who does the bureau use for the collection and delivery of your documents? Can you track and trace? Can you have the electronic files delivered back to you in a format of your choice? Do they discuss alternative document management systems with you or are they pushing you down one route?

6. References

What references and testimonials does the company have? How long have they been scanning? Are they used to dealing with a variety of paperwork and different sizes?

7. Quality controls and guarantees. What quality control procedures are in place for both the scanning and indexing? Does the bureau comply with BIP0008? Do they have an accuracy guarantee? If so, what is the percentage guaranteed? How do they prove that every single file or page has been scanned?

Being able to make a well-informed choice about which document scanning bureau you choose can make the difference between a well planned and thought out project that goes smoothly, and a bunch of electronic files on a disc that you can't use efficiently.

We think these seven top tips will help you make a well-informed decision when choosing a document-scanning bureau.


Any comments are welcome and if you would like to receive our newsletter please sign up on our website at www.papershrink.co.uk/newsletter.htm