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Case Study - The Crockett Museum
The
Problem: Need for Historical Document Preservation
and Research
The
Crockett Museum in Crockett, California had an aging collection
of newsletters – “The Cubelet Press” - from
the local C&H Sugar Refinery, covering over fifty years
of company and local historical items of interest; birth announcements,
death notices, World War II photographs, promotions, etc. Some
of the documents were over 75 years old and the condition of
the collection was deteriorating. Also, genealogy researchers
and historians looking for specific items of interest had an
arduous task searching the nine thousand page collection for
a specific name.
The
Solution:
SoftFile
scanned the newsletters and created PDF images at 300 dpi resolution,
which preserved the quality of the photographs. After scanning,
the images went through a process called Optical Character Recognition
(OCR) which converted the scanned images into readable text.
The text-searchable PDFs were then imported into Alchemy document
management software and recorded onto CD-ROM media.
The
Result:
The
museum now has multiple copies of these historic documents on
cds, guaranteeing preservation of the newsletters. Also, genealogy
researchers and historians are able to use the Alchemy software
to search the entire collection and locate a single name or
subject in a matter of seconds.
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Case Study - State of California
Department of Mines and Geology
The Problem:
Need for Reviewing Fault Reports
State
and private geologists routinely needed to review inspection
reports for properties located on or near earthquake faults.
These reports consisted of actual reports, inspector notes,
color fault maps, drawings, and other data. All this data was
located in a state building in San Francisco. To review these
documents, geologists were required to view them only in that
building which meant a great amount of travel expense and time.
The Solution:
SoftFile
scanned all of the reports into PDF images at 300 dpi resolution
that allowed all the small and detailed notes of the inspectors
easy to read. In addition, all the color maps were scanned into
color PDF images. SoftFile then created a web interface to access
the data. SoftFile also developed an installer for the critical
files necessary to search through the data.
The Result:
Geologists
now have a CD-Rom based version of all the maps and reports
that they could search at their desk rather than traveling to
San Francisco. The installer was created to install on either
a Windows PC or Macintosh computer. The use of a web interface
allowed familiar and easy searching for reports. The web interface
allows users to search with a combination of up to 8 indexed
fields. In addition, users are able to search using a graphical
interface that allows you to “drill down” from a
map of California to a map of a few city blocks.
To quickly
summarize, with this software, geologists can:
-
Search for reports from the desktop
- Install software on either Windows or Macintosh systems
- Search using a web interface
- Search up to 8 index fields or using graphical search
- Update the application painlessly with new reports
- Easily convert the application to an Intranet site for use
by more than one user
- Cut time and travel expense
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Study - Orange County Social Services Agency
The Problem: Need to Capture Data from Microfiche
The Orange County Social Services Agency’s
goal is to assist individuals and families in becoming self-sufficient.
Participants in the program receive a full array of employment
and supportive services designed to enable them to become totally
independent from welfare assistance. The SSA was required to
collect welfare case data from old monthly reports. However,
those reports existed only on outdated microfiche. The County
needed a method to search over 63,000 microfiche images and
extract various bits of information and data fields such as last
name, SSN, dates, etc. Additionally the risk to the county of
this information being lost or misplaced was becoming too great.
The
Solution:
Using
a state-of-the-art microfilm scanner, SoftFile scanned all 63,000
of the microfiche files and converted them to TIFF digital images.
The images were then run through an optical character recognition
(OCR) process that scans the entire document to create a text-searchable
index file. SoftFile then exported the images along with the
index files and burned them onto CDs for import into the County’s
existing document management system.
The Result:
County researchers
are now able to search the entire collection of 63,000 documents
for any requested case. The user friendly database ensures they
can search by any field or text string contained within the
reports to find exactly the information they need. Search times
were reduced from minutes or hours down to just seconds. By
streamlining this process, the County’s social services
agents can now not only provide better service to their fellow
County departments, but especially to the families who need
it the most.
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CASE STUDY - COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO
The Problem: Need To Organize & Access Information Quicker
The County of Sacramento had been producing hundreds
of reports to Computer Output Microfiche (COM) media as a means of
storing and retrieving their vital information. The problem was that
most of the archive reports were poorly indexed and numerous departments
had difficulty retrieving information contained within the microfiche
media as well as cross referencing data to other reports.
The
Solution:
SoftFile worked with the County to identify those reports that
contained unstructured data and developed a CD-ROM based storage
and retrieval system that allows multiple users the ability to
retrieve a single report or document within seconds through a
pre-defined index.
The Result:
With information
now residing in a digital format, employees of Sacramento County
can access various reports through a single index field or a
combination of index fields to obtain a specific document or report
within seconds. Once retrieved, the employee has the ability
to print, fax or email the document or report upon request.
By moving to digital technology the County has the ability to
better organize their various archive reports and significantly
reduce the labor cost associated with filing and retrieving this data.
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