Digitizing decades worth of paper files can seem daunting, but it can be done. The School District of Manatee County in Florida provides a case in point.
The Launch of Project Digitize
In response in part to an audit finding, leaders of the 50,000-student School District of Manatee County launched Project Digitize. This massive six-year initiative involves converting more than 2,000 boxes of district records — more than 6 million documents — into a digital format and moving the data into a secure cloud-based system.
Initially, the school district, like many other districts, stored its records in large rooms filled with file cabinets containing paper files. In addition to taking up valuable space, these records were kept in rooms without adequate air conditioning and could have degraded in the Florida climate.
Project Digitize drastically streamlined records management, made the records more accessible for staff members, and eliminated physical storage space where records had the potential for environmental damage.
Implementation Steps
Launching Project Digitize involved the following steps:
Getting buy-in. Support from stakeholders is critical to ensuring the success of a project of this scale. With the audit findings as a catalyst, district leaders made the case to stakeholders—including staff and school board members—to bring everyone on board. Tip: When making the case for digitization, contrast its benefits with the risks of doing nothing.
Creating a plan. The School District of Manatee County’s technology department created a comprehensive plan for Project Digitize that detailed the process, the goals, and the staff responsible for each task along the way. Tip: Have a realistic time line and budget, and assign specific tasks to designated departments.
Finding partners. Most school districts lack the capability for in-house online records management. When the School District of Manatee County contemplated Project Digitize, it needed to partner with providers who had expertise in records management. An online records management software company for cloud-based storage and a high-speed scanner company were available to digitize the documents.
Tip: Evaluate technology partners to ensure that they are reliable and will provide ongoing support, even after the project has been completed.
Teaming up. To be successful, Project Digitize needed the cooperation and participation of teams throughout the district. The Project Digitize execution team included members of the print services department, technology staff, and records management staff. The student demo- graphics staff trained the school registrars and helped each school prepare for the project.
Each school was to assign staff members to sort through old documents and determine what to keep and scan and what to destroy; they also prepared the documents for digitization by following specific instructions, including removing staples and paper clips and preparing individual student folders.
The student folders were filed in standard banker-style boxes, and each box was labeled using a specific format. Staff members then downloaded and completed a scanning manifest spreadsheet for each box. The execution team was available to help individual schools. Tip: Preparation is everything. Designate staff training time within normal work hours.
Strategies for Success
Digitization projects vary from district to district; however, some universal strategies apply to individual projects.
Be date-driven. A saying in the technology department at the School District of Manatee County reminds us, “If we’re trying to accomplish something and we don’t have a date, it’s just a hobby.” Create realistic goals and determine completion dates for the project; allow flexibility in timing.
Keep security top of mind. Data security is important when dealing with sensitive student records. When vetting vendors, ask about their data encryption and how they ensure that only authorized staff members can access the information.
Provide training before, during, and after the project. Training everyone to use a new system is important; however, follow-up training will give users an opportunity to ask questions and be assured that everything is going well.
Create a team environment. To succeed, district-wide projects must be a team effort. Everyone involved in the project must feel like part of the team and be invested in the team effort.
Build relationships. The School District of Manatee County’s project leader, Scott Hansen, was involved in the day-to-day execution of the project, doing walk-throughs and helping scan the records in each school. Leadership team members doing the scanning in the field demonstrated their investment in the process and the project.
Beyond the Scanning
With its now-digitized records of all active and recently graduated students, the district plans to digitize older records, records of inactive students, and inactive staff records by December 2027.
The online system streamlines the process for fulfilling record requests and sets fees for those requests. In the 2022–2023 school year, the district generated more than $37,000 to help pay for the ongoing cost of scanner supplies and maintenance.