I know, you may think you only have a few documents to scan. I'm saying make sure that is accurate, take out all of the documents you plan to scan and see the pile.

• Is it a couple inches high?

• Is this the only batch you're going to scan?

• Are you going to want these scanned in to Word? If so then OCR validation is incredibly important, and are you going to do that manually?

The point I am trying to make is simple actually, and that is that as humans we tend to minimize a lot of tasks and deny how much there is to be done. So follow this questionnaire to help you decipher exactly how big, or small, your document conversion project is and how it is going to get done.

1. Is this a new project or are you attempting to maintain an existing project?

2. How many sheets of paper, front and back, do you need to convert? Write down both how many to get started and how many per month to maintain your paperless office project.

3. Where will the digital format of these documents get stored?

4. How much security is needed for the stored documents? Outline the levels of security and put names within each level.

5. Who will do the scanning?

6. Who will do the verification that the scanned documents are accurate?

7. What software will you use to manage the digital documents?

8. How will the existing paper documents be handled after the completion of the conversion?

9. Who will manage and do Step 8?

There are just 9 steps to get you started in creating a much clearer view of your project, but even more importantly these steps will help you define the level of hardware you need to take on your document conversion project. A project of 100 documents per month will need a different scanner than the company that will be converting a warehouse of existing documents and 100,000 new documents per month.

The leaders in the document conversion hardware field are Bowe Bell & Howell, Canon, Fujitsu and Kodak fitting the needs of every size company project. The software you decide to use to manage your documents will also have an effect on the hardware you select, as not every scanner is compatible with all document conversion and management applications. That is why it is SO important to go through the 9 steps listed above; even if you cannot answer every question you now have a starting point to work with a professional company.

The above list was developed with the help of Digital Storage Solutions out of Long Island, New York. They specialize in document conversion for small businesses all the way up to enterprise level corporations. Be prepared before you speak with any conversion company.