600,000 Documents, One Solution: Large-Scale Onsite Scanning

When organizations need large volumes of paper records digitized for discovery, the process is typically straightforward: The documents are securely transferred, scanned, and processed offsite. But in some matters, this method simply isn’t an option.

A global professional services consulting firm engaged Avalon to support a major paper discovery effort involving hundreds of thousands of documents. But, since many of the records had to remain onsite, under the control of the firm’s end client, a large part of the project would need to take place onsite. What followed was a complex, multi-location operation requiring specialized equipment, nationwide coordination, and a dedicated scanning team capable of working directly within the end client’s facilities.

The Challenge

Avalon had previously completed two smaller onsite scanning engagements for this consulting firm, but this project quickly proved to be far more challenging. The firm’s end client maintained possession of the paper records and made it clear that the documents could not be released. If the records were to be digitized for discovery, the entire process would need to occur at their facilities.

The engagement involved two sites: one in California, and one in Arizona. This meant our team would need to transport equipment, coordinate travel, and establish secure scanning environments at each site. Avalon needed to deploy the right people, equipment, and infrastructure to process a large volume of sensitive documents onsite, while maintaining strict chain of custody, data security and minimizing disruption to the end client’s operations.

The Strategy

To execute the project successfully, Avalon brought together a cross-functional team that included sales leadership, management, and the Central Services Team responsible for legal and business document services, including scanning and paper discovery. Because of the scale and geographic challenges involved, additional internal teams – including HR, logistics, and IT – also played critical roles.

Human resources worked with internal teams to identify experienced
scanning specialists who could travel across the country to assist with the project. Ultimately, Avalon provided the client with 12 team members onsite to manage the extensive scanning effort.

Meanwhile, the logistics team coordinated the shipment of equipment and arranged travel for the scanning specialists. The onsite setup included six top-of-the-line production scanners capable of high-resolution capture with advanced document protection features designed for heavy-duty, continuous scanning, as well as six laptops configured specifically for this project.

Once they arrived onsite, the team of scanning specialists got to work, preparing – i.e., removing staples, unfolding corners, and other detailed work – and scanning the contents of hundreds of boxes. All captured images were subject to onsite quality control and inspected for accuracy.

Our scanning specialists also took care to return every piece of paper to its original order once scanning was complete. Since the work was performed at the client’s location, the Avalon team operated with the understanding that they were guests in the space, ensuring the process remained minimally intrusive to the end client’s daily operations.

Avalon’s IT department also played a critical role in ensuring that the scanned data could be securely transferred and protected. All images were captured directly onto Avalon laptops. The data was then backed up to the cloud every other day and transferred to our Buffalo and Cleveland offices for OCR and indexing to enable searchability. This process ensured that the data remained secure and accessible throughout the project while maintaining strict control over the information.

Finally, management oversaw the entire operation, coordinating teams
and monitoring progress to ensure the work stayed aligned with the
client’s expectations.

The Results

What began as a project initially scoped for three days onsite quickly expanded as the full volume of documents became clear. Avalon quickly scaled the operation accordingly, deploying additional resources and maintaining an onsite presence for nearly a month.

During that time, Avalon scanned 597,022 images, which were organized and indexed into approximately 11,000 files. Large-scale onsite scanning projects like this require specialized experience, coordination, and resources. While many providers can handle smaller local scanning engagements, few have the operational capacity
to deploy teams across the country and execute projects of this magnitude. Avalon’s ability to bring together the most appropriate people, equipment, and infrastructure allowed the project to be completed successfully.

The client was extremely pleased with the outcome, noting: "The fact that the Avalon team was able to pull this off was outstanding.” With the systems, processes, and expertise demonstrated during this engagement, Avalon is well positioned to replicate similar large-scale onsite scanning operations anywhere in the country.