18 months and $1m to digitise 42 tonnes of council papers

In the future people will be able to easily search and view the files by using self-service kiosks at the council, or through a downloadable link. Photo / File

The first step in a $1million project to digitise 42 tonnes of Napier City Council property files has been taken.

Over the next year and a half the council will work with Wellington's Desktop Imaging on "Project Papercut", which will see every property file held on council premises - a total 4.8 million pages of information - digitised and classified.

In the future people will be able to easily search and view these files by using self-service kiosks at the council, or through a downloadable link.

Napier City Council manager information services Duncan Barr said eventually customers would be searching for their files online, without the need to physically visit council.

"This project ensures that the data we hold in our 29,000 files is preserved, archived, kept safe and classified to ensure it is fully searchable. Every single file, from the earliest file we have dated 1924, will be colour-scanned and saved," he says.

This process would get rid of the risks associated with paper files - including being damaged in a fire or earthquake.

"Paper erodes over time and files become harder to read. And as we frequently discover when accessing the files in their current state, there's the risk of human error too - people misfiling information, or simply losing important paperwork."

Files will be digitally scanned alphabetically according to address - with the first 90 "A" files taken from the council last month.

"A strict quality assurance process will be undertaken on those 90 files before the remaining files are trucked to Wellington for scanning, in batches.

"We're entering the pilot stage of the project, checking scanning quality and accurate categorisation. A highly beneficial side-effect of this process is that as each file is handled, any misfiled information can be refiled into its proper spot."

The future of the council's civic buildings looks uncertain after both were found to be earthquake prone late last month.

And public expectation around access to 24/7 electronic data was growing - as shown through the Long Term Plan 2015-2025.

Although $655,000 was set aside in the plan for the project it is expected it will cost $1million.

"We're prepared for the additional cost, which is mostly due to the extent of the classification we've requested," Mr Barr said. "We aim to do it once, do it right, and Desktop Imaging certainly have a brilliant track record in this regard."

The additional cost will be requested through the Long Term Plan 2018-2028.

- To access property files, there is a form at napier.govt.nz/services/properties-and-rates/property-files/. Information can also be viewed online, or at one of four viewing stations at 231 Hastings St, Napier.

PROJECT PAPERCUT IN NUMBERS
4.8 million - the approximate number of pages to be scanned during Project Papercut
579 - the number of trees that gave their lives for our property files to exist
14,500 - the number of rugby fields the paper in our property files would cover if laid flat
24 tonnes - how much the paper files weigh (imagine a blue whale with a hippo on its back)