One Project, Several Budgets: How to Phase a Large Records Digitization Project a Bite at a Time
You can phase a large records digitization project by ranking your collections, locking one set of specifications and county-rules indexing, and digitizing in stages that each fit a single budget. Every phase ends with indexed records loaded into your systems, so the next budget builds on proven results.
Many counties spent ARPA money on a scanning phase. Treasury gave recipients until the end of 2024 to obligate those funds and until December 31, 2026 to spend them. Deadlines come and go, but the problem they leave behind stays: some counties hold scans they can't use because nobody indexed the records (tagged them with searchable data) or loaded them into county systems. Even without ARPA, millions of records, thin staffing, and fiscal-year cycles make an all-at-once project unrealistic. Phasing keeps the work moving anyway.
Key Takeaways
A large backlog can move now, in phases, without one big appropriation
Prioritize by value, risk, demand, condition, and readiness
Lock specifications and county-rule indexing before Phase 1
Run every phase on the same repeatable workflow
Documented results from one phase help win funding for the next
What Is a Records Digitization Project, and Why Should Government Agencies Phase One?
A records digitization project is a planned effort to convert physical records into digital files you can store, search, and manage electronically. Phasing lets agencies start now instead of waiting for full funding, one budget at a time.
Phasing gives your agency:
Budget flexibility across fiscal years
A manageable scope for each phase
Less disruption to daily operations
Easier procurement and approvals
Room to prioritize high-value records
Lessons learned between phases
Long-term scalability
For government record digitization, each phase should use the same ranking method and the same workflow, so small budgets add up to one program. Start by naming one collection for Phase 1.
How Should Government Agencies Decide What Records to Digitize First?
For most government agencies, priority should come from operational value, risk, public access demand, physical condition, legal or retention requirements, business impact, and project readiness, not just chronology. Scoring each collection against the checklist below usually makes your first phase obvious.
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Priority factor |
Question it answers |
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Operational value |
Which records does staff pull most? |
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Risk |
Which records are vulnerable to damage or loss? |
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Public access demand |
Which records are most frequently requested? |
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Physical condition |
Which records are fragile or deteriorating? |
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Legal or retention requirements |
Which records carry mandated retention or access rules? |
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Business impact |
Which records, once searchable, save the most staff time? |
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Project readiness |
Which collections are organized and ready to scan now? |
How Can a Large Government Record Digitization Project Be Divided Across Multiple Budgets?
The best way to divide a large government record digitization project is in logical phases, not arbitrary annual splits, so you build momentum year over year. A phase ends each phase with indexed records in your system and a documented workflow.
Here's a four-phase example:
Assessment and high-priority records: Inventory and prioritize, set specifications (your land records system, such as Tyler, Fidlar, or Harris, and its version, not just image resolution, plus county-rules indexing, which applies your county's own document types, codes, and conventions to every record), and digitize your top collection.
Departmental or record-type expansion: Apply the same workflow to the next priority group.
Historical and archival collections: Move into larger, fragile, or specialized material, where archival digitization (converting historical materials to digital form while preserving their usability) often includes microfilm (paper records photographed onto film) and specialized micrographics scanning equipment.
Remaining backlog and optimization: Finish the rest and improve your workflow and records management.
Treat this as a framework to adapt. Your records, goals, budget, and operations set the real boundaries.
What Should Government Agencies Compare When Choosing a Records Digitization Service?
When comparing providers, focus on capabilities. On a large project, the most important factors are county-rules indexing, loading data into your existing records platform, image cleanup for degraded pages, who handles your records, and whether the provider guarantees every page.
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Capability |
Why it matters for large government projects |
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County-rules indexing vs. a generic template |
Data that follows your document types and codes will be searchable on day one. |
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Loading data into your records platform and version |
Scans only help if you finish importing data into the system you already run. |
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Image cleanup for degraded pages and photostats |
Cleaner images make OCR (technology that turns scanned text into searchable text) and indexing more reliable. |
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No temporary labor |
Every record handled by trained provider employees, never temps or subcontractors, means one accountable team and one standard of care. |
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Every page guarantee |
A provider that stands behind every page, in writing, tells you who answers when something goes wrong. |
Round out the evaluation with public-sector experience, supported record formats, archival scanning capabilities, chain-of-custody tracking, quality control (checking digitized records against agreed standards for image quality, completeness, accuracy, and organization), project reporting, and support for multi-year, scalable projects. Strong government document scanning is only half the job. A provider that hands over scans you can't truly use has finished the easy half. County-rules indexing separates providers fastest, so ask each one how it's done and who checks it.
The right partner supports your current phase and the end state, with consistent standards, secure processing, and the ability to keep working across future phases.
What Are the Best Practices for Managing a Multi-Year Government Digitization Project?
A practical approach to a multi-year project is to keep every phase consistent and indexed to your county's rules every time. When specifications drift between phases, collections stop searching the same way, and reconciling them later means expensive rework.
Four habits break projects when skipped:
Lock technical specifications before Phase 1, including the target system and its version
Document your indexing rules so every phase follows the same county-specific standard
Agree on acceptance criteria in writing
Scope the next phase before the current one closes
Bolivar County, Mississippi, shows how this works. The county needed its deeds, deeds of trust, and 10 years of tax liens indexed the way its own office handles them. The county worked through several rounds of samples with Revolution Data Systems (RDS) to capture the nuances of each instrument type and document its indexing rules. RDS then worked directly with Delta Computer Systems to format images and index fields for the county's Delta Land Records Management System. The result was thousands of pages of searchable records and more than four decades of title history. As Chancery Clerk Brenett Haynes said, "Every county is unique, and it was important to us that our indexing reflected the way we work in Bolivar County."
Because those rules were documented, every later batch could follow the same standard. That is the goal for each phase: carry it forward into one larger strategy, so year five builds on year one.
How Can Agencies Build a Business Case for the Next Digitization Phase?
Agencies can use the measurable results of an earlier phase to support the next funding request. Records digitized, processing time, staff time saved, search improvements, and remaining backlog give commissioners numbers they can weigh, so track them from day one. This template drops straight into a budget memo. The hidden costs of delaying digitization show the other side of the ledger.
Phase [#] results:
Records digitized: [number] records, [number] pages
Processing time: [number] weeks from first batch to loaded data
Search and public access: [improvement, such as retrieval time before and after]
Physical storage: [space or cost reduced]
Staff time saved: [hours per week]
Workflow improvements: [changes]
Remaining backlog: [records left, phases to finish]
Fill it in at the end of each phase. Documenting one successful phase largely makes the case for funding the next.
Who Is Accountable for Each Phase?
RDS scopes, prioritizes, and executes each phase of your government document management project, so you know exactly who is accountable for the work, not just who holds the support contract. From first inventory to final phase, one team owns the plan, the scanning, and the indexing. That team is made up of trained RDS employees, never temps or subcontractors (No Temporary Labor), and every phase is backed by the Every Page Guarantee. RDS supports roughly 1,000 of the nation's 3,100 counties. County-rules indexing, verified by people who answer for it.
Planning a large records digitization project? RDS can help you prioritize your records, define manageable project phases, and build a digitization plan that aligns with your operational and budget requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do our records have to leave our office during a digitization project?
Records don't always have to leave your office during a digitization project. It depends on their format, condition, and your security requirements. Providers can offer on-site scanning when records can't leave your premises and off-site when they can. Either way, require a documented chain of custody from intake to return.
How long will our records be gone during a digitization phase?
How long your records are gone during a digitization phase varies with batch size, condition, and prep needs, so no standard number applies. Ask for a timeline for each batch as well as the whole project. Staggered batches let you keep high-demand books close while others are scanned, and a written schedule shows when each one returns.
Can the public still access records while a phase is running?
Yes, the public can usually still access records while a phase is running. Plan batches so frequently requested books stay available or get scanned and returned first. Your provider should also schedule around peak filing periods and give staff a simple way to request items currently out for scanning.
What happens if we already paid someone to scan our records and ended up with a flash drive we can't use?
If you already paid for scans and ended up with a flash drive you can't use, you can often salvage the images. What's usually missing is county-rules indexing and a load into your records platform and version. A provider can assess the files, index them to your rules, and integrate them, so your record digitization spend isn't wasted.
What about microfilm? Does that get digitized the same way as paper records?
Microfilm doesn't get digitized the same way as paper records. Microfilm stores reduced-size images of paper documents, and digitizing it requires different scanning equipment than paper, which is why it usually becomes its own phase. Plan separate specifications, quality checks, and indexing for it.
How much does a government records digitization project cost?
How much a government records digitization project costs depends on volume, document types, prep requirements, scanning specifications, indexing, OCR, quality control, security, and project complexity. A generic per-page price for government record digitization hides those variables. Request a scoped estimate based on a sample of your records, and price each phase separately.