Planning & Building Microfiche Conversion Solution, Digital ReeL, Leveraged at Salinas, California
Microfiche, paper and existing digital documents converted, stored and easily retrievable from central repository; solution includes microfiche conversion, paper scanning and document hosting at BMI Imaging’s secure data centers
Sunnyvale, California – January 10, 2018 – BMI Imaging Systems, a leading provider of document management and microfiche/microfilm conversion solutions, is pleased to announce that the Salinas Permit Services Division (California) has successfully implemented the Digital ReeL microfiche conversion solution.
Kristy Parker, Permit Center Coordinator, states, “We had microfiche, paper, and existing digital documents that we wanted digitized and easily retrievable from a central repository. BMI offered the full solution, including scanning and the hosted application.”
The Salinas Permit Services Division preserves public safety by ensuring that both residential and commercial building projects are built according to applicable building codes, city ordinances and state laws. The Division was heavily reliant on microfiche, paper and unstructured digital files as a means to archive and store permit plans and other information. Permit Services had a desire to digitally convert these assets and centrally store them but it took a few years to generate the required budget.
The Permit Center archived legacy permit plans and associated documentation on approximately 50,000 jacketed microfiche. In addition, the Permit Center had newer records that had been scanned from paper to digital PDFs and stored on CDs and zip drives. Current plans, in paper format, were in the queue to get digitally scanned.
Parker states, “Once I sat down with the BMI account team to discuss how we’d work together, I knew that BMI could handle all the media formats that we had our records stored on. This, along with their close location and the detailed way they implement projects, made working with BMI an easy choice.”
Parker states, “The information is now digital and stored with BMI. Multiple copies of information are stored in Sunnyvale and Sacramento so that no single copy of the information is at risk in an event like a fire or earthquake.”
The Permit Center has approximately ten staff employees that log into the system. Access to records is through the Digital ReeL application, accessible from a browser, such as Google Chrome. Security is such that only a few on-site workstations are able to access the Digital ReeL application and the data.
Download the Salinas Permit Services case study.
About BMI Imaging
BMI Imaging Systems, Inc. has been at the forefront of the document management industry since 1958, first with microfilm and now with scanned images. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with an additional production and sales facility in Sacramento, BMI serves over 500 commercial companies and government agencies, converting an average of 3 million images per month. BMI consists of 60 production specialists and support staff, many having worked for the company for ten years or more.
BMI has developed a wealth of experience in several vertical markets (e.g. healthcare, government, education) and offers customized document management solutions in a competitive and changing marketplace. Scanning paper documents or physical microfilm is usually the most visible task in achieving a full document solution.
Identifying record types, determining indexing methods and leveraging content in existing legacy systems are all skills needed to modernize an agency’s document management systems and processes. BMI’s systems integration team has decades of experience to achieve this goal. Internally developed software tools, over 400 to date, are regularly employed to solve complex image and data challenges. Jobs that require analysis, data extraction, multiple service offerings and custom development are those that separate BMI from other providers.