XCEL ENERGY | MINNESOTA
“Digital ReeL has enabled Xcel Energy to digitize 13,500 microfilm rolls and offer employees and researchers an online app to search and retrieve records.”
– Rebecca Wessman | Xcel Energy
OVERVIEW
Xcel Energy is a major U.S. electricity and natural gas company, with operations in eight Western and Midwestern states. Xcel Energy provides a comprehensive portfolio of energy-related products and services to 3.6 million electricity customers and 2 million natural gas customers through its regulated operating companies.
“Xcel Energy’s records from 2006 and older were archived on 13,500 microfilm rolls”, states Rebecca Wessman, Procedures and Records Management Supervisor. “We clearly needed a way to digitize our microfilm repository.”
Wessman collaborated with her IT team, who also recognized the potential benefits. After a few on-site demonstrations for various internal constituents, the decision was made to move forward with Digital ReeL leveraging a local BMI Imaging partner, Mid-America Business Systems.
CHALLENGES
- Days of staff time consumed with trying to locate information only available on physical microfilm
- Inability to easily print and read information requested from physical microfilm archive
- PII protection
BMI PRODUCTS & SERVICES
- Approximately 13,500 microfilm rolls digitized at BMI’s California microfilm scanning facility
- Rolls included plant-specific engineering/operational records dated January 2006 and older
- On-site installation of Digital ReeL
- Separate delivery of searchable PDFs
BENEFITS
- Self-service stations, including remote access, give time back to staff
- Adjustable grayscale enables researchers to improve previously illegible photos and text
- High resolution, searchable newspaper PDFs