Are you considering digitizing your paper-based assets? If yes, check this presentation which discusses PDF/A. It also talks about the challenges of digitizing and preserving paper-based documents.

1. PDF/A
Addressing the challenges of digitizing and preserving
paper-based documents in GoC
Jeff Brand
October 26, 2012
© ADLIB 2012. THIS SLIDE PRESENTATION CONTAINS PROPRIETARY AND/OR CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.

2. Adlib – Who We Are
• Software company – Burlington, Ontario, Canada
• Leading expert in document-to-PDF transformation
• Improve document intensive business processes
• 10+ years experience
• 5,000+ Customers Worldwide
• 50+ Countries
• 100+ Partners

3. Bringing Value To Many Industries
Financial Life Health
Legal Mfg Gov’t Other
Services Sciences Care

4. Key Partners

5. Agenda
Physical and Digital Media
• Physical and Digital Archiving – Advantages and Disadvantages
• Overview of PDF and PDF/A
Approaches to Digitization
• Maximize the retention of knowledge
• Consider Security Implications
Management of Digitized artifacts
• Revisit Retention and Disposition polices
• Maximize the value to Canada
Opportunities for Savings
• Time & Cost
• Increased Flexibility to mitigate future costs
Summary

6. Physical Archiving
• Preserving and Storing the original or
exemplary specimen in original, physical form

7. Physical Archiving - Advantages
Assuming time has not deteriorated the
media…
• The physical archive is the original so
there is no variance from the original
• Relatively little / no question about
authenticity, accuracy
• Technology – All you need are eyes.

8. Physical Archiving - Advantages
• Sentimental Value
Certain original documents will be desired to be
maintained for as long as possible...

9. Physical Archiving - Disadvantages
Time
Time heals all wounds…and destroys all
documents

10. Physical Archiving - Disadvantages
Cost
Elaborate and costly physical storage and
preservation

11. Physical Archiving - Disadvantages
Availability
There’s only one. Options to make it available to
citizens are limited and require manual effort

12. Physical Archiving - Disadvantages
Effort to retrieve
Locating relevant documents relies on
appropriate and accurate taxonomy during on-
boarding

13. Physical Archiving - Disadvantages
Environmental
Impact
Preserving documents require chemicals, such as
3M’s Novec 7100 Engineering Fluid

14. Digital Archiving
• Preserving and Storing the original or
exemplary specimen in a digitized form.

15. Digital Archiving - Advantages
Space = 56,140,800
128GB USB Flash Drive
$80 CDN
Pages
An entire warehouse of text can fit in a USB
Thumb Drive

16. Digital Archiving - Advantages
Availability
Digital copies can be shared with an unlimited
number of people with little or no effort.

17. Digital Archiving - Advantages
Effort
Technologies such as Full-Text-Searching make
finding relevant documents easier and less
dependent on taxonomy

18. Digital Archiving - Advantages
Automation
Automatically execute Retention and Disposition
policies, Audit and more without manual
intervention

19. Digital Archiving - Advantages
Flexibility
Flexibility to support changing Policy and
Requirements easily

20. Digital Archiving - Advantages
Cost
Digital archives typically cost 90% less to operate
and maintain

21. Digital Archiving - Challenges
• Digital Dark Age
• Wide variety of formats that require special
technology to view
• Reduced Sentimental Value

22. Digital Archiving - Considerations
Digital Dark Age
Ensuring files are accessible tomorrow…

23. Digital Archiving - TIFF
Tagged Image File Format
• Used by FAX Machines (CCITT Group 4)
• Very common image format
• Supports multiple pages
• Significant increase in file size for digitally-born
content
• No Search capability
• Not designed for Long-Term Archiving

24. Digital Archiving – PDF/A
Portable Document Format
(For Archive)
• Adopted by ISO for long-term preservation of
documents
• Based on PDF – the most popular document
format on the Web today
• Highest-Quality representation of document
• Smallest possible file sizes
• Guaranteed to look the same forever
• Universally Viewable – Hardware / Software
independent

25. What is PDF?
Portable Document Format
Originally created by Adobe in the 1990’s, became an
open, ISO Standard (32000:1) in 2008
The most popular file format on the web today (FileInfo.com)

26. What else is PDF Used For?
• Contracts
• Agreements
• Sales Proposals
• Product Literature
• Publications
• Reports
• Standard Operating Procedures
• Long-Term Archiving
• Sharing documents and content with others
• So Much More

27. Isn’t PDF Free?
Many applications can save to PDF

28. Isn’t PDF Free?
A quick Google search shows dozens of free
applications for creating PDF…

29. Isn’t PDF Free? - Can your doc change?
Original Excel Chart Free PDF Rendition
Fidelity or quality of conversion is often the cost

30. Isn’t PDF Free? - Can your doc change?
Original Word Doc Free PDF Rendition
Content Re-Flow - Font Substitution - Complex Formats

31. Isn’t PDF Free? - Can you comply?
PDF Features that are often required for compliance or
even optimal document conversion are often missing in free
or low-cost solutions

32. Isn’t PDF Free? - Can you merge?
It can be difficult and time-consuming to merge the content
from multiple applications into a single document.
Few if any free PDF solutions enable this.

33. Isn’t PDF Free? - Can you keep up?
Workers spend far too much time dealing with low quality
and manual PDF rendering technologies

34. Isn’t PDF Free?
• Free or Low-Cost software can cost you:
• Hours of lost productivity
• Lost opportunities
• Miss-communication
• Business delays
• Fines

35. PDF/A

36. PDF/A - What is it?
• A more strict subset of the PDF specification
• Specifically designed for the purpose of long-term
preservation of documents
• Audio, Video, JavaScript and Executables, Encryption,
External references are all restricted
• Designed to be 100% Self Contained – All fonts must
be embedded

37. PDF/A - What is it?
Based on PDF, Initially Released in 2005
(3 years ahead of PDF as an ISO Standard!)
• PDF/A-1 (a/b)
• Based on PDF 1.4 Specification
• PDF/A-2 (a/b/u)
• Based on ISO 32000-1
• JPEG2000, Transparency, Layers, OpenType Fonts,
PDF/A File Embedded
• PDF/A-3 (a/b/u)
• Arbitrary files can be embedded

38. PDF/A - What is it?
What makes a PDF a PDF/A?
• A Special metadata tag that indicates that the
document presents itself as PDF/A
• Compliance to the PDF/A Standard

39. PDF/A – Disadvantages
File Size – Embedding fonts in each document
means file sizes are larger when compared to
PDF
(This is still significantly better than alternatives such as TIFF)

40. PDF/A – Summary
• PDF provides many benefits over alternatives
such as TIFF
• Small size
• High-quality
• Searchable
• Highly viewable
• Portable
• PDF/A Builds on this and ensures the long-term
viability of content stored in this format

41. The AIIM Document Life Cycle
Optimize with Searchable Content
OCR- Searchable Content
Metadata Retention
- Format PDF
- Enhancements & Watermarks
Support for: - Document Assembly
- PDF/A - Personalization
- TIFF - Security & Approvals

42. PDF/A at Library and Archives Canada
Services Services Services
Upload Module Staging DAM Web Store
Repositories Local/cloud
FTP Module DAM Web
Storage
eMail Module
Structured Templates
Data
Scan Module
Structured
Data
Data
Metadata Warehouse
& Social
Models

43. PDF/A at Library and Archives Canada
Adlib Services Services Services
Upload Module Staging DAM Web Store
Repositories Local/cloud
FTP Module DAM Web
Storage
eMail Module
Structured Templates
Data
Scan Module
Structured
Data
Data
Metadata Warehouse
& Social
Models

44. PDF/A at Library and Archives Canada
Adlib
Services Services Services
Upload Module Staging DAM Web Store
Repositories Local/cloud
FTP Module DAM Web
Storage
eMail Module
Structured Templates
Data
Scan Module
Structured
Data
Data
Metadata Warehouse
& Social
Models

45. PDF/A at Library and Archives Canada
Services Services Services
Upload Module Staging DAM Web Store
Repositories Local/cloud
FTP Module DAM Web
Storage
eMail Module
Structured Templates
Data
Scan Module
Structured
Data
Data
Adlib Metadata Warehouse
& Social
Models

46. PDF/A at Library and Archives Canada
Adlib
Services Services Services
Upload Module Staging DAM Web Store
Repositories Local/cloud
FTP Module DAM Web
Storage
eMail Module
Structured Templates
Data
Scan Module
Structured
Data
Data
Metadata Warehouse
& Social
Models

47. PDF/A at Library and Archives Canada
Adlib
Services Services Services
Upload Module Staging DAM Web Store
Repositories Local/cloud
FTP Module DAM Web
Storage
eMail Module
Structured Templates
Data
Scan Module
Structured
Data
Data
Metadata Warehouse
& Social
Models

48. PDF/A at Library and Archives Canada
Services Services Services
Upload Module Staging DAM Web Store Adlib
Repositories Local/cloud
FTP Module DAM Web
Storage
eMail Module
Structured Templates
Data
Scan Module
Structured
Data
Data
Metadata Warehouse
& Social
Models

49. Digitization

50. Preparation – Typical Document Process

51. Digitization – Processing Large Volumes
• Digitizing entire libraries of content can be more
than daunting but help is available:
Seek out industry experts to ensure a
successful transition of knowledge

52. Digitization – Processing Large Volumes
• Digitizing entire libraries of content can be more
than daunting but help is available:
• In-Sourcing and Out-Sourcing : Build a plan
of action that considers Security
requirements
• Is the content potentially sensitive?
• Is there risk of loss?
• Is there a risk of contamination / degradation of
the original content?

53. Digitization – Processing Large Volumes
• Digitizing entire libraries of content can be more
than daunting but help is available:
• Hardware & Software Investments
• What do you need Today & Tomorrow
• Consider Lease for Short Term
requirements
• Provision for the future

54. Digitization – Processing Large Volumes
• Measure Twice, Cut Once
• Plan ahead and consider the future use of the
content when defining requirements
• Understand the entire lifecycle of the content when
architecting the process
• How long will we keep it?
• How will we share it?
• How will people find it?
• How will we dispose of it?
• Will we maintain the originals after digitization?
• What are the specific requirements for each step in the
process?

55. Digitization – Processing Large Volumes
• Start with Quality
• Pay special attention to the digitization process
• Higher quality at the IMAGING stage pays off
• Files can be reduced as necessary later, you can
never ADD quality
• Consider pre-processing when scanning documents
of questionable quality
• Ensure highly accurate OCR is applied prior to on-
boarding into the system, or as a part of the
onboarding process

56. Digitization – Maintaining Taxonomy
Classification and indexes need to be maintained,
but how?
• Purely Physical
• Index Cards, Catalogs, Within Content
• Modernized Physical
• Library systems & databases

57. Digitization – Maintaining Taxonomy
This is often achieved by making the classification
data available on a cover sheet in front of each
document.
This can be extracted from the Library System /
DB, or pulled directly from an Index Card and
even processed from a Catalog (Even if it’s
physical!)

58. Digitization – Approaches
There are 2 methods to digitizing a collection:
1. Batch
• Everything is performed in one or multiple batches
and the sequence of batching is pre-determined
2. Scan-On-Demand
• More opportunistic, existing Archives are digitized
as requested

59. Digitization - Security
Preventing Loss
• Chain of custody
• Limited transportation choices
• Escorted Content
Selective Outsourcing
• Assess the risk
• Employ multiple tiers for Outsourcing
• In-Source for the most critical artifacts

60. Management of Digitized Artifacts
• Revisit Retention and Disposition Policies
• Can we keep digital records longer? Indefinitely?
• Maximizing the value to Canada
• Making content available to Canadians
• Using Search to maximize value and enhance
classification paradigms in use today

61. Sharing Canada’s Digitized Artifacts
Maximizing the value to
Canada:
• Education
• Legal
• Innovation

62. Cost Savings
• Physical Storage
• Management and Execution of Retention and
Disposition Policies
• Flexibility to support changing Policy and
Requirements easily

63. Cost Savings $36,659.20
1990
1995 $819.20
Price per GB 2000 $1,433.60
2005 $10.00
$40,000.00
2010 $0.10
$35,000.00 2012 $0.05
2020 $0.02
$30,000.00
$25,000.00
Price per GB
$20,000.00
$15,000.00
$10,000.00
$5,000.00
$-
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2012 2020

64. Cost Savings $36,659.20
1990
1995 $819.20
Price per GB 2000 $1,433.60
$0.12 2005 $10.00
2010 $0.10
2012 $0.05
$0.10
2020 $0.02
$0.08
Price per GB
$0.06
$0.04
$0.02
$-
2010 2012 2020

65. Summary
• Hire an Expert – Or Become One!
• Do it once and do it right
• Digitize Everything
• On Demand / Disposition
• Physically preserve only sentimental and
historic originals

66. The AIIM Document Life Cycle
Optimize with Searchable Content
OCR- Searchable Content
Metadata Retention
- Format PDF
- Enhancements & Watermarks
Support for: - Document Assembly
- PDF/A - Personalization
- TIFF - Security & Approvals

67. Adlib PDF Enterprise
Input: Output:
• MS Office Process: • PDF
• MS InfoPath • Conversion • PDF/A
• MS Project • Recognition (OCR) • XPS
• Various CAD • Publication • XML
• Various PDF • Merge • TIFF/JPG/BMP/PNG
• Images • TOC • TXT
• OpenOffice • Bookmarks • HTML
• HTML • Headers/Footers
• Over 400 File Types • Digital Signatures

68. Adlib PDF Architecture
Content
Stores
Connector SharePoint Folder Generic
Management Console UI
Connector Framework (Java 1.6/.NET)
WCF / SOAP Services Interface
Manager
s
System System System
Manager Database Manager
Engine
s Transformation Transformation
Engine Engine

69. Adlib Software…
…The PDF Experts!
Your partner for Quality,
Automated Document
Transformation

70. Contact Information
Matt Woodworth
Manager, Public Sector. North America.
613 218 6778
mwoodworth@adlibsoftware.com