Scanning plays its part in Lambeth Claims Handling System

In 1998/99 Lambeth Council adopted the LACHS system (Local Authority Claims Handling System). This system allows all claims made against the Council to be scanned and indexed by insurance policy year to enable ease of storage and access to the information.

Scanning did not get under way until 2002 and when Maureen Dennie, Assistant Risk Insurance Manager, identified a backlog of documents that needed adding to the LACHS system, she decided to outsource the work to a document scanning company.

Maureen selected ADEC Preview from a shortlist of six companies. In the very early stages of the project, ADEC Preview's Account Manager for Local Government met with Maureen to explain to her how ADEC Preview would undertake the work. Maureen commented that it was very helpful to have the project explained in 'plain English'.

As some of the work was of a highly sensitive nature, the security of the documents whilst being scanned was a key concern and one of the reasons why ADEC Preview was selected. ADEC Preview's rigorous security policies include the requirement for all staff to sign a confidentiality agreement relating to the non-disclosure of client information. These particularly sensitive files were handled by only one operator and the documents were then securely destroyed after scanning. In fact, as Lambeth Council did not want any of the source documents to be returned, ADEC Preview organised the secure destruction of all paperwork after all scanning had been completed.

Lambeth had originally estimated that there were approximately 40,000 documents... this subsequently turned out to be nearer 100,000. Whilst the job was being undertaken, Maureen found that she needed to refer to some of the files. ADEC Preview retrieved the files, scanned them and Maureen was able to view the scanned images within 2 days of her request.

Maureen was very happy with the whole project and has subsequently recommended ADEC Preview to three other Councils. ADEC Preview has since completed similar work for these councils.

"I was impressed by the way in which ADEC Preview took the time and trouble to visit me with the CD and show me exactly how to search for documents and how they looked on the screen. The job was well done. It certainly resolved my document storage issues - all the images were contained on only ten CDs and these will be loaded into the LACHS system."

London Borough of Lambeth web site: http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/

If you need to handle a large volume of paperwork for any reason, why not just scan it? You can save time and money, find information fast, just when you need it and at the same time free up costly storage space.

Call ADEC Services on 02 8397 6900 or click here to leave an enquiry on our contact us page.