An LPA is over 20 pages long, with anywhere between 50 and 90 fields that include both check boxes and free text. The OPG digitises this paper document to make it quicker and easier to process. But the sheer volume of LPAs, coupled with the huge amount of data in each one, makes this no small task.

The OPG wanted to keep the mailroom within its offices, so it needed a partner that could supply the technology, the systems, and the training for its own team to succeed.

But while the mailroom wasn’t going anywhere, the OPG was hoping it could take up less room, so it asked potential partners to think of ways to reduce the footprint of the technology needed to do the job. And any technology introduced would need to seamlessly integrate with the OPG’s homegrown case management system.

Processing more documents with better quality in less space and integrating with custom software? That’s just the kind of challenge for Restore Information Management.

Our first step was to deliver two new types of scanner. One type for high-volumes, processing the forms so fast you might indeed miss it if you blink. The second type scans any other documents, such as correspondence that might accompany the LPA.

The speed of these scanners mean there’s a lot of data being generated in a short space of time. As OPG wanted to reduce the amount of on-site hardware.

This provided 3 benefits to the OPG:

1. Continual improvements: now the technology is in place, we can continually test and learn to make further improvements.

2. Better business continuity: for example, if OPG office suffered a power outage, cloud processing means the extraction continues unaffected. It also means hybrid workers on the team can continue to validate the data extraction.

3. Space savings: we could reduce the footprint of the OPG’s on-site hardware.

Finally, we provided thorough training and support to the OPG. This involved bringing in our team to make sure OPG was getting the most from the new systems.

Handling problems

With OPG having the mailroom onsite, deploying the technology and systems was naturally more complex. And, naturally, there were bumps in the road as we created an entirely new process.

We mitigated against many of these bumps with rigorous testing, which helped us spot challenges and address them before we rolled out the new solution.

Working together, we made sure the errors were resolved and the new technology delivered rock solid results.

The summary of the work we’ve done with the OPG is straightforward: faster digitisation with better quality.

The OPG are also enjoying improved Management Information (MI) which, The OPG can now see anything from how often a scanner stops and how often a scanner runs.