Toronto, Canada (2019) – DRC entered into a multi-year partnership with a provincial government agency in Alberta to support its modernization and digital transformation efforts. This initiative involves the digitization of approximately 700,000 microfiche, representing over 16.5 million images or of legacy pension records.

 

The project scope includes secure transportation and chain-of-custody management between Alberta and DRC’s Toronto-based digitization centre, where microfiche records are stored, processed, and ultimately converted into digital assets for integration with the agency's Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system.

 

To ensure uninterrupted document access throughout the conversion process, DRC provided stakeholders and back-office staff with a secure urgent request portal, allowing continuous retrieval of records from microfiche. Simultaneously, DRC maintained its bulk digitization service, aligning output with the client's prioritized collections and annual budget allocations—delivering a scalable, fully digital solution while adhering to fiscal planning.

 

DRC leveraged its secure infrastructure (cleared to the level of Protected B by the Federal Government) and advanced high-volume microfilm/microfiche conversion capabilities to meet project requirements. Enhanced handling techniques ensure fragile microfiche are digitized with minimal risk of further degradation, while maximizing image quality. 

 

High-volume, high-performance microfiche digitization systems ensured the highest level of image quality and auditing for completeness of capture. Proven practices and control procedures ensured consistent high-quality output at scale. Purpose-built applications manage logistics, digitization, tracking, production, and urgent requests—offering a streamlined, dedicated platform tailored to the agency’s specific needs.

 

Using client-provided metadata, DRC supported seamless integration into the agency’s existing information architecture, enabling rapid search and retrieval functionality. DRC's end-to-end solution delivered the following client benefits:

• Operational Continuity: Through the urgent request portal, users had uninterrupted access to critical documents, which prevented workflow delays and service disruptions throughout the digitization cycle.
• Strategic Digitization: By aligning conversion output with the client’s prioritized collections and fiscal timelines, DRC delivered a digitization roadmap that reinforced future planning and long-term content strategy.
• Enhanced Usability & Integration: Full-text searchable digital assets were successfully integrated into the ECM system, enabling faster decision-making, improved public service delivery, and streamlined archival access.
• Future-Proofed Preservation: The transition away from microfiche helped safeguard institutional memory against media degradation and provided the client with resilient, durable digital access to historical records.
• Scalable Excellence: The project’s high-volume achievement—digitizing 16.5 million images—demonstrated that quality and scale could coexist, empowering the client to advance their modernization agenda with confidence.

 

DRC consistently produced high-quality, full-text searchable digital files using digitization standards compliant with CGSB 72.11-93 (Microfilm and Electronic Records as Documentary Evidence). The project aims to eventually destroy the deteriorating microfiche archive in favour of reliable digital versions. 

 

As a voting and contributing member of the Canadian General Standards Board, DRC plays an active role in shaping national digitization practices for document digitization as documentary evidence.