DTS Conversion Services

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Conversion

Image Conversion

Image Conversion Services has two phases:

The county must be cautious when contracting for these services because phase 2 costs are dependent on how phase 1 is executed.

DTS requires samples of the conversion media in order to give the county a detailed bid. Costs are dependent on the quality of the media and index information stored on it (i.e. volume and page information stored in blips on the microfilm)

Phase 1 - Converting the archive data to TIFF images.

Verification of the quality of the images occurs during this phase.

During conversion, the images are placed in a directory structure using a file naming convention. It is very important for the directory structure and file naming convention to be agreed upon by the conversion company and the software imaging vendor. If the proper directory structure and file naming convention is used, phase 2 of the imaging conversion can be automated which will significantly reduce the counties costs.

Phase 2 - Matching images with their associated indexes.

In order to match the image to its associated index file from index backfile conversion, a index link must be established. If the image TIFF conversion was done in DTS’s recommended directory structure and file naming convention, DTS can automate the image indexing. This eliminates the cost of manually indexing each image.

We do recommend a visual quality assurance check of specified images after conversion. This confirms that the conversion program worked correctly for each section of the conversion. Sometimes microfilm images are out of sequence which will cause a section to index incorrectly. To minimize the effects of out of sequence microfilm, DTS’s conversion directory structure is modular.

TrakRecord stores each document as one multi page TIFF file with an associated instrument number. This approach has distinct database and jukebox performance advantages over storing multiple single page TIFF files per document. DTS has a conversion program that will assemble single page TIFF files from conversion services into multi page TIFF files for the TrakRecord system. Once again, proper directory structure and file naming conventions are critical to the cost effectiveness of this program.

Index Conversion

Index Conversion Services also has two phases:

Phase 1 - Extracting the indexes off of the current host system.

The indexes must be extracted to a common file format (i.e. comma delimited) in a file layout specified by DTS. The exact file layout for these files depends on the final database table layout agreed upon in the functional specification document. If another vendor performs this service DTS will supply the vendor with the required file layout specifications when they are completed and signed off on in the functional specification document.

Phase 2- Importing the indexes into TrakRecord’s database tables

DTS has a standard index import module. This module will need to be modified to match the functional specification document. Basic modifications are included in the cost of the module. More detailed modifications are included within the customization services section of the proposal.

DTS uses a phased approach of importing the converted indexes into the live system to allow for any necessary database performance tuning.