Why Are Products and Services being Standardized?
As the Digitization Services Branch continues its transition from a primary analog-to-analog to an analog-to-digital workflow with increasing automation, we see a unique opportunity to take a critical look at the way we do business and what business we should be doing in order that we continue to make a vital contribution to achieving NARA’s strategic goals.
By standardizing our products and codifying our services, the Digitization Services Branch will
- Assure that our products are integrated with other NARA systems and be responsive to changing needs
- Assure that we are producing the right product at the right time and in sync with industry guidelines and published standards
- Assure product consistency through proactive quality assurance and quality control programs (in development)
- Assure that we have the appropriate resources, including equipment and trained staff, to meet demands
- Provide more accurate product completion and delivery estimates
This web portal is not the end of our process. Now that we know what we want to make, our next step is to evaluate our workflows to make our products more efficiently and consistently. This requires a commitment to continuous improvement at all points in the process. Change does not happen overnight but the Digitization Services Branch is dedicated to its mission to provide agency-wide laboratory services and technical expertise in order to facilitate preservation and access to the content of Federal Records in the custody of NARA.