Ease of Access to Disparate Building Records: UCLA Case Study

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), an established institution with over a century of history, has long required its Ph.D. graduate students to submit a thesis report to complete their programs. Once graded and collected, these reports are stored in boxes in the basement of UCLA's library and retained indefinitely, seldom accessed after the graduates’ matriculation.

Challenges Addressed

UCLA’s expansive campus encompasses not only academic buildings but also the UCLA Medical Hospital, a power plant, and a construction company responsible for building and maintaining all campus facilities. Remarkably, UCLA outsources very little to third-party contractors. The building records include blueprints and supporting documentation for the maps of record, which cover routine maintenance of assets, bids, and proposals from third-party vendors.

The facilities management department at UCLA envisioned a more efficient system to share this vast repository of valuable research and critical knowledge with other UC schools, universities, and relevant research organizations.

The Solution

Ripcord partnered with UCLA to digitize boxes from four different university departments. Through Ripcord’s comprehensive engagement, we scanned, classified, and extracted all text from these documents, making the entire collection of thesis reports available in a searchable, cloud-based index using Ripcord’s Canopy platform.

The Benefits

Increased Efficiency

The majority of documents processed included maintenance records for campus buildings, such as monthly inspection checklists for wall sockets, smoke detectors, and other critical details. Digitization significantly increased efficiency in accessing and managing these records.

Retention & Compliance

These documents have long-term retention periods, and their digitization was crucial for easy access and compliance with institutional policies. Ripcord’s solutions ensured that UCLA's facilities management department could retrieve important documents swiftly, maintaining compliance and improving operational efficiency.

Promoting Efficient Document Management: UCLA Case Study

UCLA's successful digitization project exemplifies the transformative power of digital solutions in managing disparate records. By implementing Ripcord's digitization solutions, UCLA significantly improved its document management processes, ensuring easy access to critical information and enhancing operational efficiency.

To learn more about how Ripcord's solutions can benefit your organization, download the UCLA Case Study. Discover the steps UCLA took to streamline its document management and the substantial benefits it achieved.