Document Capture

Document capture is the entry point of the records lifecycle: it is the act of acquiring a document, whether scanned from paper, imported from email, or ingested from another system, and establishing it as a controlled record with associated metadata. Capture is more than scanning. A clean image of a page has little value until it is described (date, author, subject, record type), associated with a file plan or classification, and committed to a system that enforces retention and disposition. Good capture also fixes the document’s content so later changes are tracked rather than silently overwritten, supporting authenticity and provenance.

Capture matters because recordkeeping obligations attach at the moment of creation or receipt, not when a document is later “filed.” If a record is never captured, it cannot be retained on schedule, searched during discovery, or defensibly destroyed.

For example, scanning a signed contract produces an image; capture is complete only when that image is indexed, classified, and linked to its retention rule. Modern electronic capture should align with current federal ERM expectations under the Universal ERM Requirements rather than the formerly endorsed DoD 5015.2 baseline.