June 10, 2024

Clevon Noel

Project Manager

Digital Governance for Resilience Project

Grenada

Dear Mr. Noel,

This report provides an update on Task 2 of the DG4R project, focusing on the scanning of PSC and Public Library archives. To date, we have digitized a total of 993,577 pages, achieving 76.22% of our goal. Despite challenges with equipment downtime and communication issues with the public library, progress remains steady.

Current Progress

• PSC Archives:
  • Total Pages Scanned: 553,577
• Public Library Archives:
  • Digitized Pages: 440,000

The cumulative total of digitized pages now stands at 993,577, which is 76.22% of our contracted target goal.

Previous Project Contributions

• A total of 64,000 files were scanned by the previous project.
• AZITS was granted permission by the project manager to index these files due to the absence of a designated point of contact from the public library.

Challenges Encountered

1. Large Format Scanner Downtime:
   • The large format scanner has been experiencing intermittent downtime due to an electrical issue. This has significantly slowed down the scanning process for large format books, affecting our overall pace.
2. Unavailability of Public Library Point of Contact:
   • The absence of a point of contact from the public library has delayed the timely digitization of files stored on the hard drive. This has necessitated the intervention of AZITS to proceed with indexing the files.
3. Unavailability of files to scan:
   • The absence of staff at the library to select and prepare materials for scanning resulted in several days of low productivity, affecting both the project timeline and staff morale.

Mitigation Measures

• We worked with the vendor and supplier to resolve the electrical issue with the scanner at the end of May, which set us back on track to completing scanning the large format books supplied by the stakeholder.
• Efforts are ongoing to establish a reliable point of contact at the public library to facilitate smoother communication and coordination for the remaining digitization work.

Next Steps

• Continue addressing technical issues with the large format scanner to ensure consistent operation.
• Engage with the public library administration to designate a permanent point of contact for better project alignment and faster resolution of issues.
• Maintain the current scanning pace and explore opportunities to accelerate progress where feasible.

Conclusion

Despite the challenges encountered, Task 2 of the DG4R project is advancing well, with over three-quarters of the total goal achieved. The team’s dedication and the support provided by AZITS have been crucial in maintaining momentum.

Please feel free to contact me if you require further details or have any questions regarding this update.

Detailed Timeline: Updated timeline for the project are provided:

Our Target for completion of the scanning process: 30th September 2024.

Out Target for the data entry and indexing processes: 30th October 2024.

Our targets seek to Month of Novmeber 2024 to be project wrap up ( Task 2 and 3), close off reporting and hand over.