Transforming Document Management for a Leading Engineering Consultancy

Project Snapshot 

• Client: Leading Engineering & Design Consultancy
• Location: Bahrain
• Documents Digitised: 2+ million
• Solution: OCR digitisation + SharePoint document management
• Key Results: 70–90% faster retrieval, 50% storage reduction

Background

Our client is a leading engineering and design consultancy operating across Bahrain and the wider Middle East. The company manages a significant volume of business records, project documentation, technical drawings, and other operational files generated across multiple projects and departments.

As document volumes continued to grow, the business required a scalable, efficient solution to improve information accessibility, enhance document control, and strengthen information governance across its operations

The Client’s Challenge

Our client relied heavily on physical paper records, with more than two million documents stored across its operations.

Although these records contained critical project and business information, locating specific documents required time-consuming manual searches through physical files, often delaying access to important data.

This process significantly impacted productivity, reduced operational efficiency, and created challenges for staff needing quick access to information.

The business also needed to reduce its reliance on paper-based storage, improve document security, and implement a more structured and scalable records management framework.

Maintaining compliance and ensuring consistent access to information across teams were key priorities.

In addition, physical storage occupied valuable office space and increased operational costs, while manual handling increased the risk of duplicate records, misplaced files, and inconsistent document control, as well as compliance risks due to limited auditability.

The Solution

Our client engaged Crown Information Management to deliver a large-scale document digitisation and records management solution.

Crown digitised over two million documents, including general business records, project documentation, and technical drawings.

Each document was processed using Optical Character Recognition (OCR), enabling full-text, keyword-based search across the entire digital archive.

Structured metadata indexing was applied to support fast and accurate retrieval. Key indexing fields included;

> Document descriptions

> Document type

> Date

> Project number

> Client name

All digitised documents were securely uploaded into the client’s SharePoint document Repository, providing secure access, controlled permissions, and simplified document management

Users can now instantly locate records using advanced search, metadata filters, or keyword-based queries.

As part of the wider records management programme, Crown also;

• Provided secure storage for more than 4,500 physical records
• Carried out the compliant and secure destruction of over 600 boxes of records that had reached the end of their retention period.

The Results

The project transformed how the business manages, accesses, and governs information across its operations, delivering measurable business improvements.

With all documents digitised and accessible through SharePoint, retrieval times have been reduced by an estimated 70-90%, enabling near-instant access to critical information instead of manual archive searches.

The reduction in physical storage requirements has freed approximately 50% of archive space, reducing operational costs and creating a more efficient working environment.

The digitisation programme has significantly improved governance, strengthened document security, and reduced the risk of lost, duplicated, or inaccessible records through structured control and auditability.

Teams can now access and share information more efficiently, enabling faster decision-making, improved collaboration, and enhanced operational performance.

Client Feedback

“The project was handled with care, precision, and strong technical capability, ensuring each phase was completed efficiently and with robust quality oversight.”

– Regional Operations Director

Need Some Help?

If your organisation is managing large volumes of paper records, facing challenges with document retrieval, or looking to improve information governance and compliance, Crown Information Management can help.

Contact our team today to learn how our document digitisation, OCR scanning, and records management solutions can support your digital transformation.