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datacoll8

Document capture and AI extraction

Intelligent document scanning and AI data extraction for contracts

Datacoll8 supplies the scanners, the software and the extraction models that turn contracts and case files into verified, searchable data. Firms use it to cut case lead times, hold a defensible compliance record, and take the manual rekeying that causes most errors out of the process entirely.

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  • Production and desktop capture
  • Clause-level extraction
  • Immutable audit trail
  • Shorter case lead times

Why firms choose us

Four things a scanning programme has to get right

Digitising paper is the easy part. What decides whether the programme is worth running is throughput, verifiable accuracy, an audit record that stands up, and documents that can actually be found again.

  • 01

    Efficiency without extra headcount

    Bulk feeders, duplex capture and unattended batch processing replace page-by-page scanning and manual rekeying. A bundle that took an afternoon to index goes through in a single pass.

    Batch capture, unattended overnight runs, no rekeying

  • 02

    Accuracy you can actually check

    Every extracted field carries a confidence score and a link back to the exact place on the page it came from. Low-confidence values are queued for human review rather than quietly passed downstream.

    Field-level confidence, page-level provenance, review queue

  • 03

    Compliance and auditability built in

    Immutable audit trails record who scanned what, which model version read it, what was changed in verification and when it was exported. Retention rules and access controls are configured per matter type.

    Immutable audit log, retention rules, role-based access

  • 04

    Retrieval that keeps cases moving

    Documents land in your DMS fully indexed by clause, party, date and matter reference, so answering "where is the assignment clause in the 2019 agreement" takes seconds instead of a shelf search.

    Clause-level search, matter indexing, DMS-native filing

The platform

Three layers, supplied and supported as one system

Most failed digitisation projects are assembled from parts that were bought separately: a scanner from one supplier, software from another, and extraction bolted on at the end. Datacoll8 delivers all three, specified together, so nothing is lost between them.

Layer 01 — Capture

Scanning hardware specified for legal volume

We specify, supply and install production scanners matched to the shape of your archive: high-throughput feeders for bulk backfile, flatbed and overhead capture for bound deeds and fragile originals, and desktop units for fee earners who need to scan at their own desk.

  • Production, departmental and desktop units specified per site
  • Overhead and flatbed capture for bound, stapled or fragile originals
  • Duplex colour capture with automatic blank page and staple detection
  • Calibration, imaging profiles and driver rollout handled by our engineers

Layer 02 — Control

Software that turns capture into a controlled process

The Datacoll8 client sits between the scanner and your document management system. It applies imaging profiles, separates batches, routes work to the right queue and writes every action to an audit log, so scanning stops being an unmanaged desktop activity.

  • Batch separation by barcode, patch code or cover sheet
  • Image clean-up: deskew, despeckle, cropping and colour normalisation
  • Searchable PDF/A output with embedded text for long-term retention
  • Role-based access, per-matter permissions and a full processing history

Layer 03 — Understand

An AI extraction pipeline tuned to contracts

Classification, layout analysis and clause-level extraction run in sequence over each document. Models are tuned against your own agreement types, so the pipeline recognises your paper rather than a generic template, and every output is scored before it is trusted.

  • Document classification and automatic template matching
  • Clause detection: term, renewal, assignment, indemnity, governing law
  • Entity extraction for parties, dates, values, references and signatories
  • Confidence scoring with thresholds you set per field and per matter type

Use case — law firms

Built around how legal work actually moves

A law firm does not have one document problem, it has four. A store room of closed matters nobody can search. Daily post that has to reach the right fee earner the same morning. Contracts whose renewal dates live in a spreadsheet maintained by one person. And a compliance obligation that has to be evidenced years after everyone involved has moved on.

We configure the pipeline against those four realities rather than selling a general-purpose scanner and leaving the process design to you. Matter references drive filing, clause extraction drives the diary, and the audit trail is produced as a by-product of the work rather than assembled before an inspection.

Disclosure stops being a bottleneck
Bundles are captured, deduplicated and paginated in one pass, so the review platform receives consistent files rather than a mix of formats assembled by four different people.
Renewal dates leave the spreadsheet
Term, notice period and renewal dates are extracted as fields on the matter record, so a diary entry is generated from the contract rather than from somebody remembering to read it.
Onboarding evidence is complete by default
Identity and source-of-funds documents are captured with the retention rule already attached, which is the point at which most onboarding files quietly go out of policy.
Talk through your matter types
Two colleagues in formal dress reviewing and signing a contract across a table.
The store room was never the problem. Finding the third amendment at four on a Friday was the problem.
Heard in a capture audit, more than once

How it works

From a box of paper to a verified record

The same four stages run whether the input is a backfile pallet, the morning post or a single agreement scanned at a desk. Nothing skips verification, and nothing reaches your system without an audit trail attached.

  1. 01

    Scan

    Documents are captured on hardware we specified for the job, using an imaging profile built for the paper in front of it.

    Bulk backfile, daily post and desk-side scanning all feed the same pipeline, so nothing arrives in a different shape.

  2. 02

    Extract

    The pipeline classifies each document, locates the clauses and fields that matter, and reads them into structured values.

    Every field is scored, and every value keeps a reference to the page and region it was read from.

  3. 03

    Verify

    Anything below your confidence threshold is routed to a reviewer, who sees the extracted value beside the original page.

    Corrections are logged against the user who made them and feed back into template tuning.

  4. 04

    Export

    Verified data and searchable PDF/A files are written into your DMS, practice management system or case workflow.

    Exports run to your naming and filing conventions, with the audit trail travelling alongside the record.

Services

Delivered as a programme, not a product drop

Every engagement is scoped from a capture audit and delivered by the same team through to optimisation, so the people configuring the extraction are the people who saw your paper.

All services

In their words

What changes once verification is part of the process

The pattern we hear back is consistent: the win is rarely the scanning itself, it is that checking a document becomes a glance rather than an investigation.

  • We digitised eleven years of commercial agreements without pulling a single fee earner off matter work. The part that changed our week was verification: reviewers see the clause and the page side by side, so checking a contract takes minutes rather than an afternoon.
    Helena MarshHead of RecordsAshworth Bell LLP
  • Our audit used to mean three weeks of assembling evidence from four systems. Now the retention schedule, the access log and the processing history come out of one place. Our compliance lead described it as the first scanning project that made her job smaller.
    Daniel OkonjoCompliance DirectorVerrell Ridge
  • The extraction was tuned on our own agreements rather than a generic template, and it shows. Renewal dates and assignment clauses land in the matter record correctly, and the exceptions that do come through are genuinely the odd ones worth a human look.
    Priya RaghunathanPractice Operations ManagerLinden & Crowe

Questions

The things procurement asks first

If your question is not here, ask it directly. We would rather answer a specific integration or data residency question before a demo than discover it halfway through configuration.

Send us the awkward one

Which systems does Datacoll8 integrate with?

We integrate with the document and practice management systems law firms already run, including iManage, NetDocuments, SharePoint and Worldox, as well as case and matter systems that expose an API or a monitored filing location. Where no API exists we deliver to a structured folder with an accompanying metadata file, so records still arrive indexed rather than as loose images. Integration design happens during configuration, and we test it against a sample matter before go-live.

How does the platform support our compliance obligations?

Every action is written to an immutable audit trail: who captured the document, which model version read it, which fields were changed during verification, who approved it and where it was exported. Retention and destruction schedules are configured per matter type, access is role-based down to matter level, and we document data flows and processing locations for your records. The intention is that an audit request is answered from the system rather than reconstructed by hand.

Where is our data processed and stored?

You choose. Datacoll8 can run entirely within your own infrastructure, in a private cloud tenancy in a region you specify, or in a hybrid arrangement where capture and verification stay on site and only anonymised model telemetry leaves. Client documents are never used to train shared models. We sign a data processing agreement covering the arrangement you pick, and the processing location is documented in the compliance pack we hand over.

How accurate is the extraction, and what happens when it is wrong?

Accuracy depends on document quality and how varied your paper is, which is why we measure it on your own held-back sample before go-live rather than quoting a headline figure. Every field carries a confidence score, and you set the threshold at which a value is auto-accepted or sent to a reviewer. Reviewers see the extracted value next to the original page region it came from, corrections are logged, and those corrections feed template retuning so the same mistake gets rarer.

What does onboarding involve for our team?

Expect a capture audit, a configuration workshop with your records and compliance leads, a document sample for model tuning, and role-based training in go-live week. Most of the effort sits with us. From your side the meaningful commitments are access to a representative document sample, sign-off on retention and access rules, and naming an internal owner for the verification queue. We follow up at thirty days to tune thresholds against real reviewer decisions.

What hardware do we actually need?

That comes out of the capture audit rather than a catalogue. A firm digitising a large backfile needs production scanners with high-capacity feeders; a firm handling daily inbound post is usually better served by departmental units near the post room plus desktop scanners for fee earners. Bound deeds and fragile originals need overhead or flatbed capture. If you already own suitable devices we will work with them where the imaging quality supports reliable extraction, and say so plainly where it does not.

Book a demo

See it run against your own documents

Bring three or four representative agreements to the demo. We will run them through classification, extraction and verification live, and tell you plainly where the pipeline would need tuning for your paper.

Book a demoContact us

Demos run Monday to Friday, 08:30 to 18:00 GMT