Requesting a document rescan, retrieval or location 111-10010120

Scanning dates and classification timeframes

From the Workload Management Intranet page, go to the Related Links menu (on the right hand side of the page) and select Scanning Dates.

Webform requests

Report Inappropriate Digital Images

Request for document rescan, retrieval or location webform

Rescans and retrievals can take some time to action, and the customer may be disadvantaged as a result. Consider if the information is already available, or can be gathered in another way.

After opening the form, select Centrelink or Medicare.

Provide as much information as possible to support the request.

If a rescan or retrieval request is rejected or cannot be completed, it is the responsibility of the requesting Service Officer to update the customer record.

If documents were lodged or scanned in a service centre, completing the webform request will send an email to the positional mailbox for that site to action as well as a copy to the requesting officer.

ICT Access requirements for Adobe Acrobat

To split PDF documents, staff must have access to resources:

Adobe-Acrobat (ISP Category: Active Directory – Desktop Application)
Download Connect add-in 2020 from the Software Center

Hints and tips for splitting documents

Documents must not be larger than 5 MB in size.

To extract a set of consecutive pages:

select the first page to extract
select the Shift key
select the final page to extract to highlight the set

To extract non-consecutive pages:

select a page to extract
select the Ctrl key
select each extra page to extract into a new PDF document

To remove pages from the original PDF on extraction, select Delete pages after extracting checkbox.

To extract each highlighted page as a separate PDF file, select Extract pages as separate files checkbox.

Intranet link

Scanning and Digitisation

Contact Details

Scanning and Digitisation team

Office Locator

Example image coversheets

Table 1: examples of image coversheets and their purpose. Links to the coversheets/with compliments slips are below the table.

Coversheet	Purpose	When it is used
Document received 'as is'	Notifies Services Australia of issues with the documents received and prevents unnecessary rescan requests. This coversheet is used if staff preparing documents for scanning identify: something could be missing, and/or the information appears to relate to multiple people, and/or the originals are poor quality Note: document preparation staff are not responsible for identifying which documents are required or missing.	When to use this coversheet (include but not limited to): One or more pages were identified as being of poor quality One or more pages were damaged and this may affect the quality of the image One or more documents contain information about multiple customers and cannot be split One or more pages were identified as missing. For example, attachments referred to by the customer were not received
Documents Returned to Customer - not for Services Australia coversheet	Notifies the agency that documents that do not appear to be intended for the agency have been returned to the customer.	If documents that do not appear to be intended for the agency are received by the scanning provider, this coversheet is used to identify that the documents have been received, scanned and returned to the customer. Documents scanned with a 'Documents returned to customer - not for Services Australia' coversheet can be viewed on the Document Tools screen. Note: scanning lets Service Officers view the images on the customer's record if the customer contacts to explain why the documents were sent. If it is determined the information is relevant to the agency, use of the digital image/s is appropriate to undertake any action required on the record. This avoids the customer needing to resend the information.
Un-scannable item coversheet	Notifies the agency received a media item that cannot be scanned, and it has been returned to sender.	When a USB, disc or other un-scannable media is received by post. A specific 'with compliments' slip is used to return any received media items to the customer and advise them that the information will need to be provided in another form.
Unable to scan item	Notifies the agency received a document that cannot be scanned, and who to contact to obtain the document.	When it is not feasible to scan documents because of their condition or the time it would take to prepare them for scanning. For example, bound books that would take significant time to manually photocopy before scanning. A specific 'with compliments' slip is used to notify the relevant mail room where to send the document and to notify the recipient whether or not the sender has requested return of documents.

Coversheets/with compliments slips

$\\INTERNAL.DEPT.LOCAL\Shared\NAT\SERDELEXCEL\WORKPRODIMP\Operation Blueprint Migration\RDT Release Icons\32w\icon-attachment.png$ Document 'received as is'

$\\INTERNAL.DEPT.LOCAL\Shared\NAT\SERDELEXCEL\WORKPRODIMP\Operation Blueprint Migration\RDT Release Icons\32w\icon-attachment.png$ Examples of Documents returned to customer - not for Services Australia coversheet

$\\INTERNAL.DEPT.LOCAL\Shared\NAT\SERDELEXCEL\WORKPRODIMP\Operation Blueprint Migration\RDT Release Icons\32w\icon-attachment.png$ Examples of 'with compliments' slips

Rescan requests - assessing the need for a rescan

Table 2: rescans can take some time to action, may incur a cost, and the customer may be disadvantaged as a result. Document rescans will only be undertaken if the request reason is appropriate.

Situation	Should a rescan be requested?	Action required
Image received by fax	Yes - only if the image contains documents for multiple customers, file cannot be opened or contains inappropriate information. For all other reasons, including image is unclear or missing pages, a rescan must not be requested.	If the image is unclear or missing pages, contact the sender to obtain the information.
Image received from Upload documents online	Yes - only if the image contains inappropriate information.	If the image is unclear or missing pages, contact the sender to get the information. For more information, see Upload documents service.
Image uploaded on Document Tools	No	If the image is unclear or missing pages, contact the staff member who uploaded the document.
Image contains multiple customer documents		If customer information is unrelated, the document should be split and the documents attached to the correct customer records. Removal of the image may be needed if the image is viewable on the customer's record and contains information about multiple unrelated customers.
Image is upside down	No	Providing all details are clearly readable on the image, current picture viewing tools have the capacity to rotate images. A rescan is not required.
The image contains forms for the same customer that apply to different payment types	No	Splitting may be required if inappropriate information has been included in the image. The information may or may not relate to the customer. Service Officers should always follow the process in Removing a digital image from customer records. Note: splitting the document may not be sufficient action if the threatening or offensive information is potentially relating to illegal acts. In this case, the Service Officer should follow relevant escalation processes to seek advice about if further escalation is required. Removal of the image may be required if the image is viewable on the customer's record and meets the removal definition as shown in Removing a digital image from customer records.
Document contains inappropriate, offensive or illegal information or images	Yes - if an image is threatening or offensive and contained within a document which requires processing	Rescan required if inappropriate information has been included in the image. The information may or may not relate to the customer. Note: completing the webform may not be sufficient action if the threatening or offensive information is potentially relating to illegal acts. In this case, the Service Officer should follow relevant escalation processes to seek advice about if further escalation is required. Removal of the image may be required if the image is viewable on the customer's record. A rescan is not required if irrelevant (but not offensive) content has been provided, such as a cooking recipe, shopping lists or staff information. For documents received by fax or Upload documents, the document will need to be printed, scanned and uploaded to the customer record with the inappropriate, offensive of illegal information/images removed as these images cannot be rescanned.
Image not displaying on customer's record - Document Tools	No, but a document location may be needed if: there is a DOC or Note on the customer record confirming that documents were lodged at a service centre, or the customer has verbally confirmed that documents were lodged at a service centre (and this has been documented on the customer record) For all other cases, further investigation is required.	There may be a number of reasons why there is no image displaying in Document Tools. Investigate further before requesting a rescan. See Digital image not located on customer record. If it is clear that a customer document has been received, a locate document request may be appropriate.
Image is missing pages	Yes - if: received by post or in a service centre coversheet is not included the missing pages are needed to complete the action on the customer's record it is clear the customer provided the missing pages and the required information cannot be collected by other means. Note: documents received by post are always scanned as duplex (double sided). If the back page of a form or other document is not displayed, this indicates the page was not received. For example, if page 1 and 3 display but not page 2, this indicates the agency did not receive page 2	Review all pages as the document may have been supplied with pages missing. Check for office notes or image coversheet to state this. If nothing states the document was received with missing pages, and the missing pages are needed to complete the action on the customer's record, and the customer has confirmed that the pages were provided, a rescan should be requested. If the document was received with missing pages, contact the customer to obtain the missing information. If it was expected that related documents would be provided at the same time but there is no evidence to suggest that supporting documents were provided, contact the customer to confirm these documents were provided before requesting a rescan. Removal of the image may be required if the image is viewable on the customer's record.
Image contains blank pages	No	If there are any marks on the blank page (for example, dirt, ink, smudges) or the ink from one side of the page is visible through the other side due to the high sensitivity of the scanners, the system will identify them as a page (not blank) and include the page as part of the image. If there are no missing pages, a rescan is not required. Note: documents received by post are always scanned as duplex (double sided). If the back page of a form or other document is not displayed, this indicates that the page was not received. For example, if page 1 and 3 display but not page 2, this indicates that page 2 was not received.
Image is not readable, for example, image is blurry, parts of the image have been cut out, whole page has not been scanned correctly etc.	Yes - if all the following apply: the unreadable pages are needed to complete the action on the customer's record received by post or in a service centre 'received as is' coversheet is not included the information cannot be viewed by zooming in on the image, and the information cannot be obtained by other means	Removal of the image may be required if the image is viewable on the customer's record. Note: generally, scanning a document will not produce a blurry image. If the original document is blurry, the image quality will not improve upon scanning.
Image has been scanned to incorrect scanning line e.g. Medicare document scanned as a Centrelink document	Yes - if received by post or in a service centre.	Rescan should be requested.
Poor quality image relates to 'bleed through'	No	Image 'bleed through' occurs when the original document had very dark content and/or thin paper that results in an almost blank page with some information. Often this can be identified by reviewing the page numbers of the poor quality image or looking to see if the information is a mirror image of the previous page but much poorer quality.
Unable to open image due to file size	Yes - if: documents were received by post or in a service centre documents were received by fax	A rescan should be requested if an image: is more than 10mb in size, and an error message is received confirming that the file size is too large to open For documents received via the Upload documents service, the customer will need to be contacted to provide the information again, ensuring it is a smaller file size. As a guide less than 5mb.

Returning documents to customers

Table 3: when and how documents received by post are returned to a customer.

After sighting the original document , it is photocopied and the copy stamped with 'original sighted and returned'. The document is then scanned and the original returned to the customer. Documents with the 'original sighted and returned' stamp cannot be retrieved as they have already been returned.

Documents listed in the table below will be automatically returned to the customer. As staff preparing documents for scanning do not read entire documents, they may not notice if a customer has requested the return of documents other than those listed below (for example bank statements).

If the customer has requested the return of other documents and there is no stamp indicating they have been sighted and returned, the Service Office must print the relevant documents and post them to the customer.

A retrieval request should be submitted for any of the following original documents if there is no stamp indicating the documents have been sighted and returned.

Document type (originals only)	Registered post or regular post
All original identity documents and any additional documents provided with these originals. Examples include but are not limited to: Birth Certificates Passports Marriage certificates Drivers licences Proof of arrival to Australia Citizenship certificates and citizenship documentation	Registered
Original share certificates, valuation certificates and title documents	Regular Post
Discharge papers from the Department of Defence	Regular Post
Non-Services Australia mail such as birth registrations Note: documents received by post that do not appear to be intended for the agency are scanned by the scanning provider then returned to the customer/sender. These documents are scanned with a 'Documents returned to customer - not for Services Australia' coversheet and can be viewed on the Document Tools screen.	Regular Post
Documents the customer has requested to be returned	Regular Post

Operational Information