This article explores the idea of extending the concept of a managed environment, beyond the digital repository and forward in time to include the entire digitization process, for an extremely large and complex institution. Rather than managing digitization independently of the digital repository, this article suggests that it is advantageous to work from the beginning of the digitization effort towards the end goal of long-term preservation of digital objects and related metadata in the digital repository. In particular, this article briefly examines the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration's developing approach to managing digitization projects, including: characteristics of digital objects produced during the digitization process; working data models and approaches for collecting all types of metadata to be done locally in the digitization labs and in centralized environments; where this information is held; digitization activities and influence/impact across functional areas; and discussion of how tools and processes that have been implemented at the local lab level can inform the definition and development of a centralized, institution-wide information technology infrastructure to support digitization at NARA.