LaserFiche Accessibility Package

An Accessible Solution to Paper Problems

Paper & Accessibility

As you manage budget constraints, growing workloads and increasing demands for instant information, how does paper impact the accessibility of your workplace?

Consider the productivity lost when visually impaired staff can't access information on paper. Consider filing cabinets that hold important information but prevent the mobility-impaired from making productive use of it. Consider the physical challenges of carrying boxes from storage rooms and manually searching their contents.

The Costs of Inaccessibility

• Paper-based information locked away from staff and the public
• Limited staff participation in vital work processes
• Lower productivity organization-wide
• Obstructs process of hiring and retaining productive workers
• The cumulative costs of paper storage, retrieval and distribution

The Value of Accessibility

• Vital information instantly available to all authorized persons
• Everyone participates in the work environment
• Creates a level playing field where everyone is productive
• Enables increased hiring of disabled workers
• The cumulative benefits of digital archiving and instant retrieval and distribution

How LaserFiche Improves Accessibility

When you scan or import documents into LaserFiche, the advanced OCR engine essentially reads them and creates a text version of their contents. This text provides crucial benefits for the mobility and visually impaired.

The text of your documents is accessible to text-to-speech (TTS) software that reads it aloud. Full-text searches from desktop computers ease the physical burden of manual searches through file cabinets and boxes. Efficient digital distribution via e-mail, CD and the Web replaces trips to storage rooms.

Accessibility benefits are immediate. For example, with paper files, consider these accessibility challenges:

• Filing cabinets impede access by mobility-impaired staff
• Information trapped on paper is inaccessible to visually impaired and blind staff
• Physical burden of finding and distributing files
• Comprehensive security: no Active X controls
• Difficulty communicating with staff & the public, including disabled citizens

Now consider the LaserFiche difference:

• Desktop search & retrieval provides instant access to the mobility impaired
• TTS compatibility unlocks documents for visually impaired
• Drag and drop folders on a computer screen instead of lifting and carrying boxes from storage rooms
• Improved public service & internal communication with accessible Web, e-mail & CD distribution

Accessibility Benefits

Section 508 Compliant

LaserFiche provides essential accessibility functions as required by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. In addition to the general efficiency and productivity benefits of a digital archiving and retrieval solution, LaserFiche is committed to improving information accessibility for everyone.

• Compatibility with Henter-Joyce's JAWS TTS program
• Keyboard access to all functions
• Reversible white-on-black text capability
• Accessible user documentation

More Efficient & Accessible Document Management

LaserFiche manages large numbers of documents efficiently and easily. Reduce or eliminate misfiling and costly reproduction and distribution methods that impede efficient information access. LaserFiche's easy-to-use accessibility features also guarantee that your documents are accessible to your entire staff directly from desktop workstations

• Manage entire document repositories from desktop computers
• Follow your preferred procedures with customizable folders and index fields
• Index electronic and image-only documents with customizable templates
• Manage revisions with Version Control
• Manage retention schedules with portable volumes
• Reduce clerical labor and mistakes with automated OCR and indexing

Fast Information Access for Everyone

LaserFiche Intelligent Search features retrieve documents instantly. Flexible full-text and customizable index field searches performed from the computer keep documents accessible on demand while eliminating trips to storage rooms. Visually impaired staff can also use TTS software for fast access to retrieved information.

• Eliminate trips to file cabinets for everyone, including the mobility impaired
• Instant desktop access & TTS-compatibility for visually impaired staff
• Documents on demand with LaserFiche Intelligent Search
• Combine text & index field searches to pinpoint relevant documents

An E-Government Solution: Accessible Web Publishing & Improved Public Service

As more citizens demand instant access to public information, government agencies need an efficient, affordable and accessible Internet solution. LaserFiche WebLink is an e-government solution that provides a simple, searchable and secure way to publish documents on an intranet or the Internet. Remote offices, other agencies and the general public can search available information without increasing your workload.

• Simple, economical Web publishing without HTML coding
• Platform-independent access with standard Web browsers
• Provide TTS-compatible information to all authorized persons via the Web
• Improved communication with the public at large
• Your digital archive remains secure - post only those documents you want to post

Advanced Design Benefits Administrators and IT Professionals

LaserFiche is a stable, proven document imaging and management system that is easy to use and maintain. While managers and staff experience an immediate boost to productivity and accessibility, IT professionals enjoy full scalability and easy integration with current and future technology. More than 16,000 organizations worldwide already benefit from these LaserFiche advantages.

• An intuitive interface engages your staff's current PC skills
• Managers administer most LaserFiche functions
• Open architecture allows easy integration with existing systems
• Non-proprietary TIFF and ASCII file formats guarantee future accessibility
• Scalable to grow with your needs - improve accessibility enterprise-wide
• Supported by a global network of service professionals

Real-World Success Story: The Postal Rate Commission

The Paper Problems

The Postal Rate Commission primarily sets the postal rates but it also deals with customer inquiries and complaints. In the past, anyone who needed information on a case or a classification had to either travel to the PRC in Washington D.C. or send for the information, which cost time and money. If they were able to travel to Washington, they next had to contend with storage rooms full of filing cabinets and boxes.

The LaserFiche Solutions

The PRC has been using LaserFiche since 1997. Last August they installed LaserFiche WebLink and, according to Margaret Crenshaw, former Chief Administrative Officer for the PRC, it has made a world of difference.

LaserFiche "solves a huge problem," said Crenshaw, who added she likes the accessibility of LaserFiche. PRC information can now be accessed from their Website. Crenshaw said she feels the PRC is now "light-years ahead of other government agencies."

Thanks to LaserFiche's Section 508-compliant Accessibility Package, all that information will be accessed by those who may be mobility or visually impaired. "We need it to give everyone equal access," said Information Resource Analyst, Leona Anasiewicz.

According to Anasiewicz, this ruling is a big step for the Federal government and in its hiring of those with disabilities. "In the future you may be able to be more proactive in hiring. If you have the tools they need…it levels the playing field."

Anasiewicz said she hopes Section 508 will set an example for the private sector. "Setting standards like the 508 is helping everyone."