Education

License to Scan

The Challenge

The NYS Office of Professions is responsible for licensing over 30 different professions, ranging from Acupuncture to Veterinary Medicine. Each profession has its own requirements and verification process which is, and has been, heavily paper-based.

Copies of transcripts and diplomas, as well as the application and references, are required, and never are they all sent in at one time. This requires staff to constantly track down files and add or check the status of the application.

Managing this rush of paper is no small task. The Department wanted to digitize the records and store them electronically. One of the requirements from the onset was to be able to quickly and easily locate and read a file electronically without any loss of information or quality of the submitted documents. Additionally, the ability to annotate and redact the file was required. The agency is committed to being prepared for the future and thus wanted a system that would allow for limited and authorized web access if it becomes necessary.

The Solution

The NYS Department of Education was already an Alchemy (Electronic Records Management) customer. This made the selection of the repository easy, and the next set was to design the process. The database was created to store and retrieve the files as they are approved and, currently, the back log of applications is being scanned.

This process is being enhanced by the user’s requirement for color images. By performing all the scanning at 300DPI and in color, the file sizes would require more disk storage than the agency had planned for or could achieve. By using LuraTech PDF Compression software, the resulting output of the scanned images is a Color Compressed PDF/A, which is a long-term archival version of the Adobe PDF. This will ensure that the viewer will be available for the entire retention period of the record.

The compressed PDF/A also allows the image to be stored in about as much space as the black and white PDF would have used. This provides for the easy access and, more importantly, all color photos and diplomas are seen as the original was seen.

The Results

Files are easily accessible by all staff members to review and question. Documents are indexed by multiple fields, so retrieval is multi-dimensional, rather than just by name of applicant. Documents are small and very detailed so staff can identify color pictures and other submitted documents.

All documents will be monitored with an audit log so the chain of custody will be maintained and all members of the department who view or modify the record can be identified. The application is easily ported to the Web, and the agency is currently moving it to its intranet for ease of use. It will be possible to make it accessible through the Internet, as well.