SSA

Challenge
Too many disparate paper repositories

Social Security Administration had a very large number paper documents that were occupying an entire floor of office space. These paper documents were very cumbersome to search, non 508 compliant & non FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) compliant. The mountains of paper documents created other serious problems. Because documents for various programs typically were stored at one specific building, it was time-consuming for employees to locate and retrieve them, particularly if they worked at another location. Centralized offsite document storage was one option, but it was ruled it out because employees would still need to travel to another location to retrieve documents.

Solution
Digitize in order create a manageable digital database

Edge scanned hundreds of binders at the SSA office in Baltimore.  The binders contained the rules, regulations, and procedures their employees historically used as a primary source of information to process claims for Social Security benefits.  Edge scanned and created searchable PDFs of these documents, which are collectively called the Programs Operations Manual (POMS).  The POMS binders are the last paper copy of the procedures.  In addition, Edge converted over 140 CDs containing the first electronic version of POMS which pre-date the public availability of the Internet.  Edge converted these CDs and created a modern browser-based version for easy access to this information. 

Result
A searchable consolidated digital database

The scanning of the paper POMS and conversion of the first electronic version on CDs enabled the SSA to quickly fulfill its obligation under FOIA (Freedom of Information Act), as well as to review and process claims that are subject to historical rules and regulations.  The solution has allowed the SSA to reduce the serious and growing business problems posed by huge volumes of paper. The solution enabled the agency to digitize large volumes of paper documents and then move the paper out of its offices to an offsite location for long-term, archival storage. The solution was cost-effective, and was also easy to integrate into the agency's existing software, including its Microsoft Office business applications.

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